Cycling: Ralph Denk is a doer. As team boss of the Bora – hansgrohe team, he has had a major influence on German professional cycling in recent years. We spoke to the 49-year-old after the one-day classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège. In the interview he tells us, among other things, his plans for the Giro d'Italia, his thoughts on the future of the Deutschland Tour and his opinion of Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel.
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Eighth place in Liège last weekend for Patrick Konrad. How satisfied were you with the result?
Ralph Denk: So for Patrick, eighth place is a big result. With Vlasov, Higuita and Hindley we were there with our best people that we have for such races. Of course we would have liked to fight for the podium, we make no secret of it. We were already second and third in Liege. But with our three big names, there were reasons why things didn't go so well. All the more gratifying that Patrick steps in and says: "Okay, the captains can't. Today is my day."
"Of course, Evenepoel caught our eye back then"
How do you explain that there are currently two riders, Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, who simply attack 80 kilometers from the finish and can then go solo to the finish?
Of course we also discuss it internally and we think we have a suitable answer. After all, we have experienced something similar firsthand. Peter Sagan was also a driver who said: now I drive, now I sprint, now I win. In his prime he won everything on call. And then there's Juraj Sagan. He has the same mom, the same dad and the same diligence. And he just about made it to a seasoned professional driver, although he actually has the same genetics. Juraj trained and trained and trained, but eventually he stopped. And Peter – I would even say today – maybe even trained a bit more relaxed. But he's still gotten a lot better.
I can still remember when my junior coach called me in 2018. He was at a junior race in France and told me: “There is someone from Belgium who just starts at kilometer zero and then crosses the finish line with a lead of over 15 minutes. What's going on there?" Of course, Evenepoel caught our eye back then. I'm a realist and of course you could now say that they do something differently, that they dope or have a different approach. But he was already so good at 17 and that's why it gives me strength to believe that it's all honest.
It's also not the case that all drivers in the Soudal – Quick-Step team are currently outperforming.
No, on the contrary. The other teams also have their problems. Many former drivers of ours have recently followed the money. Ackermann, Formolo and Großschartner have gone to UAE. And when I rate their performance now, I wouldn't say that they've gotten any better. Well, Formolo, for example, finished second for us in Liège. And where was he this year?
I did not see him.
Me neither. The same applies to Großschartner. And when Pogacar fell, I would have thought he might say to himself: "Today is my day." He could have done the same as Patrick Konrad. But he hasn't. There must have been reasons for this. But what I mean by that: It's not the case that our drivers switch to such a team and then suddenly drive twice as fast. Ackermann won 15 races a year for us. At UAE it might be at one or two now.
At Jumbo - Visma, on the other hand, you get the feeling that drivers who go there actually get better.
If you ask me that, I would also say that the Jumbo – Visma team is currently doing a better job.
And yet they haven't won the most important races recently.
That's the nice thing about our sport, that you can't plan everything.
"For some drivers, the road book stays sealed"
What is your plan for the Giro d'Italia this year? You are the defending champions after Jai Hindley's overall victory. It was said that Aleksandr Vlasov will start as captain, but Lennard Kämna will also get his chance. Does that mean he won't be chasing stages like before, but will also be scheduled as a classification driver?
Yes. At least that's how we're going to do it. Ultimately, of course, it's the legs that decide. Let's see how big the gap is after the time trial. We will then analyze that. But he won't intentionally lose time this time.
How do the teams prepare their drivers for a finish? Sometimes you have the feeling that the pros - especially with winding arrivals - don't know what the last kilometer looks like.
Some drivers have strengths there. Before the race, they look in the road book – it's always drawn out nicely there – and remember it. Other drivers don't have their strengths there, they might have other strengths. I've experienced both. There are also extreme examples. With some drivers you look in the suitcase on the last day of a big tour of the country and you will find their road book still sealed.
Now, of course, we want to hear names.
No, I can't name names there now. Fortunately, the technical managers are now also very well equipped. We can announce the exact course of the route via radio. Some drivers find it easier and love to deal with it. For example, it's easy for me to know that we've climbed a certain mountain in recent years and I often remember who won it. But with some drivers you talk after the race and when I say "You've already climbed the mountain four times", they say in amazement "No, I've never climbed the mountain." So there are cases like this.
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“Financially, there is no equality of arms”
Last year you successfully made the transition to a team for classification drivers. How should the development at Bora – hansgrohe continue?
We deliberately chose the upheaval. But of course we also knew that this was a very daring step, a difficult one. If I want quick success, the easiest way is to sign three or four sprinters. Any of them will work. Back then we could easily have gotten three or four sprinters for the money we signed Sagan for. But we wanted the challenge and play a role in big national tours.
With Sagan we won Paris – Roubaix. With Hindley now the Giro d'Italia. And if we look at both media, we can already see that the Giro clearly predominates. Three weeks, the suspense, the ratings, the media reach, etc. Our sponsors have benefited significantly more from this. Of course I don't want to miss Peter Sagan's victory in Roubaix, but that was of course also a reason for the upheaval.
Now we are measuring ourselves against the really big ones, although from a financial point of view there is no equality of arms. That's demanding. We have to use our budget a bit more intelligently to keep up. This is one of the reasons why we made a conscious decision against the additional expenses of having our own U23 team.
It is all the more important that you can also rely on your sponsors.
It's sexy that we have tangible sponsors. In Liège, for example, 65 employees from hansgrohe lined the route. They were excited and took part in the amateur race the day before. And when the owner of Bora comes to a race, he sometimes stands at the side of the road himself and hands our drivers the drinking bottles.
These are extraordinary partnerships and of course give us all more emotions than if any country, a sheikh or an oligarch were behind it. But we are realists. In football, it is now common practice for entire states to own their football clubs. We have to see how this develops in cycling in the future.
“In Germany, the Tour de France is the big highlight”
Sooner or later the Deutschland Tour will probably also develop. Would it be good for German cycling if it were promoted to the WorldTour? Because then you would finally have a local multi-stage race in the highest class of cycling, but at the same time the small German Continental teams would no longer be able to take part in it. What does a Ralph think about it?
Oh, that's a very philosophical question. You have to be careful not to say anything wrong. But do you know why I'm struggling with this? The small teams are not in the Biological Blood Passport. I don't want to accuse any Conti team of anything, but actually that's not entirely fair. We are included in the biological blood passport and we also pay for it with around 200.000 euros a year. There is no other sport like that. So that's why I don't think it's right to always ride together.
If there were alternatives to the Deutschland Tour in Germany, that wouldn't be a big problem either.
Absolutely. That's why I say yes: This is a very political question. But when it comes to the Germany tour, I would rather prefer a different date. Because in Germany, the Tour de France is the big highlight. Everything that happens before that is build-up, is tension. The Bayern Rundfahrt, for example, has also benefited from this. Now we're driving in Hungary in May because the Bayern Rundfahrt no longer exists. I also don't know why the Deutschland Tour isn't being postponed to May. There would be room for it. And I think the topic of the postponement is more important than the topic of whether the Deutschland Tour counts for the WorldTour or not.
Bernhard Eisel works for Bora - hansgrohe as a sports director and at the same time he comments on cycle races on Eurosport. How do these two jobs get along?
Of course, I'm very happy that my sport directors follow the bike races when they're not on duty.
And if he comments, he has to follow her.
Correct. And he has to deal with it intensively and may even see one or two things that we can't see. Maybe he sees some talent or some special moves.
“Your tears come to you in cycling”
Let's take a look at the Tour de France.
We want to win a sprint stage with Sam Bennett and do the best we can to prepare for Jai Hindley's tour debut. He comes to the Tour de France as a Giro winner. I wouldn't say that now we attack the podium directly. That would be presumptuous for his first participation. But I trust him to finish in the top 5.
The prize money at the Tour de France is reasonably acceptable. In other races, on the other hand, they are relatively small.
That's correct. Do you know how much the winner of Liege - Bastogne - Liege gets? 20.000 euros. Whoever comes in 20th place gets 500 euros. I do believe the race organizers that they can no longer pay. The organizers in Liège will not go home with several million euros either. But in general it is a problem in cycling that every race organizer markets itself. The WorldTour is not completely marketed. In Liège, there are different advertising boards than on the Tour of Flanders.
I think when every race organizer cooks their own soup, it's just difficult. I know the sums that are paid for advertising boards in tennis or in Formula 1. That's where the tears come in cycling. These sports are simply a lot further than we are in this respect.
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The interview with Ralph Denk was conducted by Michael Behringer.
Photos copyright: Inscript