After his success at Giro d’Italia, Radprofi Florian Stork speaks in an interview about his time of suffering, his current successes and more.
The Radprofi Florian Stork from Tudor Pro Cycling Team is in action at the Giro d’Italia 2025 as an important helper for Michael Storer and was able to celebrate the greatest success of his career on Sunday on the 15th stage with second place.
After a serious injury, Stork, born in Bünde, Bünde in the eastern West, had a difficult phase and is now in the middle of top cycling again. In the WDR interview, the 28-year-old talks about his most successful year, his difficult time with a knee injury and about whether he will start in races in Germany this season.
WDR: The first professional victory in January in Mallorca – despite the disease -related training start in December – and yesterday a second place in the Giro – how does you feel the greatest success on a day off?
Florian Stork: In any case, this result came at a good time, right before the rest day, that you also have a whole day to realize and enjoy everything. It would be a bit more difficult if the next stage were today. I definitely enjoy it.
WDR: First she slowed down Corona when you started the 2019 professional sport, then in 2021 the smashed knee plate came, which she thrown back in development for two years, including the 2022 complications. To date, the season looks like a kind of “liberation” – do you see it similarly?
Stork: Yes that is correct. Although one has to say that the Corona pandemic was not really a slow-down factor, since in 2020, where there were no or less races, time could be used well to work on weaknesses and train a lot. Accordingly, I didn’t notice it so extremely.
The years 2021 and 2022, on the other hand, thrown me back immensely in development, because in the two years I never had a period in which I could constantly train. As a result, it is probably just the case that at my current age, at 28, I also take development steps that may no longer be seen that way with drivers of the same age. Simply because this super important phase between my 23rd and 25th birthday, where you actually really have the performance explosion for the first time. Accordingly, there was still a lot of potential.
The victory in Mallorca felt a bit like a liberation. But as the season runs, I am where I always wanted to be at a constantly high level. To be able to influence the races was really what I missed in the past.
WDR: You are one of Michael Storer’s most important helpers in the Tudor team. What do you expect as a team, but also personally, this season – with the Giro and beyond?
Stork: With this Giro, the goal is that Michael Storer ends the race in the top ten. The level is extremely high here and we would be very satisfied with a top ten placement for him. It will certainly be one of my tasks to stay with him as long as possible.
For me, it would be a success to support him when he reached the top ten. You have to see if the constellation arises to go back to an outlier group. But so far I have already taken a very positive conclusion from this giro, with the first few weeks as support for Michael and yesterday with my own result.
WDR: You recently said in a podcast that after the “really big setback” you had to “think again” with the lengthy knee injury and the difficult path back to the top of the world and also lost the fun of cycling in between. Is this fun with the recent successes now finally back?
Stork: Yes that is correct. Even then I found that a very big setback and felt robbed for a long time from having a normal career path. But this new thinking is also a check for it. There is also no guarantee that I would have come to this level without this difficult time. Accordingly, you don’t have to think so much about the “What IFS”.
I am grateful to be able to experience something like yesterday. There were super many spectators on the side of the road and then to be in the escape group for a long time to have this exciting final and to take the podium for the first time on a Grand Tour stage, it is another highlight that I consciously perceive and bring me a lot of fun.
It was the classic race yesterday. You have the approaching favorite group and you are right yourself, have an impact on the race. It was really something that I missed for a while when the level was not there, I could not constantly train with the injuries and often ended the races further back. This is how the fun comes back. With this Giro in particular, I had a lot of fun in the first round. With the team and the staff, there is a really good atmosphere.
WDR: As an important helper, you are not necessarily one of the drivers who appear at the front of important races like a Grand tour in the Classement. How important are individual successes like last for your motivation, and how important is the team idea for you?
Stork: The team concept is definitely in the foreground for me. You have a team with many individual qualities and if a driver is particularly suitable for a stage, it is of course also clear to me that I support it. Even if you have a strong driver for the overall ranking as Michael Storer, it is also a good quality for me, because I can position myself well in the field to support him late in the race.
The important thing is appreciation and it is precisely in this team you get it. On the other hand, it is also nice to have individual successes and I also get my own chances. Last year on the Deutschland Tour, for example, I was able to drive my own result. This is also important for me for motivation. But in the end the team idea is already in the foreground.
WDR: Will the German fans see you driving in Germany this year?
Our racing calendar is not yet final, but I have already stored the desire to start with the Germany Tour. Especially with the destination in Herford on the first stage and the start in Herford on the second stage in my home country in East Westphalia, this is of course an absolute highlight for me. Hopefully the German fans will see me.
I always had a good experience with the Germany tour and I would be really happy to start again this year. Especially with so many stages in North Rhine -Westphalia, it is something special for me, because the races always drove in the young area and I’m really looking forward to that.
