Georg Steinhauser is riding his first Tour de France this year. In this interview, the 24-year-old talks about his initial struggles, the atmosphere along the route and his plans for the remaining stages.
TOUR: How was your day off today, and what did you get up to?
TOUR: The first two weeks are now over. Looking at your personal goals – how’s your first tour going so far?
GEORG STEINHAUSER: I have to say, I really struggled during the tour and, to be honest, I’m not satisfied. That doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying the tour. But when I look at my personal goals, things aren’t going at all as I’d hoped at the moment. It’s also not in line with the level of performance I’ve shown throughout the year. I don’t really have an explanation for it. My preparation actually went well. However, after three days I developed severe inflammation in my sit bones and had to take antibiotics. That’s the only thing that might have put extra strain on my body. By the weekend, I was feeling much better. I was no longer just a passenger; I was able to help shape the race from the start, help form the breakaway group and support my team-mates. That was a real relief.
TOUR: Does that mean things are getting tougher and tougher for others, whilst for you it’s only just getting started?
GEORG STEINHAUSER: I wouldn’t put it that way. The fact that things are going so badly, even though there’s no real reason apart from the seating problems and the antibiotic, is something I’ve never experienced before. But I’ve now stopped taking the antibiotic, and things have really improved since then. Now I’ll have to see how things develop and what else I can do next week.
TOUR: If we look at the atmosphere and the media coverage: in your view, how does the Tour differ from other cycle races?
GEORG STEINHAUSER: You can really feel that this is the race that attracts the most attention – not just from the media, but from the fans as well. It’s great fun to ride through the crowds. Even if it might not be pleasant at the time to be struggling up a mountain somewhere, you have to realise just how special it is to be cheered on by thousands of people. I always say: suddenly, the suffering becomes fun. And in the peloton, you can also tell that everything is much more competitive. Yesterday it took nearly 100 kilometres for the breakaway to form. That happens in the Giro and other stage races too, of course, but here all the teams really throw everything they’ve got at it to be represented in the group.
On the other hand, I have to say that I’d imagined the peloton would be more stressful. This year it’s relatively okay. I’ve had Giro stages that were far more stressful in terms of the battle for position. Perhaps it’s down to the route or the heat during the first two weeks. In the sprint stages, you could see that many GC riders held back and positioned themselves at the back. In my opinion, that’s the only right decision – it should be done that way more often.
TOUR: We’ve seen, for example in Paris–Nice, that you cope well with really bad weather. How do you cope with the heat?
GEORG STEINHAUSER: I often cope better with the cold and rain than with the heat. I did do some heat training beforehand, but the heat is extremely taxing for everyone. Even so, I wouldn’t say it limits me significantly. I don’t think I performed any worse because of the heat. It affects everyone more or less equally. But you do see riders who you’d expect to be at the front, yet who can’t quite deliver their best performance. That could, of course, be down to the heat.
TOUR: A rather unusual question: after two weeks, is there any sound or smell that you associate with the Tour de France?
GEORG STEINHAUSER: Of course, there are the typical sounds you associate with cycling. In the Tour de France, specifically, there’s always the “C’est parti” at the start. They count down from five and then come the French words ‘C’est parti’, meaning ‘let’s go’. It’s become a bit of a running joke in our team – we say it every now and then. A bit of a warm-up before the actual start.
TOUR: In the run-up to the Tour, there was a lot of talk about your training as a metalworker with your father. Many professional cyclists focus exclusively on the sport. Why don’t you?
GEORG STEINHAUSER: It was important to me to have a Plan B. My father always made it clear to me that a cycling career can come to an end very quickly and that there’s no guarantee you’ll be set for life after 10 or 15 years as a professional cyclist. That’s the case for a few riders, but not for most. That’s why I wanted to have something to fall back on in case cycling didn’t work out – something that would give me security.
TOUR: I imagine this double burden of education and training must be extremely tough. Does it help you during a three-week tour?
GEORG STEINHAUSER: To be honest, that seems quite a long way off now. When I look back and think about how I used to be in the workshop every day from 6.30 am to 12.30 pm, I find that quite extreme. I can hardly imagine that now, given that I sleep until eight every day and start the day well-rested. But the fact that I was still able to perform at that level back then and make the leap to the next level – the longer I think about it, the more special it seems to me.
TOUR: Looking ahead to the final stages: what do you still have planned before you reach Paris?
GEORG STEINHAUSER: We definitely want to keep riding aggressively. Our goal as a team is, of course, a stage win. I think Richie and Alex Baudin have the best chances of achieving that. And then we’ve got the mountains’ jersey in the back of our minds. It’ll be tough – not impossible, but very tough – because Pogacar is so strong in the mountains. But we’ll definitely give it a go.
TOUR: What’s next for you after the tour? Are you considering taking part in the national team’s tour of Germany, or do you not have any plans yet?
GEORG STEINHAUSER: That was actually something I’d considered. But first I need to have a look, because my performance on the tour has been well below my usual standards. We need to find out what’s causing it. There’s no point in worrying too much during the Tour, but afterwards, in my opinion, we should check whether there might still be bacteria in my system or whether I was overtraining beforehand. We definitely need to get to the bottom of that. After that, we’ll see how things pan out for the upcoming races. The Tour of Germany, the World Championships, the European Championships – these are all races that are on the cards and which I’d love to ride. But we really do need to see how I’m feeling after the Tour first. Once I’ve had a week’s break and know how my body is feeling, we can decide what comes next.
Lukas Niebuhr
Editor