VeloNews have sat down with Ralph Denk, manager of Bora-Hansgrohe to discuss the future of the German team and how they managed to secure the signing of World Champion Peter Sagan.

“It was proactive from our side. I talked to Giovanni [Lombardi, Sagan’s agent]. I know him for a long time because we raced together. After meeting Giovanni, then I met Peter, and from that point, things went very fast," Denk told VeloNews when asked how contact was initiated.

After meeting the Slovak, it became clear he and Denk sared similar goals. Once he was on board, bike sponsor Specialized and new co-sponsor Hansgrohe came very quickly after. Denk was adamant none of this would be possible without Bora’s support.

“I had a strong commitment with Bora. And that support made it possible to sign Sagan. After we signed Sagan, it became very easy to get together with Specialized. You have Sagan on board, and it is easy to find a second naming sponsor. Hansgrohe were very interested when they knew we had Sagan.”

With the money from the new sponsors, Denk went out and signed Rafal Majka, Sagan’s current teammate, to ride GC. The team is not just about Sagan, but also Majka and developing young talents like Sam Bennett, Patrick Konrad, Emmanuel Buchmann and Michael Schwarzmann.

“We have two goals, with the one-day classics, like the northern classics, and the other side, we have [Rafal] Majka, with some more big GC guys to go for the podium in the stage races. And for my personal point of view, it is important to develop young German talent.”

Now that the talented riders have arrived and the money is there, the logical step for Denk is to go to the WorldTour. He has sent off the application, the decision now lies with the UCI.

“Our goal is WorldTour. The final decision is up to the UCI. We have met with the UCI, and we have to fulfill the criteria. I am very optimistic when I look to the riders we have.”