Shut Up, Legs! by Jens Voigt

Author:Jens Voigt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rodale
Published: 2016-02-11T16:00:00+00:00

The Tour of Germany in 2006: my first win there. Look at my face—I really gave it my all. I could hardly raise my arm to celebrate my victory. (H. A. Roth)

TOUR OF GERMANY

“I won because I just wanted it more.”

My role at CSC changed significantly from what it was in the Crédit Agricole days. Although I had a lot of support to race for myself throughout the year, when it came to the Tour de France, I was really there to ride for my team leaders. As a result, a lot of bike racing fans didn’t see me doing the “Jensie” thing and going out in breakaways like I had so often in years past.

But at CSC, I actually had some of my greatest personal wins, too. And two of them came in my own national tour, the Tour of Germany. After the days of the Peace Race, the Tour of Germany was my country’s biggest stage race. Personally, I loved riding in front of my home crowd, but because I was always riding for foreign teams, I didn’t have a lot of opportunities. The Tour of Germany, however, gave me a great opportunity, and I was always supermotivated to compete in it.

It may come as a surprise, because my career has been so international, but I am very proud to be German. Even though I spent my entire career riding on foreign teams, I always considered Germany my home. And even though I really enjoyed my six years living with the boys in Toulouse, there was never a doubt in my mind that I would eventually return to Germany and settle down there. After all, you are what you are. And not many people can just pick up, leave everything behind, and live the rest of their lives in another country.

That pride corresponds with my love for the Tour of Germany. Now, early in my career, the Tour of Germany came before the Tour de France, but midway through, they moved it to just after the Tour. That changed things for me because, generally speaking, I usually came out of the Tour in really great condition. So when I was at CSC, Bjarne said, “Look, Jens, considering how strong you are in the Tour, I think you could really do something in the Tour of Germany.” Bjarne was one of those directors who could really give you confidence. And he was capable of finding qualities in riders that the riders themselves couldn’t even imagine.

Traditionally, after the Tour, there are a bunch of criteriums, sort of like exhibition races for the stars of the Tour. They pay a start fee, so there’s good money to be made. But you can get sucked into a downward spiral if you do too many of them, because they’re exhausting. And at the end of the day, the results don’t even matter because they don’t carry any points on the International Cycling Union calendar.

So, in 2006, I decided that instead of wasting a

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.