Primož Roglič has officially signed with Bora-Hansgrohe, with the announcement delivered in a team press conference on Friday. He joins on a deal of "more than one year", according to team boss Ralph Denk, and is set to lead his new squad in the quest for Tour de France victory next July.
The Jumbo-Visma rider had previously confirmed he would leave his current team before the Giro dell'Emilia last Saturday, despite having a contract through 2024,
The Dutch squad are set to lose title sponsor Jumbo at the end of next year, and are reportedly contemplating a merger with Soudal-Quickstep. Amid the discussions, Jumbo-Visma boss Richard Plugge confirmed the team "gave the green light" for Roglič to leave mid-contract.
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Rumours had linked Roglič to numerous teams, including Ineos Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek, Jayco-AlUla, and Movistar. However, the news that he was close to signing with Bora-Hansgrohe emerged earlier this week.
"I am looking forward to this step, even though a team change is kind of like new territory for me," Roglič said. "The good memories of when we met years ago made the talks easy. But the decisive factor was that the team is really motivated to work with me, and that we hold the same ideas."
Team boss Ralph Denk confirmed that the 33-year-old signed a contract of "more than one year" with the team on Thursday. He also noted that the deal was financed by savings made over previous seasons and was not financed in any way by Red Bull, contradicting some media reports.
Denk also confirmed that no further riders would be signing up to the squad as part of the Roglič deal. His coach Marc Lamberts is also set to shift to the German team from Jumbo-Visma but the deal has not yet been confirmed.
"After the departure of Peter Sagan, a next milestone for us," Denk said. "He's one of the best riders in the world. He won more or less every race of the 2023 season.
"I'm proud that Primož took the decision to sign with us. I think it's a big boost for our whole team. In all the meetings I had with him, he inspired me about different things. I'm super happy to tell you this news."
The move to Bora-Hansgrohe comes with a rumoured buyout fee paid to the Dutch team of €3 million, while Roglič's contract – a reported two-year deal – is set to pay him over €5 million per season.
Roglič started his career with Jumbo-Visma in 2016 after making the transition from ski jumping to cycling with the Slovenian Adria Mobil outfit. Since then, he has ascended to superstardom, winning the Vuelta a España three times, the 2023 Giro d'Italia, and finished second in the Tour de France in 2020 as well as taking a Monument victory at the 2020 Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
At the Vuelta this year, however, signs of discontent seemed to emerge as Roglič was forced to share leadership with Jonas Vingegaard and surprise contender Sepp Kuss, who raced into the lead on stage 8.
During the race, Roglič seemed to question the team's decision to support Kuss. After the queen stage to the Alto de L'Angliru, where he rode away from the race leader, he said, "I have my own thoughts about it".
Roglič is unlikely to face quite the same level of leadership challenges at Bora-Hansgrohe as those which had left him secondary to double Tour winner Vingegaard at Jumbo-Visma over the past few seasons.
Along with Roglič, the German team can count 2022 Giro d'Italia winner Jai Hindley, Vuelta breakout star Cian Uijtdebroeks, and Alexander Vlasov as Grand Tour contenders. However, the Slovenian figures to be the main GC leader as he targets the Tour de France next summer, raising the possibility that he, Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel will all face off for the first time on rival teams.
