Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have appointed Zak Dempster as their new Chief of Sports, as of October 1, with the Australian now responsible for overseeing the entire sporting division at the German WorldTour team.
Dempster arrives at Ralph Denk's team, at which he raced between 2013-2016 as a professional in the team's earlier years, after a three-year stint as one of the more senior sports directors at Ineos Grenadiers.
Also joining Red Bull from the British team, which is set to undergo its own staff reshuffle that includes recently retired Geraint Thomas, is Oli Cookson. After 10 years working as a sports director between Ineos and Dimension Data, the 44-year-old will now operate as Head of Racing.
Latest Videos From
"Zak knows our team like very few others. He played an important role in shaping our history, and despite his young age, he already brings extensive international leadership experience," said team boss Denk.
"I am convinced that his fresh ideas, clear leadership style, and fearlessness will help us write the next chapter in our sporting evolution."
This management change comes after the departure of Rolf Aldag from Dempster's role and several years of success, and will welcome 'a new chapter' in Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's pursuit of becoming one of cycling's top teams, led by their marquee signing for 2026 – Remco Evenepoel.
Dempster will now lead the sporting performance management of Red Bull, which will include guiding the likes of Evenepoel, Primož Roglič, and the third-place finisher from the most recent Tour de France, Florian Lipowitz, to more success and new heights.
Evenepoel was announced earlier this summer after breaking his Soudal-QuickStep contract early to join Denk's project as the new leader.
"For me, this feels like coming home. I share so many formative moments of my career with this team, and I am excited to now contribute to its future in a new role," said Dempster in the announcement.
"I know Ralph as an ambitious team manager, and with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe he has created the most exciting project in our sport. Now it’s about realizing this enormous potential together."
Dempster and Cookson will be in charge of 11 sports directors, seven at WorldTour and three for the junior and U23 development programmes. For WT races, the DS team includes Shane Archbold, Tony Gallopin, Roger Hammond, Enrico Poitschke, Christian Pömer and Patxi Villa. But also, two sports directors very familiar with Evenepoel, Sven Vanthourenhout – former Belgian national team coach – and Klaas Lodewyck, who left Soudal-QuickStep to follow his former rider into the next phase of his career.
![BLOCKHAUS, ITALY - MAY 15: (L-R) Ben O'Connor of Australia and Team {"type":"articleBuilderTags","tags":[{"url":"/tag/image/jai-hindley","indexed":false,"dateModified":1777302880000,"dateCreated":1580958069000,"site":"cyclingnews","type":"image","slug":"jai-hindley","name":"Jai Hindley","alternateNames":[],"id":"8sXQPCfohunqAQcf8ndnBk","abbreviation":"","lifecycle":[],"relatedFreeformTags":[]},{"url":"/tag/image/giro-d-italia-2026","indexed":false,"dateModified":1776875875000,"dateCreated":1764501544000,"site":"cyclingnews","type":"image","slug":"giro-d-italia-2026","name":"Giro d'Italia 2026","alternateNames":[],"id":"rrkf3wKvASrYFoLMHwTyNK","abbreviation":"","lifecycle":[],"relatedFreeformTags":[]},{"url":"/tag/image/ben-oconnor","indexed":false,"dateModified":1777538073000,"dateCreated":1567254952000,"site":"cyclingnews","type":"image","slug":"ben-oconnor","name":"ben o'connor","alternateNames":[],"id":"rxxUSXKo6UevYXVYYmaFch","abbreviation":"","lifecycle":[],"relatedFreeformTags":[]}],"site":"cyclingnews","tagsType":"image"}nsgrohe compete during the 109th Giro d'Italia 2026, Stage 7 a 244km stage from Formia to Blockhaus 1658m / #UCIWT / on May 15, 2026 in Blockhaus, Italy. (Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/kPnrx65muXYLXjC7D65meZ-1280-80.jpg.webp)