Trading places
Jens Zemke is the tall, silver-haired sports director who has been driving team cars and deciding on team tactics for more than a decade. Having worked with the Cervélo Test Team, the HTC-High Road women’s team, MTN-Qhubeka and Dimension Data, next year will be Zemke’s sixth season with Bora-Hansgrohe. But the change from 2021 to 2022 will be more radical than in any of the German sports director’s previous switches of team.
‘It will be like pushing the reset button,’ he says. Ten riders are joining Bora-Hansgrohe, but an equally or even more significant fact is that one is leaving. And not just any one.
It was a huge surprise when Peter Sagan joined the German team at the same time as Zemke in 2017. Then the biggest star of world cycling, Sagan propelled the outfit into the big time. Hansgrohe came in as co-sponsor. They became part of the WorldTour and built a team around Sagan, which meant an emphasis on Classics and sprints.
A proper analysis of Bora-Hansgrohe’s 30-man roster confirms there will be a radical change of focus next year and beyond. It’s a gamble
In 2022 Sagan will move on to French team TotalEnergies,
