Jai Hindley, Sergio Higuita and Marco Haller will all ride for Bora-Hansgrohe in 2022. The German WorldTour team announced the arrival of the three riders on Wednesday, a day after it was confirmed that Sam Bennett would return to the team next season and Peter Sagan will join Team TotalEnergies.
Hindley’s arrival from Team DSM had been heavily rumoured in recent months. The Australian placed second overall at the 2020 Giro d’Italia but he was forced to abandon this year’s race due to a saddle sore.
Earlier this week, DSM confirmed that Hindley’s injury would prevent him from competing at the Vuelta a España, though he is set to line out at the Tour de Pologne and continue his season until Il Lombardia.
Hindley will rejoin his former teammate Wilco Kelderman at Bora-Hansgrohe. The pair were co-leaders of Team Sunweb at the 2020 Giro and they both had short spells in the pink jersey in the final week before placing on the podium in Milan behind Tao Geoghegan Hart.
"I am very excited to be riding for Bora-Hansgrohe from next season onwards. I’ve been watching the team for a long time and have admired their impressive progression over the past few years,” Hindley said. “For my next steps as a professional, Bora-Hansgrohe is the right team for me, I’m sure of this. My focus will be on stage races, on one-week races and Grand Tours. I can still develop there and that's what I want to work on with my new team.”
Like Hindley, Higuita will bolster Bora-Hansgrohe’s stage racing prospects.
The Colombian joins after three years at EF Education-Nippo. He won a stage of the Vuelta a España in 2019 and claimed the Colombia Tour in early 2020 before placing third overall at Paris-Nice.
“From my point of view, Bora-Hansgrohe has everything that I need to fully utilise my potential in the upcoming years,” Higuita said.
“Of course, it will also be a challenge as the first Colombian in a German team, but I quickly came to the realisation that we essentially have the same spirit. Everything is very familiar, and I quite like that.”
Haller joins after a two-year stint at Bahrain-Victorious. He performed strongly in the cobbled Classics this year and is a valued domestique. The Austrian will aim to dovetail with Nils Politt on the cobbles next year and he could also slot in to Sam Bennett’s lead-out train.
“Personally, I plan to play a role particularly in the Classics. This year, that has already worked out well and I’m aiming to build upon that. But that won't be my only role,” Haller said.
“I’m quite versatile, also in the lead-out and as a helper in Grand Tours, and I’d like to use my experience to help the team on all terrains.”
Bora-Hansgrohe’s roster is undergoing a significant overhaul ahead of the 2022 season following the departure of Peter Sagan, Daniel Oss and Maciej Bodnar to Team TotalEnergies, while Pascal Ackermann is also set to leave the team.
Ralph Denk’s squad have confirmed the return of Sam Bennett, while Emanuel Buchmann and Max Schachmann are set to remain with the squad.
“The signing of Jai, Sergio and Marco is an important step towards adding further depth to our squad. We realise that it’s important to continuously broaden ourselves as a team, with races being quite different than they used to be,” said Denk.
“One has to be able to react flexibly in races. Flexibility is key if one wants to race offensively, and that's what we want to do.
“Jai will clearly be orienting himself towards the GC with us. He has definitely had a difficult season so far, yet his potential is undisputed. We think that second place in the 2020 Giro is not the end of the journey and we will continue to work together to bring more consistency to his performances.”
