Lorenzo Finn will step up from the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe Rookies to the WorldTour squad in 2027, completing a development-team spell that has produced two world titles and a remarkable run of stage-race victories. The 19-year-old Italian has been earmarked for the move for some time, but will now begin his first full season at cycling’s highest level.
The team’s announcement of Finn’s promotion follows a 2026 campaign in which he won both the Giro Next Gen and the Tour de l’Avenir, as well as the Sibiu Tour against professional opposition. His arrival in the senior squad is therefore the completion of a planned progression, rather than an unexpected late transfer.
Giro Next Gen and Tour de l’Avenir double confirms his progression
Finn entered the season as the reigning under-23 road race world champion, having taken the rainbow jersey in Rwanda in September 2025. A year earlier, he had won the junior road race world title in Zürich. His decision to spend another season in the Red Bull development structure gave him the opportunity to turn that one-day ability into stage-racing results.
He delivered emphatically at the Giro Next Gen in June. Finn won the summit finish at Monte Livata before taking the final 22.2km individual time trial into L’Aquila, securing the general classification and becoming the first Italian overall winner of the event since Mattia Cattaneo in 2011.
August brought another significant victory at the Tour de l’Avenir. Finn took the lead in the mountain time trial and won the final stage to Lago Serrù, finishing 2 minutes 34 seconds ahead of Niels Driesen overall. He also claimed the mountains and young rider classifications.
Winning the Giro Next Gen and Tour de l’Avenir in the same season put Finn alongside Gianbattista Baronchelli, who achieved the double in 1973. Those two races have long served as a proving ground for future Grand Tour contenders, although dominance at under-23 level does not guarantee the same immediate results against the WorldTour’s established leaders.
Sibiu Tour victory showed Finn can win against senior riders
Finn’s development in 2026 was not confined to age-group competition. Riding alongside the senior Red Bull squad, he won the overall classification at the Sibiu Tour in July, including a mountain stage to Bâlea Lac. He finished 55 seconds ahead of Byron Munton in the general classification, while teammate Danny van Poppel won the final sprint stage.
The result mattered because it tested Finn’s climbing and race management in a field of professionals. His programme also included appearances with the senior squad at other races, and he chose to contest the elite road race at the World Championships in Montréal rather than defend his under-23 title.
That exposure has allowed the organisation to assess him in a more demanding environment before giving him a full WorldTour calendar. The next adjustment will be less about proving he can win development races and more about learning when to lead, when to work for experienced teammates and how to recover across a longer season.
Another Rookies graduate joins the 2027 Red Bull squad
Finn will not be making the step alone. Sebastian Putz has also been promoted from the Rookies for 2027, while Georg Steinhauser is arriving from EF Education-EasyPost. The combination underlines Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s decision to build part of its next roster from riders already familiar with its training and racing structure.
Finn joins a senior group featuring Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz and Giulio Pellizzari, giving the team another young rider with stage-racing potential but also considerable competition for leadership opportunities. The exact races he will target in 2027 have not been confirmed.
His 2026 results establish why expectations are high. How the team manages his first season at the top will be just as important as the number of victories he collected on the way there.
