There are not many memories left in Ronny Lauke's head of that historic hour last August. He was sitting in the Canyon//SRAM team car behind the peloton and watched on the TV screen as a thriller for victory in the women's Tour de France unfolded in the hairpin bends up to Alpe d'Huez. Katarzyna Niewiadoma from Team Canyon//SRAM had started the final stage in yellow and had to defend her lead on the long climb in a thrilling, extremely exhausting long-distance duel with the defending champion Demi Vollering, who had escaped.
Lauke's fellow rider Erik Zabel had told him early on: "We're going to win this." He was proved right - albeit by a very narrow margin. Completely exhausted, Niewiadoma saved a four-second lead in the overall standings. The Polish rider had won the most important cycling race in the world with the Lauke-led Canyon//SRAM team. "I didn't really notice much at the end. I was in such a tunnel. I had never reached such an emotional level before, except when I became a father," says team boss Lauke about the nerve-wracking road to the German racing team's historic success.
Canyon//SRAM: Alpe d'Huez as a game changer
The Tour victory was a game changer, as team boss Ronny Lauke emphasises - and the fulfilment of aspirations: "With last year's success and the step that Kasia has taken as a person and as an athlete, we have achieved something that I have dreamed of." The success was achieved even though, according to Lauke, his racing team was at best middle class among the World Tour teams in terms of budget. Now the prestigious success has loosened the purse strings of the sponsors, with the cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto joining as the third major backer. "We have 50 per cent more budget," says the manager, who is now mainly involved in the background work and hardly ever shows up at races or training camps. The sporting side of things is organised primarily by Adam Szabo from Slovakia.
50 per cent more budget
The success and the fresh money generated as a result are the factors why Lauke can now plan a stable, successful future. This was also due to the fact that the ex-professional, who continued the women's department project of T-Mobile and Highroad with the current racing team, was not always successful in signing top female riders. The then super all-rounder Pauline Ferrand-Prévot once never got going in the team jersey, partly due to problems with her leg artery, and eventually left the team and road cycling in frustration and switched to mountain biking.
Time trial world champion Chloe Dygert crashed heavily at the 2020 World Championships and hardly ever rode a major programme of road races for the German racing team in four years. The pressure to succeed was mainly on Niewiadoma, who often tried - but it didn't often work out with a big success. Nevertheless, she was always the outstanding performer over the years. "She's always solid, never injured," emphasises the team boss. In future, the pressure to succeed will not only rest on the slender shoulders of the 30-year-old Pole.
Lauke demands: More victories!
This success naturally raises further expectations. Including from him to his riders. "We have to win more bike races," demands the boss. Last year, there were no fewer than six victories - albeit extremely high-calibre ones such as the Tour victory and the one in the spring classic Fleche Wallonneboth by Niewiadoma. But even the small German racing team WNT-Ceratizit had cheered more often than Lauke's riders in recent years - not to mention the series winners of the top teams SD-Worx, Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek.
Bigger and better
The chances are much better in future, as the squad has not only been increased from 15 to 18 riders. The team has also been strengthened in terms of quality. The best-known newcomer is Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. Lauke proudly reports that the Dane decided to join his team, even though he knew she had better financial offers. The 29-year-old likes to play the good-humoured class clown in the World Tour peloton, but is also an extremely ambitious racer. In talks with her new employer, she is said to have emphasised that she absolutely wanted to ride with Niewiadoma. Conversely, the Polish rider was keen to get the Dane on the team. The two racers share an impetuous aggressiveness that sometimes comes across as a little overconfident. Cockiness in a double pack could be more promising.
Twice as good in future
So far, Niewiadoma has too often been on his own, says Lauke. The double lead could promise success, especially in the Ardennes Classics at the end of April. Uttrup Ludwig, who won a stage of the Tour de France in 2022, is also one of the best classification riders in the field. The racing team from Leipzig should now have one of the best squads for tough, mountainous tours: Australian Neve Bradbury and the two young German riders Antonia Niedermaier and Ricarda Bauernfeind all still have plenty of development potential and are already among the world's best on long mountains.
Bradbury is one of many successful projects involving latecomers and career changers at Canyon//SRAM. The 22-year-old once snapped up a contract with the team as a bonus for winning the Zwift Challenge - a virtual competition on the Smarttrainer. Last year, she won the mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia on the difficult climb to the Blockhaus - at the end of what was probably the most difficult mountain stage in the recent history of women's cycling. 3800 metres in altitude had to be climbed in Abruzzo. Niedermaier had already won the queen stage of the Tour of Italy in 2023 before retiring after a heavy crash. Bauernfeind, stage winner at the 2023 Tour de France and sixth at the 2024 Vuelta, must first recover from a lengthy knee injury, however.
Strong female sprinters
And the colourful team jerseys are also likely to be seen at the front more often in sprint decisions. To this end, Lauke has signed Italian rider Chiara Consonni, who complements the power of Dutch rider Maike van der Duin on the finishing straight. "We are better positioned in terms of breadth and depth," emphasises Lauke. The new racing year will show whether this will increase the number of successes. "We have to lead the way and say we want to defend the yellow jersey," demands the team manager. The outstanding success in 2024 has whetted the appetite for more, admits Lauke: "That certainly did something to me again. We would love to repeat this special experience."
Andreas Kublik
Editor
