Home visit with Mieke Kröger
Dull weather, an apartment block in a normal residential neighbourhood in the Hürth district of Cologne. Mieke Kröger looks relaxed as she invites us into the flat. "We can start right away," she says, "I've had enough tea now."
What she means: she has just had to undergo an official doping test; as soon as we close the door behind us, the professional cyclist disappears into the bathroom with the inspector. We look around a little furtively - the flat is like a student flat share with cycling decorations. There are two time trial bikes standing around, a multitude of shoes and helmets spread across the anteroom.
Shoe painting
Kröger is travelling between two training camps, focused on her first highlight of the year, the European Track Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland, at the beginning of February, from which she will return with a bronze medal in the team pursuit. She enjoys living with Christa Riffel, another cyclist with whom she rode together in the Hitec-Products team, during breaks from travelling and competitions. "Cologne was already my Olympic base in the early years, and the idea of sharing a flat with Christa came about quite spontaneously a year and a half ago," she explains.
Mieke Kröger invites us into her room for a chat. It is, she says somewhat sheepishly, a mirror image of herself: "Very unstructured in some corners, but well organised in other areas. I can be crazy, but very clear and focussed when I need to be." A world champion jersey and an Olympic gold medal are proof of her ability to focus, both of which hang not far from an easel.
Mieke Kröger likes to paint in her free time, and she doesn't just paint canvases: her flatmate Christa's customised racing bike shoes are on the table. "I did that, shoe painting is a big hobby of mine. It's a great way for me to unwind," says Kröger.
Mieke Kröger - Youth without cycling
Road cycling was once "just" a hobby for the 29-year-old from Bielefeld - and she would never have dreamed that it could grow into a competitive sporting career, which Kröger has since crowned with an Olympic victory in Tokyo and several world and European championship titles: "I saw a road cyclist on the way to school and thought, I want to ride that fast one day." A short time later, the then 15-year-old joined a cycling club.
She quickly felt at home at RV Teutoburg Brackwede; her parents, Andrea and Thomas, both teachers, played no part in her decision to cycle, they let her do it, says Kröger: "I don't come from a cycling family, I was a normal teenager, not particularly keen on sport. Riding my bike to school, a few swimming lessons, ju-jutsu with my siblings, that's all there was to it."
First race, first victory
Kröger's youth coach Markus Spiekermann remembers the first training sessions together well: "Apart from enjoying cycling, she didn't bring anything with her in terms of sport - not even a racing bike. I didn't have any great expectations. But she fitted into the group very well, was very sociable, not a typical teenager at all. She learnt very quickly. I only realised what she was capable of after a few weeks."
She takes her first victory in her first race in Brackwede. "I loved standing on the podium and enjoying the encouragement. I wanted more of that," she says. It took a little while for the athlete, who was so successful so quickly, to discover even more in cycling: "Just packing your clothes and setting off with friends, that's something really nice! We laugh a lot, but we also have in-depth conversations. Those are absolutely precious moments for me."
Key moments
Her sporting potential for bigger tasks soon became apparent. According to Markus Spiekermann, the German U17 championships in the individual time trial could have been a key experience. Kröger finished fifth - she was the only starter among the 20 best riders to set off on a normal road bike and without a support vehicle: "That day was perhaps the first time she realised what she was really made of!"
National and international top results quickly followed in the junior class. In 2011, Kröger became German champion on the road and, in the same year, world champion in the single pursuit. She was even nominated for the London 2012 Olympic Games on the track. "When it didn't work out with the Olympics back then, I wasn't disappointed. I was only 18 years old and didn't really expect to be there," she says.
Olympic gold
What Kröger did not quite achieve in her first Olympic participation in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 with 9th place in the team pursuit on the track, she achieved as the crowning glory of her career so far with the track foursome in Tokyo 2021: Olympic gold in the team pursuit over 4000 metres with a new world record in the final race against Great Britain. The German quartet, consisting of Mieke Kröger, Lisa Brennauer, Franziska Brauße and Lisa Klein, pulverised the world record held by Great Britain since 2016 by a whopping six seconds - worlds in track cycling!
A tactical change just a few weeks before Tokyo was key to her success, Kröger explains. When she didn't perform as usual at the German championships in the road time trial at the end of June 2021, national track coach Andre Korff asked her what was going on. "I told the national coach at the time that the mental pressure I had put on myself during that phase absolutely had to go," she recalls.
Most track fours split the 4000-metre distance more or less evenly and alternate several times - which doesn't suit Mieke Kröger's special skills perfectly. "I didn't feel comfortable taking two leads, and at the same time I felt it was a weakness of my own." Korff reacted with a great deal of understanding.
Shortly afterwards, Kröger plucked up all her courage and suggested a tactical change to the coach for the lead changes. The team tried the other option, allowing Kröger to ride longer lead-outs: "I knew that I could ride the 1000 metres really fast on the fly and that this might make me more valuable to the team overall." According to Lisa Brennauer, who has since retired, Kröger's courage to address her weakness was perhaps the real key to her Olympic victory.
In any case, foursome colleague Franziska Brauße attests to Mieke Kröger's decisive role in the team, and not just since the Olympic victory and after Lisa Brennauer's retirement: "She is the engine of the foursome. Thanks to her long lead, we can recover for the last kilometre and then give it our all again."
Setting the course
With her international successes and the recognition she has received from her team-mates on many occasions, Mieke Kröger should have been able to look to her future as a professional cyclist with relative peace of mind. But after her Olympic victory, she decided to make a change. In order to secure her career, she joined the German army as a sports soldier.
She is now also working with manager Christian Baumer: "My contract with Hitec-Products was coming to an end and I wanted to join a bigger road team again. I already had loose contact with Human Powered Health. Christian helped me with the finer details and supported me in all aspects of my job."
The switch to Human Powered Health was initiated at the 2021 World Championships in Flanders. Joanne Kiesanowski, former track rider and sporting director of the team, met with Mieke Kröger for initial discussions: "We were new to the Women's World Tour with our women's team and were looking for a big name, someone who has a lot of experience and can lead the young team in and out of the races."
The team emerged from the former Rally Cycling team; there have been no notable successes to date, but the team is innovative. The Belgian Ro De Ronckere, who has already worked for teams such as Quick-Step and Qhubeka in the men's World Tour, is the only team manager in the entire World Tour circuit to lead the women's team.
Mieke Kröger - Having fun in the leadership role
Sporting Director Joanne Kiesanowski has high hopes for the team in the 2023 season, also thanks to the recent signing of Alice Barnes, who is moving from Canyon/SRAM Racing. Kröger sees her in the role of road captain within the very young team.
According to Kiesanowski, many of the riders have hardly any experience on European roads; the experienced German is to steer them during the races and be the direct contact person for her team-mates: "Mieke is predestined for the spring races with her outstanding physical abilities and time trial qualities."
At 1.83 metres, Kröger is one of the tallest in the women's peloton, and her athleticism allows for long leads at high speed. "That's also very, very valuable when it comes to getting our climbers into the ascents," adds Kiesanowski.
Mieke Kröger - "A lot of fun vibes"
"A lot of fun vibes," Kiesanowski attests to the lively and versatile German. "The young female drivers literally look up to her and are grateful for any advice."
Kröger has already proven that she can also achieve her own successes on the road with the German championship title in 2016 and overall victory in the 2019 Lotto Belgium Tour. Nevertheless, she sees her main task as helping the specialists in the team to succeed. "I think we can get one or two results in sprint stages this year. I'm certainly a valuable part of the lead-out," she says, explaining her ability to put her speedy team-mates in the best possible position for the sprint. When asked about her own goals, a good result at Paris-Roubaix is at the top of her list. "I was already in the leading group there last year, but then unfortunately had bad luck with a flat tyre," she says. "But if everything goes right, I can ride in at the front."
Cycling to Tehran?
In addition to professional sport, the Bielefeld native has a wide range of interests - even if the bicycle plays a central role in many of them. Recently, she and her brother Hauke, an industrial engineer, visited Christian Pyttel in Rastatt. There, the siblings built a steel frame under his guidance; Christian Pyttel is a renowned frame builder from the former GDR who has already constructed Olaf Ludwig's bikes.
The self-built steel bike is currently at her parents' home in Bielefeld, but could literally play a key role in the realisation of a dream that Mieke Kröger has cherished for some time: her next major sporting goal is the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris; if the political situation allows it by then, she wants to cycle to Tehran with a friend afterwards: "I can well imagine converting the steel bike into a gravel bike for this tour." She beams at the thought.
Kröger does not yet have any career prospects after competitive sport. She is currently studying nutritional science at the University of Bonn, but has not yet decided whether this will lead to a specific career; however, a job in sport is not currently an option. "I'm just letting myself drift," she says. "I would also find studying art very interesting." Her sister Ilka and her former professional colleague and good friend Tanja Erath are doctors, but she is not attracted by the insights into the medical profession that this gives her. "I don't see myself there," she says and laughs: "Besides, I already have a doctorate. In cycling!"
