Watching TV and looking forward
It is supposed to be six weeks until my hand is fully healed again. That doesn't mean that I have to wait that long to get back on the bike, but I definitely won't be able to race again until after that. I will do what I can to get back in shape again. Meanwhile I evaluate the crash in the ITT in Pau soberly. Crashes happens in our sport. Especially when you go fast trying to achieve good results. But now in the mountain stages, I had an important role for my team, which I now can't carry out. That annoys me lot.
Of course I continue to wish my team all the best. Even though it is hard for me not to be there, I will watch the race on television. Physically, I am doing quite well after the operation on Sunday. My three metacarpals are fixed with screws and plates. In the coming days I will go home and then I hope to be on the roller again as soon as possible. We'll see how it goes. Realistically I can plan to return to racing only in the fall. I will keep fighting. Yours, Maximilian.
Photo: Roth Foto | Tour de France, Stage 13, ITT | 19 Jul 2019
In the middle of a great spectacle
The opener here in Brussels has been a giant spectacle, and an experience which I will never forget. The first stage in front of a million fans was simply grandiose. And in the team time trial yesterday we rode through a 30 kilometer long tunnel of fans. That motivates tremendously.We finished twelfth, at 46 seconds down. The results were in order.
No time to be nervous
The team presentation was a lot of fun, and the mood was great. But what else would you expect in the cycling nation of Belgium. There were so many people there and the whole presentation was an experience which I won't forget soon. I can't really imagine a better opening for this Tour. Otherwise the whole media work is simply very stressful.
To the Tour de France as German champion
I am overjoyed to have won the German championship title on the Sachsenring. It is a very great honor for me to be able to ride the Tour de France in the jersey of the German champion. The team rode a super race today. From the start we were underway fast, and were always pushing things. With a temperature of nearly 40 degrees...
Changed plans after a long spring
Many are surely asking why I am not at the start of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Don't worry, I'm fine! But I still haven't really recovered fully from the long spring, which ended the middle of May with the Tour of California. So my team and I have decided to pass on this race and use the time for a long and quiet training period.
