Tourreporter
The German professional cyclist John Degenkolb, 34, from the dsm-firmenich team is riding in the Tour de France for the ninth time. In the Sportschau interview, he talks about careless fans at the side of the track, weighed oatmeal and the approaching end of his career.
sports show: Mr. Degenkolb, the first nine stages of the Tour de France have been completed. How can you sum up the tour so far when you’ve been on it so many times like you have?
John Degenkolb: It all started in quick succession and was extremely difficult from day one. After six days we were already on the Tourmalet, that’s crazy. When you think about it, it felt a little weird. On the other hand, you can get something out of the route because there weren’t that many falls in the first few days.
The first sprints all went without a major fall disaster, except on this car race track (on the 4th stage in Nagaro, editor’s note). There were a few falls, but not to the extent that we’ve been used to in recent years where 50 or 100 men were on top of each other.
“Please keep your distance and move to the side”
sports show: Some drivers have complained mainly about the spectators. Belgian professional cyclist Steff Cras blamed a fan who didn’t step aside for his exit from the Tour. On Sunday, a clothesline with pennants that had come loose caused Frenchman Lilian Calmejane to fall. Are these incidents more common than they used to be?
Degenkolb: No, but that simply cannot be avoided completely. On the first sprint stage, for example, an older man was standing on the street with his SLR camera and my colleague in front of me touched him completely. The camera flew towards me and onto the handlebars.
You have to appeal again and again: Please keep your distance and go to the side. The road ends at the end of the asphalt. And we need that space. That’s why you can’t stand on the street. The very worst is when they take selfies with their backs to the cyclists. Then they don’t see how we come shot. Or when they look through the camera and don’t realize at all how fast we’re approaching them, how dangerous it is. But this is not a new phenomenon.
sports show: Driver safety has recently been a major issue. Now the UCI, driver unions and teams have set up the “SafeR” program. How do you rate that?
Degenkolb:. I think this is long overdue. One can criticize that one should have done this a long time ago. But what is important is that it is done now. This is definitely a good signal. That’s also what I kept saying after Gino Mäder’s tragic accident (the Swiss died in June at the Tour de Suisse as a result of a fall, editor’s note): The important thing is that we regulate create that both the organizers have to comply with when routing the route, as well as the teams when it comes to equipment and the racers with their willingness to take risks.
It’s about setting framework conditions so that when you’re at the start of the Tour de France, you can be sure that the route follows these rules, otherwise the race can’t take place. If I open a restaurant, then the health department also wants me to comply with certain hygiene rules. And if I don’t comply, my restaurant will be closed.
“Even Jumbo-Visma makes mistakes”
sports show: The fight for the yellow jersey will again be shaped by the duel between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar. Which of the two will win the tour?
Degenkolb: Well, nobody can see into the future. I think after the first big exchange of blows, when Vingegaard took a minute off Pogacar, many thought it was all over. That was also the opinion at our table. The fact that this is reversed so quickly is fantastic for cycling.
sports show: Vingegaard’s team, Jumbo-Visma, is again the dominant team this year. Bora captain Jai Hindley has said cycling against Jumbo-Visma is like trying to put socks on a centipede.
Degenkolb: (Laughs) That’s definitely a good comparison. They do it well, of course, and have now earned a reputation. Everyone immediately adopts an attitude and approaches them with a certain amount of reverence. Despite all of that, I wouldn’t say they’re unbeatable. They make mistakes too. And then they have to be exploited.
“Cycling has changed enormously in recent years”
sports show: Your own role has changed. On this tour you have renounced your own ambitions and are now the road captain in your team, who is more likely to set the tactical guidelines. How hard was it for you to slip into that role in the background?
Degenkolb: The fact that I am no longer in the limelight and that I can no longer fight for the great successes myself is of course also due to my age and the development of cycling in general. Cycling has changed a lot in the last 13 years and has definitely gotten faster. Racers come straight from the juniors and are already at a completely different level than we were at that age. And that pushes the whole system forward. That doesn’t make it any easier to be competitive when you’re older.
Despite all that, I still totally enjoy cycling, having fun preparing all winter, working with the team towards a goal and then being rewarded with a win or a placement at the end. I’ve more or less settled into my new role and still have exactly the same ambition that I had when I was sprinting for myself. Now I try to pass that on to the younger racers and sometimes use my head more than my legs.
“The disappointment of Roubaix is still in me”
sports show: That sounds very modest when you say that the great successes are no longer possible. At the spring classic Paris-Roubaix it looked very different until her fall. You were in the top group in the final. How long did it take to process the disappointment?
Degenkolb: That was a big disappointment, and it’s still with me. When you think back on it with all the experience you’ve gained over the course of your career, you know that you won’t often find yourself in a situation where you can go for a win or a podium.
On the other hand, the course of the race with this drama also meant that only victory could have topped the attention for me. If I had finished fifth or third, that would have been a sensation too, but I don’t think it would have been perceived in the same way as the tragedy that happened to me.
sports show: Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel were not uninvolved in the fall at the time. The two have also come under heavy criticism here at the Tour for the way they sprint.
Degenkolb: That’s a bit far… I don’t know whether you can say that it’s conspicuous. In any case, there were a few incidents, always with the same people.
“The children now know how long four weeks is”
sports show: You are now, if one may say so, in the autumn of your career. How concerned are you with what comes after, and how difficult is it to deal with?
Degenkolb: That’s not that easy. I still have at least a whole year ahead of me and I can well imagine adding another year to it. But of course that depends on many factors and what the family council decides. The kids are getting older, that’s also a factor. My little one is now seven years old and she takes it with her more. That’s sad too. Because it doesn’t matter whether it’s the Tour or the Vuelta, you’re simply gone for four weeks. And the children now know how long four weeks is.
Every father knows that if you haven’t seen your children for four weeks, if you haven’t held them in your arms, a lot has happened in that time. This is time that is sacrificed. Accordingly, the family must be fully behind you if you continue to practice the profession. Because half and half doesn’t work. You either give 100 percent or you don’t.
“The nutritional plan is fixed three weeks before the tour”
sports show: You just mentioned the changes in cycling. This also includes the scientification of sport in recent years. There are strict training and diet plans. How difficult is it to submit to this regiment?
Degenkolb: Yes, a lot has definitely happened there. When I turned pro in 2011, we had a chef with us on my first Grand Tour, but it was more on demand. If you ever feel like a steak, then there was one. Now the whole nutrition plan is written down three weeks before the tour: Before the mountain stages there is low-fiber nutrition, i.e. with little fiber, which then binds less liquid in the body so that you are a few hundred grams lighter.
Every team and every racer is really trying to tweak every little thing to be better. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens that many racing drivers just do their thing stupidly. Being a cyclist is a huge privilege, you have to enjoy it. And if that gets lost, that’s stupid.
sports show: So you let five be straight?
Degenkolb: Yes, I’m not on personal plate here, for example. We have five racers in our team, who get their food weighed out on their plates. For breakfast they get a certain amount of oatmeal and two slices of bread. Depending on what’s coming up that day. The goal is that you eat exactly what you get.
I also get a guideline that I have to follow. But if I then eat a little more or a little less, that’s no problem. Our nutritionist now trusts me and says: Okay, you know your body, you’ve been on 17 Grand Tours, you can do it like that. But the aim of the teams is to take a lot off the drivers’ hands so that they have to think as little as possible.
sports show: And individual freedom is not possible there?
Degenkolb: I do (laughs).