The ethically least troublesome World Tour team made their top level debut in 2017 and managed to be eighth overall.
Last Season
It might be unfair to call them a one man team, but they were basically granted a World Tour licence because of one man, who had a relatively disappointing year yet still managed to more than double the points score of any of his teammates. That man is Peter Sagan (above). Bonkers, larger than life, extremely strong, all words that could describe three time on the bounce world champion Peter Sagan and all came to the fore this season. In Bora colours it was a "bad" year for Sagan. He didn't win a major classic, and didn't retain his Tour de France green jersey for the sixth year in a row. Those are pretty high standards for bad though. It's long been the case, but Sagan's biggest issue on the bike is that he's so strong nobody will work with him. At Milan-San Remo, he was surely the strongest rider, but how does he actually turn that into a win? If he waits, he gives up a lot of his advantages over purer sprinters like Gaviria or Kristoff. If he attacks, everyone is watching and someone will follow, which is what happened this year. Michal Kwiatkowski sat on his wheel all the way up and all the way down the Poggio, and mugged him in the sprint. That's bike racing.
Sagan's other big chance at a monument victory this season came crashing down next to the barriers (more on barriers later) when he snagged a spectator's jacket, bringing down himself, Van Avermaet and Naesen. At the Tour de France, after a dominant win on stage three, he was disqualified on stage four after wrongfully being judged to have elbowed Mark Cavendish into the barriers. He did get it together to win the world title in Bergen though, because he's still a god.
In terms of races that went well, Sagan won a stage of the Tour of California, two stages at Tirreno-Adriatico, one of which saw him ride on the front, whittle the group down to just him and the GC contenders, and then still sprint off the front to win quite spectacularly. He also two sprint stages at the Tour de Suisse where he rode everyone clean off his wheel. Then a stage of the Tour de Pologne, two stages on the BinckBank Tour, and the Grand Prix Quebec. See I told you it was a bad season. Just the 10 world tour wins, plus Kurne-Brussels-Kurne and the world championship gold medal...
The other big rider for Bora is Rafa Majka, who had a pretty disappointing year too in as much as he had a horrible crash at the Tour de France, his main goal. He did however win a stages of the Tour of California, Slovenia and the Vuelta, won the GC at the Tour of Slovenia and was second at California and Poland.
Other big results for Bora include a lot of wins for Sam bennett (stages of Paris-Nice, two in Slovenia and Czech republic, four in the Tour of Turkey, and the Munsterland Giro), a stage and a day in the leader's pink jersey at the Giro for Lukas Postlberger and the final time trial at the Tour de France was won by a very deserving Maciej Bodnar.
Who Left?
Silvio Herklotz, Jose Mendes and Shane Archbold. No I hadn't noticed them either.
Who's joining?
Daniel Oss (above), something of a superstar domestique at the classics last year, joins from BMC. Pete Kennaugh joins from Sky, and it will be interesting to see how he does with a few more chances to try his luck. Davide Formolo and Felix Großschartner also join.
How will 2018 go?
Sagan surely has to win Milan-San Remo this year, and he'll get his green jersey back at the Tour de France. Rafa Majka will win stages (multiple) at whichever grand tour he targets but won't be able to score a hugely significant overall finish. Daniel Oss will drag the peleton through thousands of kilometres of Northern Belgium.