Professional cyclist Lennard Kämna – “Olympics would be a dream for me”

Lennard Kämna has only just achieved the historic triple. But the 27-year-old from the Bora-Hansgrohe team is hungry for more great successes next season.

Lennard Kämna has been doing really well this year. The 27-year-old professional cyclist from Fischerhude near Bremen achieved considerable success and results.

At times, Kämna was even captain of his Bora-Hansgrohe team. But as a helper, he achieved his historic coup three weeks ago: with a stage win at the Spanish Vuelta, Kämna became one of only seven German professional cyclists who were able to win a stage in each of the three major tours.

“Huge honor to write a piece of cycling history”

Kämna triumphed at the Giro d’Italia a year ago, and three years ago he achieved his greatest success to date at the Tour de France when he drove away from the competition on the 16th stage in the Alps to Villard-de-Lans.

In an interview with buten un binnen, Kämna tells us how he experienced this season, why he doesn’t want to choose between captaincy and helper roles and why he has mixed feelings about the Olympic Games.

Lennard Kämna, have you actually realized which cycling team you now belong to?

Of course, I’m really happy to have written a piece of cycling history. To be among these names is a huge honor and a great distinction for me. I’m very happy about it.

What does this make you feel now – even more will to win or more composure?

It definitely gives me some peace of mind that I was able to reach a small milestone in my career. This is absolutely not commonplace. But it also makes me hungry for the next few years to win even more stages and gives me huge motivation.

You had a more difficult time two years ago, took a long break and then said you wanted to prove it to yourself again. To what extent have you fulfilled this now?

I think I came back very well from this break and was able to show that I can win cycling races again. That was a huge goal for me, but I also wanted to prove to myself that I was still capable of doing top-level sport. I also believe that my development is not yet complete and I am sure that I still have something up my sleeve for the next few years.

Let’s come back to the Vuelta: Are you actually annoyed? You could have won two stages if you hadn’t crashed.

Yes, I took full risk. And I just tried to win the stage by any means necessary. In the end it didn’t work. I have to admit, the night after was hard. I didn’t sleep particularly well because I was already annoyed. But in retrospect I have to say: It was all or nothing and in the end I came second, which isn’t a bad result either. I’m not really annoyed anymore.

The season is coming to an end – what conclusion do you draw?

I had a very good season overall. But I could have imagined having one or two more good placements. But after the Giro d’Italia I had a bit of a snag. There wasn’t much going on health-wise or physically and it took me a long time to get back into top shape for the Vuelta. Overall, I’m very satisfied.

They were in too different Roles on the go – at the Giro as team captain, at the Vuelta again as a helper and stage hunter. Is the captaincy not for you?

Yes, I really enjoyed taking the Giro to the overall ranking. But it was also immediately clear to me that I didn’t want to do a second Grand Tour as captain this year. It’s just a completely different approach and not physically easy to do two big tours in one year. That’s why I wanted to slip back into my old role at the Vuelta and win stages. And I think I succeeded quite well. I can certainly imagine such a dual role again next year.

Would you say that this freedom in the field suits you a little more than the role of captain?

I think my biggest strength is escape groups. I have a very good eye for racing situations and tactical decisions. But I still think that the topic of the overall classification is not yet over for me. I would like to pursue this further. There are still a few grains on the road that I can pick up to become even more successful.

So you don’t want to commit to the future yet?

I think I’m a Grand Tour rider, the three-week tours suit me very well and I can imagine riding around two a year for the next few years. And then this with the double role, that is absolutely possible.

Are you taking part in the Tour de France next year?

Yes, I definitely want to ride the Tour de France. I still have to see whether I will take part in a second Grand Tour.

There’s also the Olympics in 2024 – does that work for you?

Olympia is difficult because the course is not 100% good for me because it is a completely flat course. I would like to do the time trial and would like to qualify for it. The Olympics would be a dream for me.

They do a few more one-day races, then there is a break from mid-October. How do you spend your vacation? Do you ever leave your bike parked?

Of course I go on my bike every day during my break – no, nonsense. I’m not doing anything for a month and I’m going to go away for a week with friends and spend a lot of time with my girlfriend. I’m trying to have a relaxing time, the season has been very stressful. I’ll put my feet up.

The interview was conducted by Niko Schleicher and recorded by Petra Philippsen.

More about Lennard Kämna:

This topic in the program:
Sportblitz, September 22, 2023, 6:06 p.m