Bora-Hansgrohe signs Hindley, Higuita, and Haller
Bora-Hansgrohe signs Hindley, Higuita, and Haller
The Bora-Hansgrohe transfer news continues to roll in. A day after the team announced that Sam Bennett would be returning to the squad – while Peter Sagan and several others are moving on – the German WorldTour team has confirmed the signing of Jai Hindley, Sergio Higuita, and Marco Haller to three-year deals.
Hindley comes over from DSM, where he made the step up to the WorldTour at the start of the 2018 season. The 25-year-old Australian emerged as a promising climber during his early years with the then-Sunweb team and ultimately rode to a stage win and second overall at the 2020 Giro d’Italia.
Higuita is transferring from EF Education-Nippo, having joined the American team in 2019. In his first season there, he won a stage and took second overall at the Tour of California (behind Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates) as well as a stage at the Vuelta a España. In 2020, he won the Tour Colombia 2.1 and rode to third at Paris-Nice.
Haller has spent the past two years with the Bahrain Victorious organization after eight years with Katusha, having accrued plenty of experience in sprints and in the Classics over the course of his career.
“The signing of Jai, Sergio and Marco is an important step towards adding further depth to our squad. We realize that it’s important to continuously broaden ourselves as a team, with races being quite different than they used to be,” said team manager Ralph Denk in a press release. “One has to be able to react flexibly in races. Flexibility is key if one wants to race offensively, and that’s what we want to do.
“Jai will clearly be orienting himself towards the GC with us. He has definitely had a difficult season so far, yet his potential is undisputed. We think that second place in the 2020 Giro is not the end of the journey and we will continue to work together to bring more consistency to his performances.
“Sergio is a very versatile rider. First and foremost, he’ll strengthen the team in difficult one-day races, such as the Ardennes classics. He is a very good climber who is also fast in the sprints. With these skills, he can also go for stage wins in stage races.
“Marco, on the other hand, brings a lot of experience for his age, having had many different roles, including being a rider in the sprint train, co-leader in the Flemish classics and also being able to lead a team as road captain. It is exactly this versatility that we’re aiming to take advantage of. He will play a central role, particularly in the spring, and through his experience, will help lead young riders in the races.”
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