🎥 Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe pull off crazy stunt and get a plane to take off on cycling power - and also show new kit

When Red Bull signed on as sponsor last year, everyone knew what to expect. The riders of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe would inevitably be used for the kind of outrageous stunts the energy drink brand has built its reputation on. This winter, it was time: a handful of powerful riders were tasked with towing an aircraft into the air.

Of course, the German squad isn’t the only place where Red Bull's crazy ideas come to life. Wout van Aert appeared on a waterbike last year, while Tom Pidcock recorded a bizarre descent video hitting speeds of 95 km/h - all for sponsor Red Bull. Now it was time for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s own riders to sweat through a new daredevil challenge.

The team deployed nine riders with one mission: Florian Lipowitz, Callum Thornley, Davide Donati, Nico Denz, Jordi Meeus, Laurence Pithie, Adrien Boichis, Tim van Dijke and Gijs Schoonvelde were taken to an airfield in Austria and instructed to tow a glider into the sky. Head of Engineering Dan Bigham led the group in their search for something truly outrageous.

But in Austria, the runway turned out to be too short. The system also carried significant risks: if anything went wrong, the riders could suffer wheel blockages or have the connecting rods fly into their wheels. Although the aircraft did lift off the ground during the second attempt, it wasn’t good enough. The team went back to the drawing board, and scheduled a new attempt.

That moment came during the team days on Mallorca. With an improved - and safer - towing system and a longer runway, the riders tried again. The tension was visible, but meter by meter the speed increased. The glider left the ground, but that was only phase one. Now the riders had to reach a speed high enough for the glider to detach from the tow line.

Heart rates surged past 180 bpm, power numbers approached 800 watts, and then the impossible happened: the aircraft reached 100 metres and successfully detached from the riders. After a 90-second effort, the team had hit 54 km/h, averaging 650 watts. But then you have something special: it is the first time ever that an aircraft has been pulled into the air by cyclists.