Dan Bigham has been appointed the Head of Engineering at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, as the German WorldTour team continues to bolster their performance staff thanks to significant extra investment from the energy drink brand.
Bigham has recently worked with Ineos Grenadiers as a performance engineer before taking three months of unpaid leave to compete in the team pursuit for Great Britain at the Paris Olympics Games.
The team won a silver medal but Bigham criticised Ineos, saying “it’s clear as day the team should be doing things a lot better.”
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Jonny Wale, who has worked with Bigham to create the HUUB Wattbike track team and on Bigham’s 2022 World Hour Record attempts, will also leave Ineos to join Bigham at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s new engineering unit.
Primož Roglič is under contract for 2025 but Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are reportedly trying to entice Remco Evenepoel away from Soudal-QuickStep. They have already signed Giulio Pellizzari, Finn Fisher-Black and Laurence Pithie, while opting to not retain Sergio Higuita, Bob Jungels, Lennard Kämna, Maximilian Schachmann and Marco Haller.
Bigham will work with the riders and equipment sponsors like Specialized to optimise performance.
Bigham confirmed to the PA news agency that the world track championships in Denmark, which take place from October 16-20, would be his last major competition as an elite rider but he plans to continue racing for his Huub WattShop team.
“For the past decade, I have balanced the life of an elite athlete with my passion for advancing the sport of cycling through engineering. Having achieved nearly everything I dreamed of on the bike, I am now ready to fully dedicate myself to supporting the next generation of winners,” Bigham said when Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe confirmed his role.
“The opportunity ahead of me at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe is immense. No other team can match this level of combined knowledge, capability, and expertise across its network, and I am eager to leverage it to the fullest.”
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe expect Bigham and Wale to enhance the technical performance potential of the team.
They will work with other Red Bull entities such as Red Bull Advanced Technologies and focus on optimising all aspects of performance and the integration of new and innovative technologies into cycling.
"With Dan and Jonny, we have absolute experts in the combination of cycling and engineering know-how,” Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Chief of Sports Rolf Aldag said.
“At Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, our new engineering unit meets the top know-how of our partners like Specialized on the one hand and the innovative technology entities of Red Bull on the other. This combination is unique in cycling and promises enormous potential.”
