As Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s new superstar flourishes, how are his co-leaders Primož Roglič, Florian Lipowitz and Jai Hindley faring in the early season?

Racing an important contract year in 2026, Hindley has had his season debut pushed back, but he’ll be looking to carry on the form he closed out the last season with, after rediscovering his Grand Tour form with fourth at the Vuelta a España.

“Jai’s had a bit of a setback basically with a cold, like pretty much everyone in Europe at the moment, so we’ve pushed back his season start from the Ruta del Sol to start in Tirreno-Adriatico,” Dempster told Cyclingnews.

“He’s just getting back to make up for lost time, which I think is a good decision. It’s really hard to fight back once you’re racing, so that was an easy decision.”

After racing from one coastline to another in Italy, Hindley’s big focus will remain in the country he loves after winning the 2022 Giro, as he looks to claim another pink jersey alongside Giulio Pellizzarri in May. He is hoping to race the Tour as support for Evenepoel after that, but Red Bull will take their time with selecting the seven riders set to start alongside their new star.

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Instantly elevated to a big name in the sport off the back of his third-place finish on debut at the Tour de France, Lipowitz earned himself a contract extension at his home team as a result, and he will make up a big part of their Grand Tour plans for this season and years to come.

He’s already started his season alongside Evenepoel in Mallorca, with the pair set to be co-leaders in July, also making up part of Red Bull’s flawless team time trial dress rehearsal victory at the Trofeo Ses Salines in January.

“Lipo’s been doing his thing. He’ll be ready for the Volta ao Algarve, so we’re looking forward to seeing him race again,” said Dempster. “And he’s had a solid winter as well, with camps and things.”

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After racing in the Algarve next week, Lipowitz will head to altitude at Mount Teide with Evenepoel, before the pair link up as leaders for the Volta a Catalunya in March. The German then will build up for the Tour de France by racing in Switzerland and Slovenia.

Spotted by many in the last few days, Roglič has been enjoying his first love in Italy at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, supporting the Slovenian ski jumping athletes. But he has returned to business at altitude now.

He’s set to start in Tirreno with Hindley, with a limited programme of Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie to follow, before he sets out to try and break the record outright for overall victories at the Vuelta a España by adding a fifth final red jersey to his palmares.

“Primož is all good, just getting at it. He’s not going to race in February, so we’re looking forward to his season start in Tirreno,” added Dempster.

“He’s going up to altitude camp tomorrow [Wednesday], so no more appearances on Eurosport during the Winter Olympic coverage. He’s been getting the work done, but it’s a really important block now to set himself up for that first phase of the season.”

After an early altitude block, Pellizzari hit the ground running in his first race of the season in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, forming a bromance with Evenepoel and racing in exemplary fashion to help his leader secure overall victory, and finish third on GC himself.

The Italian is rising in status on just his second season with Red Bull, so it was no surprise to hear how delighted Dempster was with his current form.

“Giulio’s going to do the Clásica Jaén, Strade Bianche, Tirreno and then get on the pathway to the Giro,” said the team’s Chief of Sports.

“I think it was really good to see him get stuck in on that Saturday stage [in Valenciana]. He was riding the flat and then able to respond to the attack, so for me, Remco was impressive, yes, but Julio was equally as impressive, so that’s really exciting.

“Because if you think about it, he was a new rider last year and didn’t race a lot in February, so to start in this way is really encouraging for us.”

While Martínez had a big drop in form last season, it’s still not long since he finished second at the Giro d’Italia only behind Tadej Pogačar in 2024, so there’s no suggestion that he couldn’t bounce back to those levels, inspired by the leadership of Evenepoel.

He’s also made a positive start, finishing second at the Colombian National Championships time trial, but he had had a minor setback ahead of his return to racing in Europe.

“Dani Martinez started well in the Nationals, but he had a little bit of food poisoning, actually, heading into the races, so he wasn’t perfect there,” added Dempster. “

We had him pull out earlier of the road race, more as a precaution, but he’ll be over to Europe soon to start his calendar in the Figueres Classic and Tour of Algarve” – which he won in 2023 and took two stages in 2024, the latter his most recent victories – “and all the rest.”

Vlasov is starting 2026 in a similar position to Martínez, having drastically fallen down the pecking order at Red Bull, a long way from his Tour de Romandie-winning form of 2022. But he’s hit the ground running in his first race.

Also racing alongside Evenepoel and Pellizzari, the Russian athlete was very consistent across the five stages in Valenciana, eventually finishing seventh overall on GC with his two teammates on the podium.

“Vlasov has already raced, so that’s been good. I think he was, on all of the stages, in the top 10, so it was encouraging to see after a difficult year,” added Dempster.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how they all progress now, but they’re all kind of positive, and the main thing for me is obviously that the key name already has been Remco.”