Georg Zimmermann in a TOUR interview: "I lacked self-reflection"

Interview Andreas Kublik

Profile Georg Zimmermann

• Nationality: german
• Born11 October 1997 in Augsburg
• Size/weight: 1,81 m/70 kg
• Place of residenceAugsburg
• Professional since 2020

Teams

2016-17 Felbermayr-Simplon Wels

2018-19 Tyrol/Tyrol-KTM

2020 CCC

since 2021 Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert

Important successes

2019: Fifth Tour de l'Avenir

2021: Tour de l'Ain stage win; fifth Tour of Germany

2022: Fourth and winner of the young talent classification on the Deutschland Tour

TOUR: Georg, please enlighten us: The last thing German cycling observers saw of you last season was your crash in the World Championship road race in Australia. You skidded across the tarmac at high speed. What exactly happened there?

Georg Zimmermann: Due to carelessness, I overlooked potholes that I should have known about because we had already ridden past them several times. But I drove right into it, my hands were pulled off the handlebars, I had no chance at all to steer and I did a real belly flop. I knew straight away that the race was over for me. But I didn't have any serious injuries and didn't have to go to hospital.

TOUR: What was ultimately worse: the physical pain or this missed opportunity as captain of the German national team at the World Cup?

Carpenter: I grabbed my spare wheel and drove to the hotel because I wanted some peace and quiet. I was really annoyed with myself. Because I was really looking forward to it and had trained hard for it. But in the end I wasn't able to present myself. I wasted the chance to finish a World Championship as captain - I don't get that chance every year. That was worse than the very unpleasant abrasions.

TOUR: It was a painful end to a good season. You were a conspicuous helper to your captain Louis Meintjes at the Tour de France and thus recommended yourself.

Carpenter: After the Tour de France, I got the news from the team that I would be allowed to ride for the overall classification in the Tour of Germany and that I would have all the team support for it. I felt it was a great honour to be able to lead my team in my home race. And it was also a great training motivation for the time after the Tour de France.

>> World Cycling Championships in Australia: This was the men's road race

TOUR: You then recommended yourself for the role of World Championship captain with your strong performance at the Tour of Germany, when you were right at the front at the summit finish on the Schauinsland and ended up fourth overall.

Carpenter: It was the first time that I've ridden at the front of the pros in a mountain finish, I'm sure that I've never delivered such a performance on a mountain before. Not everything went perfectly on the day because I overestimated myself a bit and missed the podium on the stage as a result.

TOUR: Is the impression correct that you have reached a new level of performance this year?

Carpenter: I'm really happy with my performance this year. I've taken another real step forwards. And I see it as a good sign, because at 25 I'm no longer the very youngest. I could have achieved a bit more personal success here and there. But I really enjoy riding in a successful team - that also includes giving other riders support.

TOUR: The fans still have the TV images in their heads of you riding very aggressively on the way to the Galibier at the start of the queen stage - ahead of all the favourites to prepare an attack for your captain Louis Meintjes. How hard is that: to invest so much so early on a day with 5000 metres of climbing. Weren't you worried that this could go wrong in view of the time limit?

Carpenter: It was my second Tour de France. Last year, at my first Tour, I never dared to try anything because my performance level was simply not high enough. I was always afraid: How am I going to get to the finish in time if something goes wrong? How will I get back if I have a flat tyre? This year was different: I had the self-confidence to always finish within the time limit - no matter what happened. I had the feeling that I could really influence the race. That was a lot more fun than the year before, when I was more likely to be behind and it was harder to motivate myself.

I made another really big step in my performance this year. I had the feeling that I could really influence the races. It's much more fun now than before.

TOUR: Both in France and at the Tour of Germany, you were particularly strong on the climbs. But you are not a mountain flea in terms of physique: 1.81 metres tall, 70 kilograms. Many of your fellow racers are slimmer. Weight is a big issue in professional cycling. How do you see it?

Carpenter: In my opinion, there are two components that make up good performance: Diet and training are equally important. I'm not a weight weenie who steps on the scales seven times a day. It's important to me to find a healthy balance. I make sure I eat a super carbohydrate-rich diet because I want to provide my body with the energy it needs as an endurance athlete in training and competition.

TOUR: In view of your good development this season, we mustn't forget: Not only did the season end with a serious crash, but it also began with a serious racing accident: In mid-March at Milan-Turin, you were pushed off by a support car in the convoy behind the peloton, flew off the road in a high arc and were then rescued by rescue workers at great expense ...

Carpenter: Yes, the rescue was like something out of Hollywood. I flew into some really thick undergrowth and was hanging upside down, still clipped into the pedals. The Italian driver of the ambulance asked me if I could move. I said no. There were a few communication difficulties, he thought something had happened to my spine.

TOUR: The spine was undamaged, as it turned out. Nevertheless, the fall haunted you for a while.

Carpenter: I often sat on the couch afterwards, feeling healthy and ready for action. Then I'd get on my bike and after a few pedal strokes my thigh would cramp up. Sometimes I couldn't even get my bike out of the underground car park. That was new and unusual for me: training had to be cancelled for quite a long time, even though I had no visible injury. Many doctors and physiotherapists weren't familiar with it either. It was only after two or three weeks that it turned out that I had a muscle trauma that was affecting the function of my nerves. I then travelled by car 13 times in three weeks to the best osteopath I know - eventually I was fine again.

TOUR: Time heals the wounds - at least physically ...

Carpenter: And the mental ones too! The crash still bothered me a bit. I first had to regain confidence - both in training on the road and in the races. I now drive a bit more carefully through the convoy in races and keep more distance - that's actually where the most dangerous situations in racing occur.

I thought becoming a professional cyclist was a no-brainer. I was more of a bon vivant and didn't work in a disciplined way. After two months of disciplined training and the right diet, I was a world leader in the U23 category.

TOUR: In your second year with the Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert team, you have made great progress. The team was underestimated from the outside for a long time - now the Belgian racing team has really taken off. What is the recipe for success there?

Carpenter: I think we approach things as a team in a very free and relaxed way and still always give our best. We have a great racing programme, we can compete with the absolute best in the world, but if things don't go so well, if you want to come back after an injury, we can also ride small competitions in the Coupe de France or the Tour of Sicily. We also have super open communication, you can approach the team with any problem and are always taken seriously. I can just be myself and don't have to present myself as stronger than I actually am. Everyone knows what each other's strengths are - we maximise them. Aike Visbeek, our first sporting director, has played a huge part in this development.

TOUR: He brought the sprint-strong classics specialist Alexander Kristoff onto the team last season.

Carpenter: Alex Kristoff was a very important man for the mentality. When we started in December (2021; editor's note) When we were sitting together at the training camp in Spain, he said in the meeting: "I am the team captain, I am now responsible for the team's success. That took all the pressure off him and the team. Alex then also won a race early on (Clasica Almeria in mid-February; editor's note). We didn't have a personality like that in the team before.

TOUR: Now, after a year, he has moved on to Team Uno-X from his home country of Norway. What does that mean for your team?

Carpenter: I thought it was a real shame that he left. I hope that he has passed on his mentality to the team and that we can now be successful without him.

TOUR: Speaking of success: are you at a crossroads at the age of 25? Will you continue as a leader or as a helper in professional sport?

Carpenter: I like doing both. I think that the structures have loosened up a bit now. There are many racers who take on great tasks as a helper and still achieve results - for example Marco Haller, who rides as a helper from the front all year at Bora-Hansgrohe and then still won a big race in Hamburg.

TOUR: You don't always want to be captain?

Carpenter:After all, it also means huge pressure that you have to deal with when you drive 70 or 80 races a year and are always responsible for the result. But if you can never drive for your own result, then the absolute excitement, the motivation, is lost. The optimum is a balanced relationship.

TOUR: You have now established yourself in professional cycling. But the start was bumpy.

Carpenter: I had my first professional contract with Team CCC, I thought it wasn't going badly. But then something happened that shouldn't happen - in the middle of the year I was told I couldn't continue. It was kind of a death in instalments. In March we were told: we're having financial difficulties. Then there were lots of rumours about a new sponsor. Then, at the beginning of August, we received an email from the management ...

TOUR: There was no sponsor after the withdrawal of CCC. Your two-year contract was worth nothing. You were then placed with Intermarche-Wanty.

Carpenter: Until then, I had to tremble a little. It was early/mid-October before everything was finalised. But it turned out to work out really well, I feel really comfortable in my current environment.

TOUR: While your training partner Marco Brenner went straight from the junior class to the World Tour, you took a longer diversions via smaller teams in Austria. But things didn't go perfectly for you there either. At the end of 2017, Team Felbermayr did not extend your contract. Does that also leave you with your own career in tatters?

Carpenter: Yes, back then I thought that turning pro would be a no-brainer. I prioritised school and my A-levels in my first year, then broke my hand straight away. I also fell into the rut of my school friends, 80 per cent of whom took a year off after their A-levels. I simply wasn't disciplined in my work. I was more of a bon vivant. As a junior, I rode with Pawel Siwakow and Harm Vanhoucke and a few others at the front who soon had success and became professionals. I thought it would be the same for me. I lacked the self-reflection.

TOUR: You then joined Team Tirol at the last minute in the autumn.

Carpenter: I initially had the same mentality. It wasn't until the summer of 2018 that I woke up to the thought: Oh, I'm already in my third year as an U23 and haven't had that many successes yet! Only then did I start to really work to fulfil my dream. After two months of fully disciplined training and the right diet, I finished in the top ten at the European Championships. In 2019, I went all out again and was then the absolute best in the world in the U23 category.

TOUR: Team manager Thomas Pupp's Tyrolean squad has fostered many talents: Patrick Konrad, Lukas Pöstlberger, Gregor Mühlberger, Michael Gogl and Jan Tratnik passed through the team on their way to the World Tour.

Carpenter: Everyone gets their opportunities there and is given great support. In return, very little is expected. You can take time off, they take you into consideration. For me, it really was a great team.

TOUR: It was also in this environment that you made your breakthrough as a young rider - with fifth place at the Tour de l'Avenir 2019, the Tour de France for young riders under 23. What role did the race actually play back then - you had already been offered your first professional contract with Team CCC shortly beforehand?

Carpenter: A huge role mentally! It was my last U23 year and I really wanted to turn pro: Throughout the spring, I paid attention to everything, worked on myself super precisely, but also quite doggedly at times. Then I got my professional contract before the Avenir. After that, I trained really freely for four or five weeks - more on emotion and not strictly according to a training plan. That made me even stronger. That was the wake-up call for me: you should always have fun and listen to your body.

TOUR: At the age of twelve, you decided against football and in favour of cycling in an Augsburg club. You found an important supporter there...

Carpenter: We have a really good club at home: E-Racers Augsburg. It's run by Gerhard Ertl. When I was 14 or 15 years old, he used to drive me 200 or 300 kilometres to races in a van. He invested so much time, he really lives and breathes the sport. I owe him a lot.

TOUR: You have opened up a second career opportunity alongside cycling. You are completing a distance learning programme in International Management in Ansbach. Is that more than just occupational therapy?

Carpenter: I would like to hold my certificate in my hands at some point and write my Bachelor's thesis next year. It's also good for me to fire up my brain cells from time to time. When I started doing more for my studies again in October, I realised that my concentration was pretty poor. If I only read half a page, I needed a three-minute break on my mobile phone for Tiktok.

TOUR: Give us an outlook: What are your long-term goals as a professional cyclist?

Carpenter: I have two big goals in my career: I want to win a stage of the Tour de France and become German road race champion.