Polish pro Rafal Majka will follow Peter Sagan from Tinkoff to German team Bora-Hansgrohe for the 2017 season, the squad confirmed on Tuesday.
Majka secured his second Tour de France King of the Mountains title in July, and will boost Bora's Grand Tour squad as the outfit aims for success in three-week races.
According to Bora-Hansgrohe, the 26-year-old has signed a two-year deal, taking him up to the end of the 2018 season.
>>> Bora riders expect team image to change with Peter Sagan on board
Along with his KOM title, Majka finished fifth in the 2016 Giro d'Italia and claimed a bronze medal in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games road race. He won two stages of the Tour de France in 2014 when he took his first KOM classification win, with another Tour stage win in 2015.
“I always said that we also need to strengthen our roster for the Grand Tours," said Bora team manager Ralf Denk.
"With Rafal Majka we signed a rider who is able to finish a Grand Tour in the top five. As an add-on our young, German speaking talents, like Buchmann, Herklotz, Konrad or Mühlberger will take advantage, learn from his experience and improve their performance in order to be able to finish a Grand Tour in the top ten in the future.”
So far, Bora-Hansgrohe has signed a number of riders from the Russian Tinkoff team, which will disband at the end of 2016. Juraj Sagan, Erik Baska, Michal Kolar, Maciej Bodnar and Pawel Poljanski have also been confirmed as being signed from Tinkoff along with Peter Sagan and Majka.
The current Bora-Argon 18 team races with a UCI Professional Continental licence, but the are aiming to step up to the top-flight WorldTour for 2017.
Specialized – who currently provide bikes for the Tinkoff team – will replace Argon 18 as bike sponsor in the Bora-Hansgrohe squad.
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