Kittel draws attention to the once taboo subject of "mental health" and says of his new role as a book author and stage reader: "It's something new and a challenge. But it's also the moment when I realise that it's a total enrichment. It was very, very nice to see the great interest from the audience."
Mental problems have become an issue
It's nothing new that the 33-year-old, who retired from professional sport in 2019 and is now devoting more time to his family, is eloquent. Kittel is also a TV pundit and was already able to express himself well during his successful career with 14 stage wins at the Tour de France. However, he is now explicitly using his name and his fame to draw attention to the topic of the psyche in sport.
"It's definitely become more of an issue in cycling. In general, the topic of mental problems in sport is gaining ground. There is a certain need for athletes to speak out," Kittel told the German Press Agency. He is observing that more and more professional cyclists are feeling the courage to go public with it. A prominent example of this is the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, who made his mental problems public at the beginning of this year.
The Jumbo-Visma pro took a break from professional sport. "It's as if a rucksack weighing a hundred kilos has slipped off my shoulders," said Dumoulin. The former Giro winner and time trial world champion needed time to come to terms with the enormous stress. "The question of what I want for myself, whether I still want to be a professional cyclist at all, has popped up again and again in the last few months and I haven't found the time to answer it," said Dumoulin.
"I am very satisfied at the moment"
Kittel may have been characterised by furious series of victories, but he felt the same way at the time. "There were moments when I couldn't touch my racing bike. That was perhaps something that could be described as burnout or a depressive phase," the Thuringian-born cyclist recently told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper. Kittel emphasised that he had not experienced such exceptional situations since the end of his career. "It was simply due to this extreme stress."
In his book "Das Gespür für den Augenblick", which has been on the market since September, Kittel describes his feelings and the constant ups and downs of a professional's life in detail. "At the beginning, I set myself the goal of writing an open and honest book. I didn't just want to string together race results," explained Kittel.
He is happy with his current roles as a TV pundit and brand ambassador, but his main job at the moment is at home with his partner Tess von Piekartz and their two children. In October, the young family will move from Switzerland to the Netherlands, where the former volleyball player von Piekartz comes from. "I don't currently have an acute desire to return to the professional or top sports world. I don't want to rule anything out, but I'm very happy at the moment," said Kittel.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:211004-99-478591/4
