Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe may not have conducted the biggest squad revamp of the winter – at least not in terms of pure numbers anyway – but the German team has certainly made the biggest signing in this off-season’s cycling transfer market.
Yes, the long-rumoured transfer of Remco Evenepoel from Soudal-QuickStep has finally come to pass. The Belgian has, over the past several summers, been linked with a move to both Ineos Grenadiers and Red Bull, though it was only this year, three seasons on from the birth of the rumours, that the move finally happened.
On August 5, the team, bolstered by the 2024 takeover and additional funds from the energy drinks giant, announced the addition of the man who is among the top three Grand Tour riders in the world (for now, he occupies a solid third place behind Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard).
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The big move
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have got their man in Olympic double champion and world time trial champion Evenepoel (Image credit: Getty Images)
On paper, the marriage is a positive one for both parties. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe already had several Grand Tour leaders on board, though they were lacking one rider to challenge ‘the big two’ at the Tour de France. Primož Roglič‘s time has come and gone, and the likes of Florian Lipowitz and Giulio Pellizzari are still working their way to the top, even if the German is rising fast.
Evenepoel neatly steps into that top slot for July. He may not be at the level of Pogačar and Vingegaard, but then again, no other rider is. Neither is any other rider at his level in terms of Grand Tour racing.
The team has won a Giro d’Italia with Jai Hindley and a Vuelta a España with Roglič. Now they’ve given themselves the best chance of adding a Tour de France title to that list, even if, right now, it looks as though it will take a sizeable stroke of luck – in the form of crashes, injuries, or calendar changes elsewhere – for it to happen.
For Evenepoel, the move is a step up from Soudal-QuickStep. The Belgian squad may be one of the biggest teams in cycling history, but they’ve never fully perfected a Grand Tour-challenging setup and, frankly, don’t boast the same budget as his new squad.
A Tour support squad of Mikel Landa, Valentin Paret-Peintre and Ilan Van Wilder doesn’t stack up to a potential lineup which might include Roglič, Hindley, Lipowitz, Aleksandr Vlasov, Jan Tratnik, fellow QuickStep transfer Mattia Cattaneo, and Gianni Moscon. Such a team would, on paper at least, rival the strength of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike.
Off the bike, a mini-entourage has accompanied Evenepoel in joining the team, as is often the case in similar massive transfers. More on that below, anyway.
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Taking a broad view of the single rider transfer, it’s hard to look around the peloton and imagine a better situation for either rider or team, considering the reason the move was made. That is, to maximise their chances of winning the Tour de France.
But cycling exists beyond the Tour, too, and on that front it’s only a positive move for the team. Even though Evenepoel hasn’t managed to take home the maillot jaune, he’s a proven winner at a host of the biggest races in the world.
In the 25-year-old, Red Bull have scored a rider who can win Olympic Games and World Championships, a rider who can challenge for Monuments such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia, a rider who can win WorldTour stage races and the other Grand Tours.
For Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, this deal is just about as good as it gets.
‘Team Evenepoel’
Mattia Cattaneo (left) is one of several Soudal-QuickStep riders and staff to accompany Evenepoel in making the switch (Image credit: Getty Images)
With Remco Evenepoel’s addition, the team’s headline move of the off-season, and, well, their entire existence to this point, it’s no surprise that Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have made a cluster of moves to support their new star.
As mentioned above, Mattia Cattaneo has joined Evenepoel in switching from Soudal-QuickStep. The Italian signed a three-year deal following a six-season stint at the Belgian team.
Cattaneo has logged 99 race days supporting Evenepoel at Quickstep since joining the team in 2020 – not quite an ever-present, but at the Belgian’s side for his victories at the 2023 Vuelta, the 2020 Tour de Pologne, and 2024 Volta ao Algarve, as well as at the Giro in 2023 and this year’s Tour de France.
At 35, he’s not at the peak of his powers, but he’s a solid climber and a strong time triallist, which is handy for next year’s Tour-opening TTT in Barcelona. Having a familiar, experienced face on hand will only aid Evenepoel as he acclimatises to his new surroundings, and in the peloton, too.
‘Team Evenepoel’ next season also consists of a trio of QuickStep staff members as directeur sportif Klaas Lodewyck, soigneur David Geeroms, and mechanic Dario Kloeck make the switch. Evenepoel’s former national coach, Sven Vanthourenhout, also comes aboard as a DS, while Rolf Aldag and Enrico Gasparotto have departed similar roles. Allan Peiper is also going to work for the team as a strategic advisor, bringing expertise from several years working with Pogačar.
The goal here is not to create a team within a team, a newcomer cell cloistered within the squad serving only Evenepoel, but a group of faces who are know him well and can assist his transition to a new team with ease. After all, who better to deal with Evenepoel’s massages and his bike than his long-time soigneur and mechanic?
The other ins and outs
Versatile domestique Gianni Vermeersch is a key addition (Image credit: Getty Images)
Suffice to say, Evenepoel’s transfer – and the infrastructure around it – is the main focus for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe this off-season, though they’re not the only moves the team has made.
Former gravel world champion Gianni Vermeersch has come on board from Alpecin-Deceuninck after spending the best part of a decade at Alpecin-Deceuninck. The 32-year-old Belgian joins alongside Australian racer Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) as the two other pro signings for 2026.
Both men, who have a pair of Tour de France starts apiece in recent seasons, have been signed for their experience and to support team leaders throughout the season.
Vermeersch has a wealth of such experience helping Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen to major victories over the years, so much so that he recently made the Cyclingnews list of ‘Eight underrated riders who deserve more credit‘. Meanwhile, Drizners has assisted leaders, including Arnaud De Lie and Maxim Van Gils, the latter of whom he’s reunited with at Red Bull.
Neither man could be described as a climber. However, as we’ve already seen, the team is full of riders capable of providing support when the road goes up. Instead, both are solid and reliable signings who will be more than capable of doing the jobs asked of them in the hills and on the flats.
They’ll fill spots vacated by several riders – Jonas Koch, Roger Adrià, Matteo Sobrero, and Ryan Mullen. German veteran Koch heads off into retirement, Spanish punchy climber Adrià is off to Movistar, while Sobrero reinforces Lidl-Trek and Mullen heads to Israel-Premier Tech.
The jobs of 32-year-old Koch and Irish time trial champion Mullen will be filled by others on the team, while Adrià and Sobrero might be missed a little more, results-wise. Adrià has won a stage at the Vuelta a Burgos and the GP de Wallonie in recent years, while former Giro d’Italia stage winner Sobrero finished third at the Tour de Pologne this season.
Of the quartet, Sobrero figures to be the biggest loss, especially as a solid Grand Tour support rider, though none of the departures will be make-or-break for Red Bull’s 2026 campaign.
Elsewhere, the futures of former ski mountaineer Anton Palzer, triple Tour Down Under sprint winner Sam Welsford, and Filip Maciejuk – perhaps best known for being disqualified after causing a crash at the 2023 Tour of Flanders – are up in the air.
None of the three have confirmed contracts for next season, though Welsford seems the man most likely to remain aboard a team which otherwise can only really look to Jordi Meeus for sprinting power.
At the time of writing, Red Bull have 28 riders under contract for 2026, meaning two spots are up for grabs. The team recently cancelled the contract of Basque racer Oier Lazkano following his provisional suspension by the UCI over Biological Passport abnormalities.
Academy graduates
Luke Tuckwell is one of a trio of promising development riders Red Bull have promoted for 2026 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Three of those 28 2026 roster spots are taken up by neo-pros who make the step up from the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies development team – 21-year-old Australian Luke Tuckwell, 22-year-old Briton Callum Thornley, and 22-year-old Adrien Boichis.
The trio have all taken the same route to the WorldTour, spending time together at Trinity Racing before racing last season with Red Bull’s development squad. Their familiarity with one another and with the wider team setup means they should all have no problems adjusting to life at the senior squad.
Tuckwell’s recent results are the most eye-catching of the three, having won the Rás last year and taken second at this season’s Giro d’Italia Next Gen, having only lost the maglia rosa in a final stage turnaround. He looks one for the hills and mountains, with top 10s at Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23 and the Tour de l’Avenir to his name in 2025.
Thornley figures to fit a similar profile. The Scot won the mountain classification at the 2024 Tour of Britain and is the reigning under-23 Il Lombardia champion. He also finished third at the Istrian Spring Tour and scored a top-10 at the Giro Next Gen. Furthermore, he’s also shown time trialling chops, too, winning a test against the clock at the Sibiu Tour as well as the British under-23 title.
Boichis, meanwhile, was top of the podium at the Istrian Spring Tour, his stand-out result from the past season.
All three look to be strong, intriguing prospects in the pros. Under-23 results don’t necessarily equal success at the top level, but they’ll have time and space away from the starry Grand Tour-hunting leaders to hone their craft.
The verdict
After several seasons’ worth of rumours and attempted signings, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have finally got their man. With the team’s budget boosted since the arrival of the energy drink giant, there were no budgetary tradeoffs or cuts to make, no stars to offload to make room, as they brought Remco Evenepoel on board.
As a result, they’ve only strengthened their roster for 2026 as the Belgian superstar slots in at the top of the team’s hierarchy alongside his ready-made support squad.
As stated above, the big goal for both rider and team is to win the Tour de France, one of the few achievements eluding both parties to date. Time will tell whether this partnership can deliver that in the face of Tadej Pogačar’s unrelenting dominance, but one thing is for sure – bringing Evenepoel on board is only going to spell more wins and more success for the squad.
Elsewhere, there are sensible and helpful additions – both on- and off-bike – designed to help the star riders win the biggest races on the calendar. The team hasn’t neglected the future, either, bringing on board a clutch of talented racers they’ve helped develop in-house. All-in-all, the future is looking bright for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.