Dhe cycling is a tough business. It takes talent and, even more so, an indomitable will to endure years of hardship just to even come close to making a living pedaling. But you also need luck. Luck with decisions to be made within seconds in the race, luck with the right career steps at the right time.
Now, Miguel Heidemann not only had no luck in his sport recently, but full-blown bad luck. The fact that, as a graduate industrial engineer specializing in mechanical engineering, he had not previously put everything on the professional cycling map, he benefits. Because otherwise it would have been almost maddening how his still young career, after steady upward development up to the peloton, was abruptly slowed down in WorldTour races. through no fault of their own.
“super sad”
What happened? The Darmstadt native had signed a contract with the B&B Hotels – KTM team for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, a French second division team that is present at almost all major races and tours. As a newcomer at this level, Heidemann struggled in the first year in a classic role as a helper, and did well as an aggressive driver in umpteen breakaway groups. In the field of the prestigious Dauphiné tour, Heidemann, whose particular strengths lie in time trials and who, at less than 70 kilograms and 1.87 meters, is also good on the mountain, cycled shoulder to shoulder with the best of his guild.
Target-oriented: the good time trialist Miguel Heidemann
:
Bild: Picture Alliance
But late last fall, there was suddenly talk of the team breaking up for economic reasons. At the beginning of December, when the budget and squad planning had long since been completed everywhere in the teams, it was a sad certainty for Heidemann. His management still rattled off all teams in the first and second leagues in cycling – in vain. The 25-year-old says he was “super disappointed” at first. But then “very grateful” that his old Continental team, Team Leopard TOGT, somehow made a place for him. Once from the third division to the top and back again.
“More time at train stations than in your own bed”
But even in his old team, now Danish after the merger, he has to be patient for the time being. Not easy for someone who, as a participant in the World Championships, has already gotten a taste of big cycling and now has to bring himself to the fore again with smaller events. “It wouldn’t be fair and it would be a bad sign if, as a latecomer, I boxed colleagues from their racing program,” says Heidemann. Although he did a small race in the Netherlands on March 12th, his looks and form are still progressing. Luxembourg tour and Denmark tour are the big goals.
Heidemann wants to get luck in the saddle back on his side. Born in Trier, he has resisted the trend in cycling that always pushes younger riders into the front row. As the German U-23 time trial champion in 2020 and 2021 and second place the following year among the professionals, only beaten by Eschborn world champion Tony Martin, he had sharpened his profile. But the clever mind with interests beyond sports made it “my first priority to complete my studies in Darmstadt,” says Heidemann, the prospective engineer.
“Braked with knees and elbows on the gang”
In his first real professional year after completing his bachelor’s degree, Heidemann felt “how important it is when regeneration time really is regeneration time”. If he could not just stretch his legs under the desk, but actually put them up. Even mentally, when he was still switching back and forth between his bike and his studies, sometimes several times a day, he was never really able to relax. As a professional in the cycling touring circus, he made the experience that “I spent more time at train stations and airports than in my own bed”. And that at the top of his sport, cycling takes place at a brutal level. When the Dauphiné tour was “driven comfortably”, says Heidemann, “it was as fast as if you had been driving full throttle in the Continental class beforehand”.
Heidemann was also quick to be on the road for the Federation of German Cyclists at the World Championships in Australia in September. However, his handlebars actually broke on a descent – and Heidemann had to endure moments of anxiety when he realized that the brake lines running in the frame were also gone. Long before the last remaining corner, he let the car roll out, and at the finish line “I then braked on the barriers with my knees and elbows,” says Heidemann with a grin. Against this background, rank 20 among the assembled world elite was a strong result. It will need more of that and a bit more luck now.