Sagan and Ackermann will leave Bora-Hansgrohe at the end of 2021
Sagan and Ackermann will leave Bora-Hansgrohe at the end of 2021
The Bora-Hansgrohe team announced on Thursday that both Peter Sagan and Pascal Ackermann will be leaving the squad at the end of the season.
Both riders have been with the squad since 2017.
“I would firstly like to say that both riders are important parts of our team and we have been able to celebrate many successes together over the past years. For this, I am grateful,” Bora-Hansgrohe manager Ralph Denk said in a press release. “There are different reasons why we are parting ways now. As far as Peter is concerned, we were in negotiations until the end. Of course, I can’t disclose details, but both sides worked constructively on solutions and we both wanted to proceed into the future together
“However, we have also developed as a team, and we aim to continue this development. We have already made some strategic decisions and ultimately, Peter decided that there is another option available to him that is more in line with his ideas. I have full respect for that. Nevertheless, it is a great shame, because Peter is part of our success story and has contributed much to our development. All of us at Bora-Hansgrohe will always be grateful for that.
“Pascal also had an offer from us. He turned pro with the team and I think we also contributed a lot to developing him into one of the best sprinters in the peloton. We would have loved to continue working with Pascal, but he decided it was time for something new. A change of pace can sometimes be important, I can understand that, but I would have preferred him to take on the coming years with us.”
Sagan came over from Tinkoff after that team folded, arriving at Bora-Hansgrohe as a two-time world road champion with a Tour of Flanders title and five Tour de France green jerseys on his palmares, to name only some of his achievements up to that point. Since then, the now-31-year-old Slovakian has added a third world title, three more green jerseys, and a Paris-Roubaix victory – among other big results – to his list of achievements. This year, he won a stage and the points jersey at the Giro d’Italia.
According to reports, Sagan may be headed to French ProTeam TotalEnergies next season, and Cyclingnews reports that several of his current Bora teammates will be joining him there.
“I have no doubt that the five seasons I spent in Bora-Hansgrohe were among the most prolific of my career and some of my most memorable moments happened during that period,” Sagan said. “I became the first rider to claim three consecutive World Championships, I had the honor of winning Paris-Roubaix. I scored my 100th professional victory while wearing the Bora-Hansgrohe colors, I won my record-breaking seventh green jersey in the Tour de France and my first ever ciclamino jersey in the Giro d’Italia.
“However, after a long and thorough discussion with my own management and under a mutual agreement with Bora-Hansgrohe, we came to the decision that it would be best if my cycle in the team came to a close and that a new chapter opened in my career. Change is part of life and growth.”
As for Ackermann, his stint with Bora has comprised the entirety of his WorldTour career, as he made the move up to the German WorldTour team from the Rad-Net Rose Continental squad. During his time with Bora, the 27-year-old German sprinter has racked up 18 WorldTour victories. He has taken WorldTour one-day wins at the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic and Eschborn-Frankfurt, he has nabbed two stages each at the Giro and the Vuelta a España, and he also won the 2019 Giro points title.
He has been linked to a potential move to UAE-Team Emirates next year.
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