From Formula 1 to the Tour de France - Red Bull Seeks to Dominate

The Red Bull slogan, "Red Bull Gives You Wings”, perfectly illustrates the sponsor's intentions for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrophe on the World Pro Tour.

Red Bull Professional Bike Racing Team / Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull Racing

Red Bull dominates the energy drink market with a 43% market share in the category, and currently ranks as the third most valuable soft drink brand behind Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Red Bull launched in 1987. Since then, more than 100 billion cans of electric energy drink have been sold worldwide. The Red Bull slogan, "Red Bull Gives You Wings” illustrates their culture, and represents one of the most popular brands in the world.

Red Bull extends its brand through extreme sports including Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, Red Bull Air Race, Red Bull Crashed Ice and, notably, Formula 1. The company’s marketing also targets sports teams, individual athletes, and music through its Red Bull Records Label. Now their sights are clearly set on professional bicycle racing.

Red Bull Racing's exceptional Formula 1 racing team experienced remarkable success since its inception in 2005. Headquartered in Milton Keynes, UK, Red Bull Racing has consistently invested in top-tier engineering, innovation, and driver-talent to compete and dominate at the highest levels. The team found its stride in 2010, when Red Bull won its first Constructors' and Drivers' Championships with Sebastian Vettel, who went on to secure four consecutive titles from 2010 to 2013. The team’s philosophy emphasizes aerodynamics and advanced engineering solutions.

Red Bull’s recent success centers around Dutch driver Max Verstappen, who joined the team in 2016. In 2021, Verstappen clinched his first Drivers' Championship in a dramatic season finale. Red Bull continues to dominate the field. Red Bull Racing’s success symbolizes the effectiveness of blending strategic investments in technology with bold driver choices, positioning the team as one of the most successful and exciting in modern Formula 1 history. And now they enter bicycle racing.

Roglič was chasing Pogačar’s wheel through the start of the 2024 Tour until he crashed out. / Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrophe

Jim Cotton recently wrote an Article for Velo News powered by Outside outlining Red Bull’s ambitious plans for their professional cycling team in 2025. The team will follow the blueprint established with their Formula 1 Team. The cycling team will train in a new space-age performance center with a Formula 1 expert in-house as they plot to dominate pro cycling in 2025. The emerging super-charged  ‘super-team,’ Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrophe, began racing last season, but targets 2025 as the true start.

“Last year Red Bull was on the jersey, but not much more. Next year will be the ‘real’ start for us.” Red Bull  Team Head of Performance Dan Lorang told Velo. “We will have more people working for us, new opportunities to enhance performance, better access to facilities. It could be a game changer for us,” Lorang said.

Primoz Roglic will add to the strength and aura of the well-backed team. While Roglic crashed out of the ’24 Tour de France, his victory at the Vuelta a Espana showed a glimpse of what will come from Red Bull in the new season. “We are very optimistic we can improve from where we are now, by a lot. We’ve finished the season with a grand tour and the top five in the world ranking. That’s a strong start that we can only improve on.” Lorang told Velo.

The mega-brand’s move into road racing reportedly doubled the Bora-Hansgrohe budget to approximately €45 million per year . This figure rivals top tier ‘super-teams’ Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers. UAE Team Emirates presents the best-financed team on the World Tour with an approximate €55 million annual budget.

“We’ve got more resources to sign new riders, but also to hire some of the best people in their field – like Dan Bigham for example,” Lorang said. “Now we have more people available for certain specialist tasks, things we couldn’t fully work on before.”

Red Bull's Dan Bigham / ANP via Getty Images

Jan Tratnik, Oier Lazkano, and Laurence Pithie are among eight new riders who will bolster the grand tour teams and provide strength to the classic races. A newly-established U23 team will feed new talent to the big stage of Red Bull racing. Beyond cyclists, Red Bull invested significantly in a Formula 1 engineer to tap into the magic of the Red Bull Formula 1 Team. Dan Bigham and Jonny Wale are currently assembling an all-new “engineering team.” Bigham, a technical expert devoted to materials, aerodynamics, and optimization will greatly enhance the team’s performance.

“Engineering and materials are becoming more and more important now,” Lorang told Velo.

“Energy you can save with an aero position or better clothing and material are gains you don’t have to make with training,” Lorang said. “It’s very hard now to gain 30 or 40 watts in a season, but you can definitely lose that with a better set-up.” 

The team also set up the ‘Athlete Performance Center’ in Salzburg, which should catch the attention of the competition.

“We now have access to the Red Bull performance center, and the time to use it,” Lorang said. “Having those facilities, and access to the specialization Red Bull has there in so many different fields … it’s a door-opener.”  

Watch out for Red Bull Racing in 2025. (Related Article)