Lennard Kämna cured his stubborn cold in the hotel room, Nils Politt did a relaxing lap on the bike with his teammates during the ongoing heat wave in the Massif Central. The day after the fourth failed breakaway coup, the German cycling hopes of the Bora-hansgrohe team nurtured not far from the Mediterranean their maltreated bodies in the most varied of ways.
Throw in the towel after two weeks of unsuccessful torment? No option for the Raublinger racing team – in the final week of the “Tour der Leiden” the longed-for stage win should finally come. “We want to keep it offensive. When breakaway groups left, we were represented in all but one day. We want to continue with the strategy,” said sporting director Rolf Aldag on the last day of rest on Monday.
The first goal is to “get into a group and win a stage”. Sporting director Torsten Schmidt confirmed: “We’ll try to get a piece of the cake every day.” The morale, despite the sometimes bitter disappointments of the first two weeks, is not only unbroken in the sporting management.
Aldag protects its drivers
The drivers don’t hang their heads either. “We’re making sure that we drive offensively again and hope that we can win another stage,” said German champion Politt, whose attempt to escape on Sunday at temperatures of around 40 degrees failed well before the finish in Carcassonne.
Before the Cologne youngster Kämna had even tried three times to follow his solo coup of 2020 with the second stage win at the Great Loop. The boy from Wedel ended up in eighth place on Saturday as a breakaway. After the drama on the seventh stage, when he was only a few meters away from victory on the Super Planche des Belles Filles, Kämna had to let the other top riders go a few kilometers before the finish line this time.
On the tenth stage to Megeve, he was just eleven seconds short of snatching the yellow jersey from defending champion Tadej Pogacar. “Lenny is a huge talent, we know that. It’s a huge achievement and it would have been nice if it had been rewarded,” said Aldag, who highly praised the performance of his drivers: “You can’t blame the racers for that they didn’t throw everything in and didn’t put their heart and soul into it.”
“The next three days will be extremely tough”
Bora-hansgrohe still has six stages to break the knot. But the task will not get any easier, especially on the three demanding stages in the Pyrenees, which are on the program from Tuesday. “The next three days will be extremely tough and extremely hot. Every driver will go to the limit,” predicted Politt.
“So far, only the best have won, not the happiest. It’s like this on the tour: If you’re not the best, you don’t win,” said Aldag. His protégés will still try to finally be the best.