This is how Red Bull want young talents to succeed: “For me, that’s an unbalanced life”

For the Austrian-German squad, the South African coach focuses on identifying and guiding young riders. Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe only launched its Red Bull Rookies programme last year: a U23 development team designed to make the step up to the WorldTour squad less daunting.

Wakefield says the Rookies have quickly become a proper team — not just a group built around one star. “What we’ve done is try to select one or two riders from a general-classification perspective, then three potential candidates, and build a team around that. We also want to win bike races and develop riders who can win other races, or become very useful and important helpers.”

“It’s not just about focusing on GC riders,” the South African continued. “Of course, it’s important — it’s the Tour de France — but we also want to win Paris-Roubaix or a Monument, those kinds of races. It’s an overall development structure.”

In his role, Wakefield works with extremely young talents, sometimes just sixteen or seventeen years old. At that age, can you already say someone will win the Tour de France one day? “The simple answer is no,” he said. “But you can say: ‘This rider has the physiological potential.’”

Because at that age, nothing is guaranteed. “To say with confidence that you can win the Tour de France with a rider in five to ten years is just selling a story,” Wakefield explained. “You’re also being naïve, because what if they get a girlfriend at twenty and their career is over? That really happens.”

Wakefield believes young riders are increasingly living entirely for the sport from a very early age. “A lot of those guys are so focused they have no life outside cycling. For me, that’s an unbalanced life, because if their cycling career doesn’t take off, what are they supposed to do then? They’ve done nothing but ride bikes since they were fourteen, and their parents or someone else pushed them into it.”

That’s exactly where the danger lies, Wakefield argues. “It can become so hyper-focused. You can get a girlfriend and realise life isn’t so bad if you’re in a pub or a nightclub — and from that perspective it becomes a very different path. Some guys quit, and you always have to find a balance. You bring young people in, but that’s all they are; they’re still kids, and you want them to stay kids.”

That is why Wakefield keeps a close eye on what happens outside training and racing as well. “If at sixteen or seventeen he’s already living like a professional — or being pushed to live like one — that’s personally a warning sign for me. It’s something we don’t encourage,” he said, stressing the importance of life beyond cycling.

Wakefield used Lorenzo Finn as an example of how Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe try to avoid burnout and rushing development. “He could easily be racing in the WorldTour already, but we don’t want to hurry it, and we have good reasons for the path he’s on,” he explained, referring to the 2025 U23 road world champion.