Felix Engelhardt's wishes and goals for 2025 are quickly formulated: The 24-year-old professional cyclist from Ulm wants one thing above all else - to stay healthy. Then things can only get better. He started to fall ill in February before last season, developing a chronic infection - the spring with the first big goal, the classics in the Ardennes, was ruined. This was followed by a broken rib at the GP Gippingen in June. Despite this injury, he rode the Tour de Suisse.
Many setbacks, one important victory
It sounds like the 2024 season was a cycling year to forget for Engelhardt. But shortly after the mishap in Switzerland, the professional in the jersey of the Australian racing team Jayco-AlUla still had reason to celebrate: Engelhardt won the queen stage of the Tour of Slovakia with the mountain finish in Strbske Pleso - ahead of his team-mate Mauro Schmid and two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe. "The victory was very important after the tough time," emphasised Engelhardt. The strong performance on the mountain also gave him third place overall in this tour. People had almost forgotten that the young German is a promise of a great future: In 2022, he won the European Championship title in the U23 class. The following year, he won the tough one-day race Per sempre Alfredo in Italy and a stage of the Vuelta Castilla y Leon.
The autumn then brought another sobering experience. "I can't cope with the heat," Engelhardt realised during the Vuelta a Espana. There were temperatures of up to 40 degrees. He copes better with cooler race days. His racing programme for the future has been designed accordingly. The race on the gravel roads at the Strade Bianche (8 March) is set to be his first highlight of the 2025 season. After that, he wants to contest the Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallonne in top form. His big highlight of the year - as of the turn of the year - will be the Giro d'Italia - where snow is often the bigger problem than heat. Liège-Bastogne-Liège therefore does not fit into his racing programme. He will mainly be in the service of his team captain Michael Matthews - but cycling races always offer the opportunity to seek your own success with the right tactical constellation.
"I'm not going to be another Pogacar," says Felix Engelhardt. His perspective: chasing stages in a Grand Tour
Like Germany's new hope for the grand tours, Vuelta seventh-placed Florian Lipowitz, he comes from Ulm. And even now the two are practically neighbours - "Lipo" lives up in Seefeld in Tirol, Engelhardt down in Innsbruck. They both once rode in the U23 class for Team Tirol. In December, the two spent two weeks training together in Mallorca. The two are different types of racers: Lipowitz is the endurance rider for the really long climbs in the high mountains. Engelhardt describes himself as a "puncheur" who achieves success through his acceleration speed, who tolerates lactate well - but only gets uphill well for 15 to 20 minutes. After that it bites out - he has already realised that.
Engelhardt wants to take on more responsibility
The next step: "I want to take on more responsibility," he says. He wants to become someone who can ride at the front in the classics such as the Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège - fighting for stage wins in the major national tours. "I'm not going to be another Pogacar," he says. His contract with the Australians expires at the end of the season - but the 24-year-old is in good spirits: "The team is behind me. I now have the opportunity to show that I can do more."
Andreas Kublik
Editor
