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<h1>&nbsp;</h1><h1>PRESS SECTION</h1>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h4>Ralph Scherzer</h4><h4>Phone: +49 (0)8035-907 182</h4><h4>Mobile: +43 (0)650 7362378</h4><h4>E-Mail: <a href="mailto:press@bora-hansgrohe.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">press@bora-hansgrohe.com</a></h4>&nbsp;

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MAIN PRESS CONTACT

PRESS RELEASES

Today's one-day race served several riders as preparation for the Tour of the Basque Country, which commences next Monday. There were 3500 meters of elevation across the 203km long route, which took the peloton around Estella-Lizarra. The first half of the race contained a series of small, sapping ascents before the real climbing began over the final 100km. After the break was caught at 60km to go, the field started to split, but BORA-hansgrohe was represented up front with Sergio Higuita, Emanuel Buchmann and Giovanni Aleotti. With 10km remaining, Sergio and I. Izagirre attacked out of the reduced field and the duo was no longer to be caught. On the final climb, Sergio was dropped by Izagirre and ended up taking a strong second place.&nbsp;Result01 I. Izagirre&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;5:09:0502 S. Higuita&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; +0:0203 M. Skjelmose&nbsp; &nbsp; +0:13&nbsp;From the Finish Line"It hasn't been the best start to the season for me, but today I felt good and that encourages me for the next week of racing. I'm really happy to be on the podium at this beautiful race, I was on the podium here also in 2019. It's a really explosive race with a tough finale, and I knew that heading into today. Izagirre and I worked well together, and it was a pity that I wasn't able to follow him on the final ascent. I came pretty close in the end, but I'm really pleased to have taken second place here. The entire team also worked very well together, so I'd like to thank them for all their work." - Sergio Higuita&nbsp;“The guys were very motivated today to ride for the win. We knew that we had to be particularly careful of riders of the calibre of Izagirre and Carapaz, for instance, and definitely had to counter important attacks in the final. That's exactly what Sergio did. Unfortunately he wasn't able to follow Izagirre on the last climb but he still managed to take a very strong second place in the end. The guys worked well together today, and we had several riders in the reduced field so I think we can head into the Tour of the Basque Country with confidence." - Jens Zemke, Sports Director

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Sergio Higuita takes second at GP Induráin

With its combination of steep climbs and cobbled sectors, Dwars door Vlaanderen presented the final opportunity for the riders to test their legs before the second Monument of the season. With the start in Roesalare and finish in Waregem, the 183.7 km long course featured eleven helligen and eight cobbled sectors. The break went clear early on, but with around 6 km to go, the race came together again before ten riders broke away from the decimated field that contained Nils Politt and Danny van Poppel. The race then opened up again with 4.5km remaining, when Laporte attacked from the leading group and no one was able to follow him. Nils took 10th place while Danny crossed the finish line in 18th. Result 01 C. Laporte &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 4:06:20 02 O. Lazkano &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; +0:15 03 N. Powless &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;+0:15 10 N. Politt &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;+0:15&nbsp;From the Finish Line “It was another tough day. The racing kicked off relatively early and, to be honest, it was very hectic, with a few crashes at key points. Then, unfortunately, Merlier fell in front of us on Berg ten Houte and then the gap opened up heading into the Kanarieberg, which we were then able to close. On the Trieu I just couldn't follow the first group. I noticed that my legs are just a bit heavy from Sunday. Still, I'm happy with a top ten result, especially considering that many of the sprinters were still in my group that raced to the line." - Nils Politt&nbsp;"That's another Classic in the bag. We were present on the climbs, and with the win going to Laporte, we tried to sprint for second place. Nils took tenth in the end, which admittedly wasn't the position that we were fighting for today. But the morale is high and we're still going to head into the next races with confidence." - Jean-Pierre Heynderickx, Sports Director

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Nils Politt in top 10 at Dwars door Vlaanderen

The Classics continued today with Gent-Wevelgem, a race that featured nine hellingen and treacherous cobblestone and gravel sections over nearly 261km. Constant rain, cold temperatures and winds made the race even more difficult. On the first flat 160km, a breakaway went clear, gaining less than a three-minute lead in the first half of the race. Before the Monteberg everything came together again, but it wasn't long before the attacks started to fly, and on the Kemmelberg Van Aert and Laporte attacked. BORA-hansgrohe was represented in the chasing group by Danny van Poppel, Nils Politt and Marco Haller. After the last passage of the Kemmelberg, Nils and Danny were still up there and proceeded to parepare the sprint for third place for Danny. With the victory going to Laporte, the Dutchman took BORA-hansgrohe's first top 10 finish this week in Belgium.&nbsp;Result 01 C. Laporte &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;5:49:39 02 W. Van Aert &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;+0:00 03 S. Vanmarcke &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; +1:56 09 D. Van Poppel &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;+2:04 20 N. Politt &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;+2:04&nbsp;From the Finish Line "With every crossing of the Kemmelberg I actually felt stronger and today I think I had a good chance of a strong placing. After it became clear that the two Jumbo riders could not be brought back, I definitely wanted to fight for a podium place. So it was a shame that we couldn't counter the last few attacks because a better result was then out of reach. But I'm happy that I was able to get our first top 10 finish of the week." - Danny van Poppel&nbsp;"It was a very hard day and the weather in particular wasn't great. It was also a big question of morale to be right up there today. As a team we rode relatively well. We got over the Kemmelberg well the first time, as we positioned ourselves well in the lead up there, and on the last ascent of the Kemmelberg we were still represented by Danny and me. Then we decided that Danny would do the sprint because he is the fastest sprinter between us, and with his ninth place, we put in a solid performance and we can be happy with how it went." - Nils Politt&nbsp;“It was, as we expected, a tough race all day, but nonetheless we were still there in the finale. We fought for a podium and in the end we took a top 10 result. We were always well positioned at important points, such as in the Kemmelberg. So we can't be dissatisfied with our performance. We fought well and will continue to do so here in Belgium" - Jean-Pierre Heynderickx, Sport Director

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Danny van Poppel takes ninth at Gent – Wevelgem

As is tradition, the seventh and final stage of Volta Catalunya took the race to Barcelona’s city centre. The final stretch of the 135km long stage consisted of six laps of a tough circuit at the olympic park Montjuïc. On the third lap, P. Roglič, R. Evenepoel and M. Soler were able to break away from the peloton. BORA - hansgrohe did a lot of work in the chase, but was unable to close the gap. R. Evenepoel secured the stage win, and P. Roglič the overall victory. Jai Hindley and Cian Uijtdebroeks crossed the finish line within the group around 4th and were able to consolidate their positions in the GC. Hindley finishes the race in 8th, while 20-year-old Cian Uijtdebroeks in 9th takes his first top 10 result in a WorldTour race.&nbsp; &nbsp;Result01 R. Evenepoel 2:59:24&nbsp;02 P. Roglič +0:0003 M. Soler +0:5312 J. Hindley +0:5828 C. Uijtdebroeks +0:58 &nbsp;General Classification&nbsp;01 P. Roglič 28:19:10&nbsp;02 R. Evenepoel +0:0603 J. Almeida +2:1108 J. Hindley +3:1109 C. Uijtdebroeks +3:32&nbsp;&nbsp;From the Finish Line &nbsp;“For me, this top 10 result almost feels like a win. My goal here was to finish within the best 10 riders, and I prepared myself for that. The last stage was also really hard, but on the circuit I always managed to make it over the climb in a good position. I was able to learn a lot from Jai Hindley during the past week and I would also like to thank the whole team for their support.“ Cian Uijtdebroeks&nbsp;“At the beginning of the stage, we had a hope of going far in a breakaway. But with several teams controlling the race, this plan then went out of contention. It was also important for us to ride an offensive finale with Jai Hindley and to secure Cian Uijtdebroeks' top 10 position. Even though Jai couldn't make up any more spots in the GC, we're satisfied with having two riders in the top 10 overall, two podiums for Ide Schelling and a strong team performance throughout the week. Cian Uijtdebroeks' ninth place overall is a very valuable result. Getting a result like that at just 20 years old is impressive and an affirmation of his talent.” Christian Pömer, Sports Director &nbsp;

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Jai Hindley and Cian Uijtdebroeks conclude the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in the top 10 overall

On paper not the hardest stage, the riders made it a brutal one. The first uphill part was a perfect launch pad for attacks and several groups tried to go clear from the bunch. But it took over 100km until six riders distanced themselves from the peloton. On the last climb with about 20km remaining the group was caught and M. Soler gave it a go, later countered by R. Evenepoel and P. Roglic. These actions made the first bunch quite small with several BORA – hansgrohe riders in. When the front duo was caught it was Ide Schelling who contested the sprint for the German squad on finally crossed the line in 3rd place, while after a thrilling day K. Groves took the sprint from a heavily reduced bunch.&nbsp;&nbsp;Results01 K. Groves 3:50:3202 B. Coquuard +0:0003 I. Schelling +0:0008 P. Konrad +0:00&nbsp;From the finish line„It was a really hard day. Actually, a battle until 10km to go. The sprint than wasn’t too easy as nobody really controlled. I was a little back but found Koni with 700m to go and we hit the front then. Unfortunately, Kaden pushed me a little and therefore I was in the wind too early. Still, I think we can be happy with the result.“ –&nbsp;Ide Schelling&nbsp;„We were fully committed to a sprint with Ide the whole day. Frederik did an amazing job to control the beginning even it was quite chaotic. We didn’t do any crazy moves and just waited for the sprint from the reduced bunch. Unfortunately, some real sprinters made it over the last climb and of course it is very difficult for Ide then. But Koni did a good lead-out and Ide a strong sprint to finish 3rd. We are happy with this result.“ –&nbsp;Christian Pömer, Sports Director

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Ide Schelling takes 3rd on stage six at Volta Catalunya

The 176.6km long fifth stage in Catalunya featured the “Lo Port” climb. The final ascent of today’s stage was with a length of almost 9km and an average gradient of 8,6%, the hardest of the week. The last rider of an early breakaway was caught at 6.5km from the finish. After a tough race and several attacks on the way to the mountain finish, Jai Hindley crossed the finish line in 9th, Cian Uijtdebroeks, in 10th, scored a top 10 for the third time this week. P. Roglič took the stage win and also the GC lead. In the overall standings, Jai Hindley lost one position and is now 8th, closely followed by Cian Uijtdebroeks in 9th. &nbsp;&nbsp;Result01 P. Roglič 4:27:4102 R. Evenepoel +0:0603 J. Almeida +0:12&nbsp;09 J. Hindley +1:0410 C. Uijtdebroeks +1:15&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From the Finish Line &nbsp;“Another really tough mountain finish! The whole day was pretty easy until we hit the bottom of the climb, from there on it was full gas. Ide Schelling did a strong pull on the lower parts of the climb but I just didn’t have the legs to continue it. We’re still expecting two hard days here and we’ll see what we can do!” Jai Hindley&nbsp;“It was the last mountain finish of the race, we wanted to take some risks in order to gain a few positions in the overall. However, Jumbo-Visma and Soudal - Quick Step were just too strong and foiled our plans. Jai Hindley and Cian Uijtdebroeks are still in the top 10 overall - we will try everything on the remaining two stages to improve and head towards a top 5 finish.” Christian Pömer, Sports Director &nbsp;

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Ralph Scherzer

Phone: +49 (0)8035-907 182

Mobile: +43 (0)650 7362378