Tadej Pogacar’s agent warns about the arrival of Red Bull: “a big impact on the sport, it will increase the value of the greatest cyclists”

A significant change is taking place in professional cycling. Contracts are extending, stars are being paid more substantially, and this trend looks set to persist with the entry of international brand Red Bull.

Alex Carrera, representative of talents such as Tadej Pogacar (with a fine of 100 million Euros in case of breach of contract) and Cian Uijtdebroeks, is optimistic about this impact.

“The arrival of Red Bull promises to have significant repercussions on the sport and on the cyclist transfer market.”

“The inclusion of Lidl (supermarket chain), as main sponsor, has already caused changes in the market in 2024, increasing the teams’ budgets, as well as the recent entry of Decathlon”, declared the agent to the American website Cyclingnews.

“Red Bull’s presence will undoubtedly further enhance the value of the top cyclists.”

Lidl-Trek

Lidl-Trek has seen a huge increase in budget and therefore quality in 2024, and BORA-Hansgrohe is the next team, to possibly repeat this move, after signing Primoz Roglic and now partnering with Austrian brand Red Bull which had more than 1.5 billion euros in profit in 2023.

Four main stars of world cycling

“There are four global stars in professional cycling and I think Ralph Denk (director of BORA-hansgrohe), could try to sign one of them for 2025”, believes Carrera. 

“The big four are Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout Van Aert and Remco Evenepoel. I wouldn’t include Jonas Vingegaard on this list, despite him winning the Tour de France, simply because I don’t think he’s a global star who has Red Bull appeal.”

Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert after BORA-Hansgrohe?

There have already been rumors this week that Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert have received contact from the German team.

“Tadej Pogacar has a contract until 2028, but I don’t believe that the other cyclists have big clauses that prevent them from leaving. Van der Poel recently extended his contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck and so he may be likely to stay”, he concludes. “That leaves just two riders for Red Bull to target…”