With two new Irish riders in its line-up - in the shape of Sam Bennett and Ryan Mullen - Bora-hansgrohe believes it now has the best sprint and lead-out set-up in the peloton.
Ralph Aldag, one of the team's managers, said the team believed the two Irish riders were a very big asset and Bora-hansgrohe had confidence they could take on any team in the peloton and win.
"With Sam Bennett in the team and the whole new structure of the squad, we can venture to say that we will have the strongest train in the peloton," Aldag told an online press conference.
"Look at our boys and their physique - Ryan Mullen is not an easy guy to push down, he is super big. We are sure that we will be able to fight any team."
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Bennett has gone back to the team after spending all if his career there, bar the last two years. This time, Peter Sagan and his group are gone and Bennett has brought his own people in.
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Ryan Mullen is part of that lead-out set-up, as is Dutch fastman Danny van Poppel and Bennett's long-time wingman Shane Archbold; the Kiwi who has just won New Zealand's national criterium championships.
Aldag said while there was not many top general classification riders in the team, Bennett would go to the Tour de France and he would be the team's main asset in hunting for stage wins. He also earmarked Milan-Sanremo as an early season goal for the Irishman and Gent Wevelgem.
The team will take three general classification riders - new signings Jai Hindley and Wilco Kelderman, as well as Emanuel Buchmann - to the Giro and will not bring a sprinter to that race.
Aldag said Bennett would definitely ride the Tour de France - where he won two stages and the green jersey in 2020 but missed on on going back with Deceuninck-QuickStep last year due to injury.
Aldag added while Bennett was the main stage win rider for the Tour, the team also had other big name riders who would go to the race in July with ambitions.
"We will also have someone like Aleksandr Vlasov there and probably Maximilian Schachmann, Felix Großschartner and Patrick Konrad," Aldag said. "Sergio Higuita is supposed to lead the team at the Vuelta," he added, though he did not flesh out what the time may look like at the Spanish Grand Tour.
