Red Bull, the energy drink company, fully enters the world of cycling with the acquisition of 51% of the BORA-hansgrohe team structure. This operation has been confirmed by the Austrian competition authority and points to large sports sponsorship, such as Formula 1 or football.
This Thursday, January 3, the website of the Austrian competition authority published a statement announcing Red Bull’s majority acquisition of 51% of ‘RD pro Cycling GmbH, the owner of the professional road cycling team, BORA-hansgrohe.
The well-known energy drink company already sponsored various cyclists personally: Wout Van Aert, Tom Pidcock and also former skier Anton Palzer, current BORA team rider. All of them wore the brand’s emblems and logos on their helmets, in a sponsorship separate from the commercial brands that sponsor their respective teams, marking an unusual trend in this sport.
Although at the moment there is no official communication regarding the direction that BORA-hansgrohe will take following the majority acquisition of Red Bull, it can be assumed that he will put his name on the team in the short-medium term.
The German structure has just been reinforced with Primoz Roglic as a star signing to win the Tour de France and has one of the most powerful squads in the peloton. Red Bull would not only bring a sponsorship that is already known in other sports such as Formula 1 or football clubs in Germany or Austria (Leipzig and Salzburg, respectively), but also more financial muscle to undertake other big signings and put itself budgetarily at the height of the Ineos, UAE Team or Jumbo-Visma.
Source; https://www.eurosport.es