In 2024, the German Louis Kitzki won the Zwift Academy of the World Tour team Alpecin Deceuninck and thus a contract with the Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team. His cycling CV was still relatively young: in 2021 he won the Kieler Woche cycle race, in 2022 he became national champion in the time trial and on the road in the U19 class and in 2023 he rode for Team Embrace The World. With the Alpecin contract, he had made the leap to the top and seemingly realised his dream. His first guest appearances in the World Tour soon followed. He was unable to finish his first appearance in a World Tour race in the Netherlands after a crash.
The dangers of the sport were also drastically demonstrated to him in the period that followed: the 21-year-old rode in a race twice in which a rider died after a crash. The death of André Drege at the Tour of Austria left Louis Kitzki with deep psychological scars: "Unfortunately, after the Tour of Austria, I never became the racer I once was. I became more and more worried about my safety and felt increasingly uncomfortable in the races. I had completely lost the fun of racing and the more chaotic a race became, the more brutally I broke down mentally." After another death at the Giro Ciclistico Valle D'Aosta, he decided to end his career.
Louis Kitzki Instagram Post
Note: the original is in English - here is a translated version:
"Probably not the kind of career end I had in mind... After taking part in my last race, the Giro Ciclistico Valle D'Aosta, and the associated death of Samuele Privitera, I decided to end my career as a professional cyclist.
After last year's Tour of Austria, where another rider died, I was already having serious doubts about racing and was on the verge of quitting. Nevertheless, I carried on and largely blocked out what had happened. Unfortunately, after the Tour of Austria, I never became the racer I once was. I became more and more worried about my safety and felt increasingly uncomfortable in the races, which in the medium term meant that I was no longer able to deliver in the races what I had worked so hard for in training. In the end, the races were unfortunately just an annoying side effect that you had to put up with if you wanted to earn money from cycling. I had completely lost the fun of racing and the more chaotic a race became, the more brutally I broke down mentally. Unfortunately, the body doesn't work well without the mind. What happened in the Aosta Valley was ultimately just a confirmation of my decision, and I can see how well I've been doing since I stopped. I regret that I wasn't able to fulfil some expectations as a professional cyclist and that my collaboration with Alpecin is now coming to an end. Nevertheless, I am sure that it was the right decision to stop.
Nevertheless, I am very grateful for the opportunity that my team Alpecin Deceuninck and Zwift have given me. I was able to learn from the best cyclists in the world and got to know a lot of nice people in the team. I was also able to significantly improve my fitness thanks to my coach Philipp Walsleben, even though I was never really able to show this in the races. I had the feeling that this team is very aware of its responsibility towards young athletes and I never felt pressurised in any way. I always enjoyed the training and the improvement process and I hope that I will occasionally find time to cycle again in the future.
Thanks to all my team mates, the whole team, Philipp, Sander, Bart, Jens, Luuc and Ahto! I wish you all the best and stay safe!"
Kristian Bauer
Editor
