So what’s next? Brennauer thought about it for a long time and had many discussions – with the result that the “right time” for the end of her sporting career had come. “I’ve always been told: At the end of your career you feel when it’s the right moment. I never understood it that way, but now I understand it,” reports the 34-year-old, who is happy that she “chooses the time herself could and was not forced to do so”.
“When she was at the start, you knew it was going well”
In the track four they will miss Brennauer, “the mother”, as teammate Franziska Brauße says and Lisa Klein adds: “If she was at the start, then you knew it was going. What she did for German cycling is unrivaled. That It’s a shame she’s leaving. But our shared successes will bind us together forever.” A joint appearance remains, however, at the upcoming European Championships in Munich.
You take everything with you there, says Brennauer. She will also start on the road. The 2014 time trial world champion just proved that she’s really fast on the asphalt when she got the champion’s jersey. And she also has the necessary foundation in her legs with over 1000 kilometers in the recently revived Tour de France. That was “really cool,” says Brennauer, enthusing about the roadside atmosphere in France.
That was “a boost” that women’s cycling needed,” said the woman from the Allgäu. According to Brennauer, her sport is far from where it could be, even if the “exotic existence” has been discarded. “There are also surveys that not everyone can make a living from the sport. There are still ways to go.”
Brennauer does not have to worry financially. Since last year she has been a professional soldier in the German Armed Forces – the rank of sergeant major. She wants to stay connected to the sport there. “I hope that I will have the opportunity to pass on a lot of my knowledge and experience,” says Brennauer. A role as a trainer is also conceivable.