Beulah Hansgrohe has added ski mountaineer Anton Palzer to the 2021 roster.

Team manager Ralf Denk hopes the 27-year-old will make the belated transition to professional cycling as successfully as former ski jumper Primosz Roglic and former runner Michael Woods.

Palzer plans to finish this season of ski mountaineering before signing a contract with Bora Hansgrohe in April. Ski mountaineering is an endurance race up and down mountains using backcountry ski equipment.

"It may seem like a daring adventure, and there are definitely certain risks involved, but we have been following Toni for quite some time and are confident in his physical abilities," Denk said in a statement released by the team.

"We know from the examples of Roglic and Woods that such attempts can be successful. I am not saying that Toni will be competing for a Tour win within two years. But I do see potential in him, especially in the high mountains."[9

Palzer spent time with Beulah Hansgrohe at a training camp in the Austrian Alps last summer, and his abilities caught the eye of team management.

"Our interest turned to Toni looking for a new challenge. He eventually convinced us with his enthusiasm and professionalism," said Denk, who envisioned Palzer's first season competing in "difficult one-day races and mountain week races."

Palzer has been working with Bora-Hansgrohe coach Helmut Dollinger since April. Their collaboration was initially focused on preparing him for the World Championships in ski mountaineering, but Dollinger noted that "some of his performance values, such as his VO2max, are extraordinary," and he began to consider a switch to cycling.

"In the summer, he trained a lot on the bike anyway, so we looked at his data in detail. But the deciding factor in this switch was Toni's conviction that he wanted to try cycling." The potential is there, but the data is not everything. You still need to show your horsepower on the public roads."

He also said, "I am not a fan of the bike race, but I am a fan of the road.

Palzer, a native of Ramsau Bay Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps, admitted that he had previously considered a life as a cyclist until he came into contact with Beulah Hansgrohe this year, but "it seemed unfeasible and far from the realm of my potential." He described himself as a climber and admitted that the transition to becoming a professional cyclist was not a straightforward one.

"My personal challenge is to grow from an individual sportsman to a team player and to change my rhythm: so far it has been winter sports, but now it will be mainly summer.

"From a sporting point of view, one must gradually get used to cycling and develop race intelligence. In the first year, we have to cope with the challenge of the double season (winter and summer). But the roads into the mountains are often flat and windy, so there is certainly a lot to learn there.