Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe made it a clear ambition of theirs to revamp their cobbled Classics squad for 2026, taking one of Mathieu van der Poel’s lieutenants, Gianni Vermeersch, adding the experience of former Belgian national coach Sven Vanthourenhout, and continuing to give leadership to rising talents such as Tim van Dijke and Laurence Pithie.
What they have is strength in numbers, and that can bring great results as it did at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for second-place Van Dijke, but what they lack is one clear leader and a main star to focus their efforts in the fight against Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and, from next Sunday at the Tour of Flanders, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Article continues below
Changing tack, the German team then tried a futile attempt to bridge across with Jan Tratnik going solo, before they eventually contributed to the chase in the final 30km behind Van der Poel and a strong chasing move of four riders – which they missed out on joining due to their…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…