fans through good food, public viewing and entertainment?
Cycling through Paris past the Eiffel Tower and along the
Champs-Élysées on BORA-branded bikes with retail partners
and members of the BORA - hansgrohe team? Celebrating
Jai Hindley’s Giro d’Italia victory in 2022 with the
BORA - hansgrohe team, retail partners, employees and
friends – while all wearing pink T-shirts produced at a
minute’s notice? BORA makes it possible!
In addition to the events, the commitment to cycling is also
reflected in all brand-related communication, including in
adverts, campaigns, on social media or in the stories on
bora.com. Blog articles, interviews and videos with exciting
and exclusive behind-the-scenes insights are regularly
produced in cooperation with BORA - hansgrohe cyclists.
The professional cycling team and BORA as a company have
always developed in parallel and share the same values.
Ralph Denk’s company, which now has 30 professional
cyclists and another 100 employees, has also been able to
continually develop its structures thanks to BORA. The BORA
Kitchen Truck, which acts as a ‘mobile restaurant’ for the cyclists
at races, is an important asset that creates the best conditions
for offering a healthy and performance-optimising diet.
BORA’s passion for the sport is far from just a hobby.
Regular media reporting and market research provide
proof of the increased brand awareness and the
effectiveness of the sponsorship activities. They also help
to continually adapt the activities so as to make perfect use
of the emotional and international nature of cycling as well
as the sport’s great accessibility. This provides an authentic
means of introducing the products and the people behind
the BORA brand.
Extraordinary experiences in the worlds of cycling and
kitchens – even BORA’s sponsorship activities are one
of a kind, in line with the slogan: More than cooking. The
company may well be swimming against the tide but it
will gladly continue to make the most of the tailwind
offered by cycling, even beyond the 10th anniversary
of the sponsorship activities.
Exploring new and different avenues, swimming against the
tide and turning little things into something great: these
concepts are all in BORA’s DNA, and they are also reflected in
its sponsorship commitment to cycling. The company was
barely five years old and still had fewer than 50 employees
when the name first adorned the sleeves of Ralph Denk’s
Raubling-based ‘Team NetApp’ racing team. The logo on the
sleeve enabled BORA to invite special customers to ‘money
can’t buy’ race experiences as a thank you for their loyalty
and an incentive for further cooperation. BORA became
interested in intensifying its cycling sponsorship.
Team manager Ralph Denk and BORA founder Willi Bruckbauer
have been friends for over 30 years. Whereas in their younger
days, they competed with and against each other in cycling
races, today, their sporting ambitions take a backseat when
they head out together and they instead use the time to talk.
A passion for cycling provided the best foundations for
becoming the team’s main sponsor, a development that
occurred in 2015 following an in-depth benchmark study.
Allowing a global audience to see an international
professional cycling team with BORA in the name at the
start of the world’s most important race offered visibility,
advertising value and a return on investment that would
not have been achievable through any other sport. Willi
Bruckbauer’s passion for cycling is also shared within the
company, with employees from all departments frequently
getting together for bike rides after work.
The opportunities and infinite possibilities offered by the
sponsorship activities have been clear to BORA from the
very outset and are used across all communication channels.
Sponsorship has become a firmly established marketing tool
– and not without putting BORA’s typically unique stamp on it.
Lifting guests high into the sky with ‘BORA in the Air’ at the
Eschborn–Frankfurt classic cycling race and offering them
a clear view of the finish line from above? Flying the entire
company to Mallorca for a cycling weekend? Building a mobile
BORA kitchen on the most iconic Tour de France climb in Alpe
d’Huez and celebrating the race with locals and thousands of
2015 BORA becomes the main sponsor. The team name
changes to BORA - ARGON18. The then 22-year-old
and new-found German Champion Emanuel
Buchmann takes third place in the Pyrenees stage
of his first Tour de France.
2017 hansgrohe replaces ARGON18 and the team
enters the WorldTour as BORA - hansgrohe. Peter
Sagan, the rock star of international cycling, is
signed and becomes World Champion for the third
consecutive year.
2018 Peter Sagan wins the Paris–Roubaix cycling
monument wearing the World Champion rainbow
jersey and takes the green jersey at the Tour de
France as winner of the points classification.
2019 Pascal Ackermann tops the points classification
at the Giro d’Italia. Peter Sagan takes the green
jersey at the Tour de France for a record-breaking
seventh time.
2020 Max Schachmann wins the prestigious
Paris–Nice stage race and repeats this success
the following year.
2022 Jai Hindley wins the Giro d’Italia and thus the
first Grand Tour title for BORA - hansgrohe.
2023 Jordi Meeus wins the last stage of the Tour de
France on the Champs-Élysées, also known as the
sprinters’ world championships. Since 2015, the
team has enjoyed over 230 victories.
2024 Top cyclist Primož Roglič joins BORA - hansgrohe.
The Giro d’Italia and three-time Vuelta a España
winner as well as Olympic time trial champion
further strengthens the team, especially at the
Grand Tours.
Milestones
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Photos: VeloImages.com, bettiniphoto, BORA - hansgrohe/SprintCycling (2)
The BORA Fan Zone at the
Tour de France 2022 in
Alpe d’Huez: fans cheered
on the professional
cyclists 1.5 kilometres
before the finish line.
I N S P I R AT I O N
B O R A M A G A Z I N E
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B O R A M A G A Z I N E
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