There's no room for Buchman on Bora's touring list

The German champion is looking forward to a free role in the Giro

Written by Matthias Senge

10/01/2024 | (rsn) – Emanuel Buchmann would have liked to ride the Tour de France again this year. But after signing Primoz Roglic, former captains Jay Hindley and Aleksandar Vlasov are supposed to be valuable assistants for the Slovenians in the 111th Tour de France, so there is no longer room in the team for fourth place in the overall standings from 2019, Buchmann said at the media day in Bora – explained Hansgrohe.

But there was no sign of sadness or even anger for the 31-year-old. In the end, Buchmann will have a free role in the next round to Italy, as he confirmed. “I will prepare as best as I can and then we will see what the form does. Then everything is possible, from the stages to the standings,” said the German champion, who has competed in this year’s first Grand Tour twice so far and finished seventh overall in 2022 after a strong performance. General – depending on how things go.” Gentleman Hindley’s aide.

This time, newcomer Daniel Martinez and last year's ninth-placed Leonard Kamna will handle the Italian Tour as dual leaders for Bora, under whom Buchmann will be able to pursue his own ambitions. “I'll go there without a lot of pressure, and if everything goes well, I can still get a good result,” he said.

In the first half of the year, in terms of the racing calendar, according to Buchmann, “Everything remains more or less the same. I will start with the Tour of Oman, then comes the UAE Tour. “Then I will go to the training camp for the altitude,” he announced. Track the Tour of Bilad Basque Back in April – “I do it every year. This will be followed by another altitude training camp.”

The Giro is Buchmann's highlight, but perhaps not the only one, he said. “Let's see if the Vuelta is still in the plan. I've already had a look at the track, it looks really very difficult. As a runner you don't have any fun there. But it's still very far away. You have to first see how things go for me in the Giro And also in the Tour with the GC riders. “Then we know who we will go to Spain with,” the climbing specialist said.

However, Buchmann would have no objection to participating in a fourth Vuelta – regardless of the role. He added: “It would be nice to go on a fishing trip there or act as Primoz's assistant.”