Ninth place in the Worlds
Our tactics for the 258km long World Championship race worked out fine. The team protected me perfectly until two laps to go, and I could save strength for the finale. On the last steep climb, I could stay well with the lead group at first, but unfortunately not all the way to the top. It bothers me that in the end it was only 10 meters I was lacking. But at the moment I couldn't do any more, it was brutal.
If I had been able to stay with the group with Marc Hirschi and Wout van Aert, then I am pretty sure that I at least would have been in the battle for silver. But "if, if, if". Just one week after an exhausting Tour I am satisfied with my performance and ninth place in the Worlds. Thank you, Team Deutschland!
Foto: Roth Foto | Weltmeisterschaften Imola, Strassenrennen | 27. Sep 2020
The enormous pressure is over
Lennard's breakaway win on the 16th stage is a huge success for all of us. He absolutely earned this victory and is a great relief for the team, after all the setbacks we have had. The rest day was good for all of us and our hard work finally paid off. Tomorrow is the Queen Stage. That closing climb on the Col de la Loze will be incredibly hard...
We will try it again
What stages those have been the last two days. Sorry, that I didn't check in with you earlier. Especially on Friday, I was just too tired. Even if it wasn't quite enough for the stage win, we are still very satisfied with our performance. It was great to go all out like that with Lennard. We still have a week...!
Trying everything: Sixth place on Stage Twelve
That was a hard fight today and I am very satisfied. Sixth place on the longest stage of the Tour shows that my form is getting better. I haven't had such good legs in a long time. That gives both the team and of course me a lot of confidence for the next stages. We worked very concentratedly. We wanted to set up a sprint for Peter and I was to get involved as soon as the climb got serious.
New goals after the Rest Day
A rest day at the Tour de France is not at as restful, as one might think. Yesterday, after a 5 hour transfer to the next stage finish, we arrived at 11 p.m. at our hotel in the Departement le Charente-Maritime. Things started today at 9:30 with a Covid test. We rode a short training round before I went for x-rays. The collarbone is doing well.
