Tour de France Geschke and his last Grand Loop before cycling retirement
At the end of the year, professional cyclist Simon Geschke will end his career. Photo
© Bernd Weissbrod/dpa
At the end of the year, professional cyclist Simon Geschke is ending his career. He will compete in the Tour de France once again. And the Berlin native is not just doing it for fun.
Simon Geschke, who will soon retire from cycling, looks back casually on his last participation in the Tour de France. “I’m going into the Tour very relaxed. I’m 38, nobody expects any major leaps in performance from me,” the professional cyclist told the German Press Agency. The Freiburg native is taking part in the Grand Loop for the twelfth time. The 111th edition of the French national tour begins on Saturday in Florence.
Feel the wind in the Pyrenees once again, enjoy the Alpine panorama and then, after three weeks of hard work, cross the finish line on the Côte d’Azur healthy and happy: Geschke wants to soak up everything around him once again – and above all “stay injury-free”.
But it is not intended to be a fun sporting event. “I want to show a similarly good performance as at the Giro,” he made clear. “It should not just be a farewell round.” Geschke, who is retiring at the end of the year, is planned to help his teammates. However, he will also be given his own freedom for breakaway groups.
Strong placing at the Giro
In May, the professional rider showed in Italy what he was still capable of. After briefly wearing the mountain jersey on behalf of the all-powerful dominator and later Giro winner Tadej Pogacar, he celebrated 14th place in the overall ranking in Rome. It was his best result in the three major tours: the Tour, the Giro and the Spanish Vuelta. The German cycling world reacted with a lot of praise. Former professional Fabian Wegmann described him in the “CyclingMagazine” podcast as “super strong right to the end”.
Geschke initially only wanted to concentrate on the Giro. Now he is riding in both of the grueling Grand Tour races. But he is fit. “I didn’t beg to be allowed to ride this year, but I really wanted it,” he said. He is the fourth oldest professional in the race at the start line. Ahead of him is the 39-year-old sprint star Mark Cavendish, who would take sole possession of the Tour’s stage win record with another day’s victory.
Geschke, who was born in Berlin, associates great sporting successes with the Tour de France. “The stage win at the 2015 Tour was my greatest moment as a rider,” he still enthuses today. It was to be his only one at the biggest cycling event in the world. But there was another big hit: in 2022 he led the mountain classification for a surprisingly long time and rode with the legendary polka dot jersey on the final stage in Paris. But he was only a stand-in for the eventual winner Jonas Vingegaard.
Bad memories of last year
Last year, the completely exhausted cyclist struggled up to the Courchevel airfield during the 17th stage of the Tour. He only made it there just before the time limit. Afterwards, he was plagued by nausea and chills. One day later, the ailing Geschke had to give up.
Now he wants to say “Au Revoir” properly. With the start in Florence he will be taking part in one of the three major tours for the 20th time. From a German perspective, only Erik Zabel, Tony Martin, Jens Voigt and Christian Knees have managed this before. Voigt alone has taken part in the Tour 17 times.
He thinks the chances of the eight German racers (including Geschke) winning a stage are rather slim. “It would be a surprise for me to win the breakaway groups,” said Geschke. He may still get his chance to cause a Tour surprise. One last time.
dpa
#Subjects
