Interview Lennard Kämna Bora-hansgrohe - "You have a clear goal that you're looking forward to"

At the Tour de France 2020, Lennard Kämna rode into the spotlight of the cycling world with his performances. We spoke to Lennard Kämna in August 2019 - the interview is still up to date.

Interview: Andreas Kublik

TOUR Tell us: Why do you have to be a professional cyclist at the Tour de France?

KÄMNA You don't necessarily have to, but everyone is keen, even though there are plenty of other great cycling races. The Tour is the biggest highlight and the most famous tour. In Germany in particular, you're only really accepted as a professional cyclist if you've been to the Tour. That is perhaps what makes the Tour so special: the attention.

When you stand out like you do, with strong performances on the mountain stages, lots of people see that on TV. Do people also talk to you at the village bakery?

That's my least favourite thing of all. I like to walk around unrecognised. At the village bakery, however, they've known me since I was little.

You come from the northern German town of Fischerhude. Have you now moved to Bremen because of your new fame?

It was all kept within limits. It's actually only a few days a year when, as a cyclist, you have to sign several autographs and give several interviews. There are now a few people on the team bus who are happy to see me. And you get recognised more often when you ride to the start. But that's more of a pleasure than a burden. But when I walk through Bremen and nobody recognises me, I really, really like it.

What has changed as a result of the 2019 Tour de France?

Above all, it has given me back my self-confidence and belief in myself; I know that if everything goes well, if I can prepare myself well, I can be a very good rider. I hope to be able to confirm this in the coming years.

You had a difficult phase in 2018. In 2017, you were eighth in the Vuelta time trial and runner-up in the U23 road race. Then nothing worked out in 2018 and you took some time out ...

That was the only logical step at that moment. I went from one illness to the next and simply couldn't get back into shape. At some point you have to recognise that. And when you're no longer physically fit, your mental health suffers too - then you have to take some time out. I wouldn't describe it as such a hugely difficult phase. Some people interpret things into it that aren't true at all. In the end, I just didn't cycle for six weeks. After all, I started doing competitive sport when I was 14.

In the summer of 2018, instead of going to the Tour de France as originally planned, you flew to Thailand for a backpacking holiday ...

It was a wonderful time that I really enjoyed. And I'm happy that I took this time for myself.

They don't seem to like talking about it. Yet it was a courageous step that is worth talking about.

Sure. Courageous, courageous - that's a big word now. It was the best solution for me at the time. I had a strong manager (TV journalist Marc Bator; editor's note) and a strong team behind me who said: Okay, we'll give you the time now. That was very good.

Back to your beginnings as a cyclist: is it true that you cycled to Alpe d'Huez when you were just ten years old?

Yes, those were the early days. It was a big highlight for me to ride up Alpe d'Huez. It took me two hours and I really struggled. Nevertheless, it was a great experience. At the time, I cycled for one to two hours, maximum.

The climb is a big challenge even for adults. How did you come up with the idea?

I was on holiday with my older brother and my father. They both used to cycle a lot, and of course you look up to your brother and especially your father. So I wanted to show them: I can do it too, I want to do it and I enjoy it. You learn a lot from your family.

What is your first memory of the Tour de France?

The first time I really watched the Tour de France was in 2006. I still remember Floyd Landis beaming like a madman on a mountain stage, catching Patrik Sinkewitz - those are images I have in my head.

Floyd Landis was exposed as a doper shortly after winning the Tour. This Tour de France was actually not ideal as a motivational boost for cycling ...

I was still very young then, not quite ten and a long way from understanding anything that was happening in the sport at the time. Nevertheless, they were my role models at the time and I was a huge fan. In the end, it turned out to be a very dirty phase. No question about it.

Speaking of role models. You said that Jens Voigt was your role model when you were young. Why him in particular?

I simply found Jens Voigt's riding style interesting, it inspired me.

He was a racing driver who liked to attack...

I used to attack my father in training after five kilometres. He always let me ride away for a short time. At some point, I didn't know the way or couldn't go any further. Then he caught up with me again.

Her first coach in Bremen was the former GDR track sprinter Siegfried Schreiber.

I did most of my training with my father. Sigi didn't write me any training plans, it was more a case of him saying: 'Ride the last hour with a big gear' or something like that. Or once we simulated the Oder-Rundfahrt at home. I didn't do any competitive sport back then. That changed quite radically when I went to sports school in the summer holidays. Sigi first sent my brother to Cottbus and then me too.

The sports school there definitely cultivates the cycling tradition of the GDR ...

Of course, everything in Cottbus is still a bit old school in terms of training approaches. And the structures from back then have been adopted. That's why I know what ideas the GDR had - but things have changed in terms of clean sport there too. A lot of care is taken to ensure that athletes don't start taking any nutritional supplements.

You belong to a generation of racers with strong individualists who are successful early on - for example Mathieu van der Poel, Wout Van Aert, Remco Evenepoel. Why is that?

In contrast to those ten years older, we trained very professionally from a very early age. Nowadays, even as an U17 rider, you're already travelling around with a power meter. We really try to push ourselves to the limit very early on.

You turned pro unusually early, at the age of 19. At 20, you signed with the World Tour team Sunweb. In hindsight, was that the right decision?

No, I would have been very, very happy if I could have ridden in the U23 for another two years. It was a bad decision back then to go straight to Stölting (his first team in 2015, editor's note).

In the year after your move, Stölting took out a licence as a Professional Continental Team and moved up a class. What are the arguments in favour of turning pro early on, and what are the arguments against it?

Perhaps the fact that you start working very professionally at a very early stage - or at least have the environment to do so - speaks in favour of this. You learn a lot and are therefore one step ahead of some of your rivals from the U23s. What speaks against it is that you're not really mentally ready for it yet.

What do you mean by that?

So in the U23, with a KT team (the third-highest international league, usually with racers who are still eligible to compete in the U23 class; editor's note), you go cycling with friends, you train a bit. These are fun years before the serious stuff starts.

Speaking of seriousness: In a TOUR interview some time ago, Wout Van Aert said that he never wanted to develop into a classics rider; apart from his physique, the deprivation was also too great for him. Do you also see it as deprivation?

If you want to win the Tour, you have to pay attention to a lot of things. Deprivation - many say starvation - is not one of them for me. If you have the chance to win the Tour or achieve a top result, then it doesn't feel like you're doing without anything. You have a clear goal that you're looking forward to, so you just have to pull yourself together for three months. And: eating less isn't even true. Before the tour, when I was at the training camp in Mallorca, I really ate a lot. I was told: 'Isn't your portion too big? But if you train for five hours, with intervals, in the sun, then you can treat yourself to spaghetti afterwards until you're full. Of course, you can't eat a kilo of tiramisu for dessert. But I wouldn't call that deprivation.

About the person: Lennard Kämna
Born 9 September 1996 in Wedel
Height 1.81 metres
Weight 65 kilos
Place of residence Bremen
Professional since 2016

Teams
2015-16 Stölting
2017-19 Sunweb
from 2020 Bora-Hansgrohe
Important successes
2014 Junior European and world champion individual time trial
2015 Overall U23 Bundesliga, U23 European champion and U23 World Championships individual time trial bronze medallist
2017 World champion team time trial (with Team Sunweb), U23 World Championship runner-up road race

The interview appeared in TOUR 11/2019 and was published online on 15 September 2020