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Annecy / Vienna . Cycling is a team sport. While superstar star Peter Sagan was leading the competition on the ground during the first week of the Tour de France, teammates like top Austrian Lukas Pöstlberger, who were protecting their captain, gave him a wake and did the dirty work at home. background
Lohn: Sagan book, and thanks to him, the team of Bora Hansgrohe from Raubling of Upper Bavaria is on everyone's lips. Last year, he won the first stage victory of his team in the Tour, this year he has already won two sections and three second places. The green jersey of the best sprinters will be hard to beat for the Slovak charismatic. Sagan and his team "rock the tour", was a title.
Pöstlberger, 26, did not just guide Sagan through the first ten steps. A year ago, he himself had offered a glorious moment to the Bora team, when he won the first stage of the Giro d'Italia during his first three-week tour before to win the jersey of the leader of the general clbadification. in the mountains. And in the eight-headed Bora team, Gregor Mühlberger is especially needed. At 24, Lower Austria has already completed its third big tour after the Vuelta 2016 and the Giro 2017. His task on the circuit: to bring the captain Rafał Majka as far as possible on the Alps and the Pyrenees. The Pole should be in the top five overall.
The Austrians on the right track
Mühlberger and Pöstlberger, Austrian champions of 2017 and 2018, have been cycling for Ralph Denk for three years. The former amateur pilot from Bavaria founded the racing team in 2010 and has been since the team manager. Up to now, the story has been a success: in 2012, the team received a wildcard for the Giro, followed in 2013 by the Vuelta a España, the first start of the tour in 2014.
Denk made his biggest blow with Peter Sagan's commitment. As a three-time world champion, the 28-year-old is not only a guarantor of athletic achievement, but also the most sought-after advertising character in cycling. "Peter is the most expensive driver in the field and worth every penny – nobody is so in public," says Denk. In addition to the specialist American wheel manufacturer, it is mainly the medium-sized German Bora (kitchen) and Hansgrohe (hardware) companies that pay Sagan's annualized salary of five million euros.
In the meantime, the team has not only reached the world's elite. Since last year, Bora has been fired by a global team, maintains his own kitchen and employs more than 80 people, including the Austrian Pömer Christian Pömer as one of the sporting leaders
In general, the Bavarian team is closely linked to the rise of Austrian cycling. Nine Austrians are now under contract with UCI world teams, including four at Bora. Beside Pöstlberger and Mühlberger, mountain specialist Felix Großschartner, 24, and Low German Patrick Konrad, 26, brilliantly finished the Giro d'Italia at the end of May.
However, the ship is and remains Sagan. "A good guy and a great teammate, he does not see himself differently, he knows it, without us, the successes do not come," said Konrad, even the veteran German Marcus Burghardt, who helped Sagan this year to win Paris-Roubaix, who already denies his tenth Tour de France, believes the Slovaks as a leader. "He has pressure at every race. He does a great job and never pbades it on to the team. "
The Sagan contract ends at the end of 2019." I think Peter wants to stay. We'll talk about it after the tour, "said team manager Denk, who also gives his star the necessary freedom." He needs that. For example, he is allowed to ski with us in the winter – we take the risk. "
(" Die Presse ", printed edition, 18.07.2018)
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