Majka joins Sagan at Bora-Hansgrohe for 2017

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Rafal Majka and his Polish teammate Pawel Poljanski will ride for the Bora-Hansgrohe team in 2017, alongside Peter Sagan.

The German team confirmed the news with a brief statement as it continues to transform its squad and step up to WorldTour level for 2017. Bike brand Specialized has already confirmed it will back the team and is understood to be covering a significant part of Sagan's reported six million Euro salary.

Majka has signed a two-year contract and is expected to have a leading role in Grand Tours and stage races. The 26-year-old has been a professional since 2011. He won the mountain's competition at the Tour de France for a second time this summer and went on to finish third in the Olympic road race in Rio after leading the race until the final kilometre. He has won three stages at the Tour de France and won the Tour de Pologne in 2014, winning two stages on the way to victory.

Bora team manager Ralph Denk has gradually developed the German-based squad in recent years, securing wild card invitations to the Vuelta a Espana, Giro d'Italia and then the Tour de France. Denk secured sanitary brand Hansgrohe as a title sponsor earlier this year and has since signed several other riders. The team is applying for WorldTour status for the 2017 season to continue its development and importance in the peloton.

Germany's Marcus Burghardt and under 23 German national champion Pascal Ackemann have already been confirmed, while Juraj Sagan, Maciej Bodnar, Michael Kolar and Erik Baška will join the team alongside Sagan. The team will continue to develop young German riders, with Irish sprinter Sam Bennett set to stay with the team. 

"I always said that we also need to strengthen our roster for the grand tours. With Rafal Majka we signed a rider who is able to finish a grand tour in the top 5. As an add-on our young German speaking talents like Buchmann, Herrklotz, Konrad and Muhlberger 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," Denk said when Majka was announced as part of the 2017 squad.