De Rwanda à Nice — Les Championnats du Monde sous les projecteurs

Björn: Hey, this is Björn. Just a quick note before we start — this episode is an AI-generated English version of our original German Afasteryou podcast. The voices you hear are cloned with AI. Enjoy the show. Welcome to the Afasteryou Podcast, where it's all about endurance sports and training. Sebastian Schluricke, Björn Kafka and Niclas Ranker give you valuable tips and insights to help you take your performance to the next level. Alright, welcome to a new episode of the Afasteryou Podcast. Good morning, Björn.

Niclas: Good morning, Niclas.

Björn: Just as fit as me. We really need to time this better. I was about to say, last week we were both pretty wrecked. Yeah, although I actually thought today would already be better. The day after the race always being really rough, that's kind of known, but two days after the race still feeling this rough. That's just how it is. But you won, right? Yeah, I did. Felt good. Mostly it was fun. Very good. Congrats. Thanks. Should we kick off the episode with that? Then we've got that topic out of the way, the unpleasant one. For me at least. So actually, it was the Saarschleife Marathon, my home race in a way, because it's the only mountain bike marathon in Saarland. 97 kilometers, 2200 meters of climbing on paper. I measured 24 for the climbing.

Niclas: But you measured it badly. You've gotta run some filtering on that. In reality it's probably more like 22.

Björn: Yeah, probably only 22. But that was the course where I crashed last year in training, and where the German Championships were held last year. And since I hadn't managed to win my home race either, this year I'd almost say it was my season peak. We can go into off-season now, Björn.

Niclas: Mega. So tell me, you were three hours and how much?

Björn: Hand-timed it was 3:54, I think official time says 3:53.8 or something. What was the winning time at the Germans? At the Germans, Seewald knocked it out in just over 3:40 I think. Yeah, brutal. So with my time this year, I would've been twelfth at last year's German Championships. Not bad either. Yeah, I'd say so too. If I'd been twelfth at the Germans last year, I would've been happy. That's a result where you say, okay, you can work with that. Totally fine. I think last year there were still quite a few cross-country riders. No, not that many cross-country riders actually started.

Niclas: But it was a well-stacked race. And especially when you've been riding alone more or less, for three kilometers, rode away a bit this year. Once you're deep in the race like that, maybe you can mobilize a little more.

Björn: So exactly, those are a few points I wanted to address, because one of my athletes asked me, hey, what power numbers do you need to win that? And when I look just at my power numbers, for example this year in Willingen I rode more watts for over an hour longer. So purely the power numbers, I didn't find them that crazy. Yeah. My advantage, I think, was simply that I knew the course inside out, and I told Matthias Frohn before the start what I was going to do. At the beginning, around kilometer 3, there's a dip. You ride a long left-hand curve over gravel, then onto asphalt, then down, and then there's a 3-minute climb if you go full gas. And I knew the others didn't have a 38-tooth chainring. So I rode that left-hander perfectly, hammered in with 500 watts, shot through the dip, and ripped a gap just on the chainring, and then I was alone. And they didn't close it back up. I checked the times this morning. Afterward, on the descent, there's a section where you have to ride about six kilometers on a flat forest road. And alone on that descent, on that segment, I already pulled a whole minute out. And then it was, in quotes, basically done, because after that I just paced it cleanly. I checked, I rode the climbs exactly as fast as Frohn, who was pretty much always in the chase group, and on the flats they weren't taking any time back. And then the thing was actually pretty relaxed, but I also told Paul Häuser as an example, if I'd had somebody with me, on the flats, in all those passages where, let's say, you have to work, you would've ridden faster, because you trade off, chill at Fatmax in the slipstream, the other goes full gas, and there would've been more in it. So maybe at a Germans with a good group you ride faster, but maybe you also blow up, you never know.

Niclas: Exactly, that's the other thing. If you're sitting in lactate for the first half hour, the end can really go south.

Björn: Yeah, I think, I've gotta say, I actually really like these very steady races. They suit me. I can pace myself really well over long periods, that really worked. So I rode 353 over it, 343 NP, 287 average. And in quotes only had an average heart rate of 165. So I never had to go really deep. Except for the attack, I was pretty much never over 175 bpm. And that's, in quotes, relaxed when you can just pace it cleanly.

Niclas: Tempo training with Niclas Ranker. How do I lower my lactate production rate?

Björn: It was basically just a hard training session we did. We wanted to bring the lactate production rate down a bit anyway.

Niclas: That was the plan.

Björn: That was training. Worked. Exactly. So I think what you can take away is, course knowledge is super important. The tactics just worked perfectly in this case. And I think when I look at the segments, especially the flat parts, I didn't push more watts than the others, but I rode faster anyway. I just really executed it ice-cold, always staying tucked in. I still have sore triceps today. And a sore neck, because I was trying to sit aero the whole time. And I think even in mountain bike marathon, I know a lot of people still think aerodynamics isn't that much of a thing in mountain biking. It makes such a huge difference. You ride one, two km/h faster over the whole marathon. At the end I had a five-minute gap. And I think the climb times were basically always the same as Matthias Frohn. And at the finish I still had five minutes. So that's just... you've got to internalize it, you've got to train that position, and then I think you can really ride a bike fast.

Niclas: Yeah, very cool. I remember, if I recall correctly, weren't you a little unsure whether you could ride this thing fast or not? We actually didn't do anything except base, heat, and a bit of threshold.

Björn: Yeah, ultimately my problem was more that after Andorra, which was completely at altitude, I felt like crap. And Andorra itself, I don't think it went well for me. Altitude really knocked me. And I was seriously rattled. Like, do you even have the fitness to ride fast for over four hours? But I have to say, the training worked. Very good. Cool. Nothing to complain about. Yeah, now unfortunately another race at altitude, Swiss Epic. Even higher.

Niclas: Who are you riding with again?

Björn: With Aaron again. Altitude doesn't bother him, unfortunately.

Niclas: Yeah.

Björn: We just have to set the watt numbers beforehand and then I have to ride cruise control. Can't overcook it, otherwise it'll be Andorra again. That would be unpleasant. So. Now to the actual highlight of last week, right?

Niclas: Tour de France. Yeah. Tour de France. Yeah, the Tour was mega. Man, it was good. How sick was the last stage? I had such a crazy ride. I had to... go back up north, another 1000 kilometers, and I got there nicely for the last half hour or so, almost, yeah, last half hour, three quarters of an hour. Okay. And family, they were with me, had it running on the phone, and when the group went with Jorgenson and Pogacar and Wout van Aert of course and Trentin. And that Astana guy, we've forgotten him. Anyway, when the group... Exactly. Then they asked right away, who wins? And then I said... That was still the group with Girmay and them too. Right, the group was still relatively big. Then I said, Girmay, if he comes across, it's going to be tough. Or Van Aert. And actually, that guy was still in there too, right? The Merida guy. Ah, Mohoric. Mohoric. I was like, wow, the way he bombed down that descent.

Björn: Dude, I was about to say, he's got it on the descents. He thought, last day, I'm going full risk. Just sent everything he could going downhill.

Niclas: Hospital or whatever, doesn't matter, right? And yeah, then I caught the end again... we were able to watch it on the big TV, and what an awesome stage. I've been there often, I mean, I'm in Paris a lot, I'm going back in a few days, and I know the area pretty well. And it's sick, riding through Montmartre like that. Yeah, awesome, just the atmosphere, mega. I was thinking, ah fuck, why am I not there? Didn't work out, at least on that stretch. And yeah, if you experience the Tour in Paris, it's amazing.

Björn: Yeah, two years ago we were also there, and I thought, for example, because we got there way too late, we couldn't really get that close to the course. Like, actually seeing the riders up close. But the atmosphere around it, that alone is completely crazy. The whole city is on its feet. Everyone celebrating cycling. Incredible. It really is awesome.

Niclas: Super. I've been there often. Was in the back of a team car on the... Champs-Élysées, and it's really awesome when you drive through there. It's just super loud. The crowd sizes, it's super loud, even in the car, you're sitting there and everyone is yelling at you and you're like, dude, what's going on. It's really, really cool. And yeah, Paris is just an awesome city when it comes to sport. It was like that at the Olympics too, I was there, spent a week there and rode everything by bike. We always rode down from Sèvres. I've got the advantage that we have a little house there, my father-in-law's. And we'd always ride through Paris. And Paris during the Olympics was super cool, because everything was closed off, or a lot was closed. And the police were completely chill, I loved it. Like, they always looked so mean, but they were totally nice and helpful, and with Paris, I could finally ride routes I normally can't ride. It was all built in so nicely, yeah, they really have this... huge sense of aesthetics, building these stadiums into the city. Mega, mega, mega, and mega stage, mega Tour. It was just super fun to watch.

Björn: I thought the images, Montmartre going up, how everyone was standing on that big staircase. I mean, it's always packed there.

Niclas: It's always, always packed. Now it was ultra packed. Yeah, for anyone who's never seen the Tour, go. It's so sick. Even the mountains. My first time at the Tour was '96 or '97, I can't remember, did Ullrich win that year? Wasn't it '96? No idea. Ullrich won in '97, Riis in '96. I wasn't around yet. Right, '98 Pantani. And then came a long stretch of Armstrong. Who came after Armstrong? One year Oscar Pereiro, I think. Then come those years where nobody really knows, with Floyd Landis, Rasmussen. Then at some point Contador, and then Wiggins came and Schleck was still in there. Schleck too, right, that was, let's say, the era where nobody knew who'd win. Right, Schleck, Contador and then... Then came Sky, more or less. Then came Sky, though one year they didn't win, Nibali won that year. Right. That was the year Froome broke his foot on that cobbles stage and they didn't take Wiggins along, even though he was in bomb shape. Exactly. And then came Sky. And then eventually the others.

Björn: Poker challenge. I mean, what I thought was really crazy, time was neutralized, basically in quotes there was nothing left for Pogacar to win, except the stage win of course. And still going full gas in the yellow jersey, and not sitting in, even though if he crashes and, in quotes, DNFs, he'd still lose the Tour, even though it was neutralized. Yeah. I was thinking, you're such a cool guy. You can see it in him, he just wants to ride a bike fast. And whenever possible, full gas.

Niclas: It's a great image, how epic it would be to win that stage in the yellow jersey. I got that right? Yeah, of course. That's mega, yeah. And it was a really close thing. But Van Aert just did it, and once he had Jorgenson with him, the thing was already done. You've got to close every gap. They were all completely dead. And when he attacked on Montmartre, I didn't think he'd close the deal then, I thought maybe it'd still come down to a sprint.

Björn: But I thought it was so crazy. The way Wout van Aert rode over them, and what a gap he ripped at the end of that climb in the last 400 meters. He must have put down everything he had.

Niclas: Everything, everything. And that course, I've ridden it many times on the bike, it's just hell. And in the wet, it's just... Last year in the time trial, they were crashing so brutally. Especially on the women's side, it was so sketchy. I think the American time trialist, I can't remember her name, she's actually a triathlete with real power. I think she crashed five times. And I was thinking, dude, it's super slick everywhere there. And when they came down Montmartre, there was still some leaves or blossom stuff on the road. Yeah, pollen, blossoms.

Björn: That yellow stuff, yeah. And I was like, oh...

Niclas: I assume they scrubbed the road beforehand. That's how I'd expect them to do it. They really do that. And then I was thinking, oh, bombing down there at that speed, that everything's... But then you see from the side, how he rides over that cobblestone patchwork. And that road is just boom, boom. And you see the bike working. They actually got pretty thick tires for road bikes. Dude, crazy. And through those puddles. And he did it. That was mega. Just unbelievable.

Björn: I've got to say, for an athlete like Wout van Aert, in that situation, you can really grant him that one. And especially in that way, how he just, I think in the evening on Instagram Matteo Jorgenson and Campenaerts joked that Wout van Aert was now the first rider in the last two years to drop Pogacar from his wheel. Yeah. Could well be, right?

Niclas: Yeah, yeah, could well be. That was really something. But you saw Pogi at the finish and he was just dead, his face completely swollen, yeah, from the nerves and so on. I think he doesn't even want to ride anymore. He doesn't want to. Nothing there. I think they're all going on the Remco Evenepoel diet now. And only McDonald's from now on. All dead, Visma too.

Björn: I also think, because a lot was said about why Pogi wasn't attacking anymore in the last week or whatever. I was thinking, guys, he's sick.

Niclas: And he's done.

Björn: He rode the last week just sick and gray, and still nobody could shake him. That was just perverse.

Niclas: Yeah, they were all dead, nobody could catch a breather at the Tour. Beautiful race. I'm looking forward to the next edition. I'm excited. I thought the Montmartre thing was mega. I'd like to see that more often. Sure, then the sprinters can't anymore and you don't see that. Shame for them. And sure, a big sprint finale is always nice too. But I thought this was just way cooler, honestly. Much more fun.

Björn: Because normally the Champs-Élysées, you know, okay, the sprinter teams will control it so it ends in a bunch sprint. And they ride, always like, I don't know, five to ten riders go off the front, but you know they're not getting through, safely. And the finale this time, you sat in front of the TV for the last 40 kilometers and didn't know, okay, who's winning now, what's happening? Awesome.

Niclas: Yeah, I mean, for the commentators too it's sick, because normally when you commentate that, doing Champs-Élysées up and down, it's super boring. Somebody attacks, you know exactly, nothing's going to happen. You have to pull stuff out of thin air, right? Exactly. Something, and remember, 1900, I don't know, '94, when Laurent Jalabert crashed into the cop, blah blah blah, so.

Björn: And now full gas finale like a sick one-day race. That was really good.

Niclas: Yeah, I mean, being mean here, I actually always find the Paris sprint a bit boring too. Even though everyone says it's the biggest thing, and as a sprinter it's sick, and Mark Cavendish won it and André Greipel won a couple of times too. I remember at least once. Once for sure. I still find it sort of... I don't think it's the coolest sprint in the world. It's kind of... There are cooler sprint finishes. It's wide, it's somehow not that hectic, it's... Yeah, no.

Björn: Honestly, I never find these very controlled sprints as exciting as when there's a bit more chaos, or a harder run-in where you can already see there's some selection. I find that more attractive usually. Yeah, definitely. But what do you think of the third-place finisher, Florian Lipowitz? Yeah, that's mega.

Niclas: That's sick. Hammer. Hammer, hammer. Yeah, I'm really happy about it. For the person of course, fundamentally. For German cycling I'm also super happy. That's great. And the team... I mean, the team made the lucky pick taking that talent on back then. And I've got to say, he didn't have great years.

Björn: Recently, even though his power numbers were good, he was also sick a lot, and really big results where you'd say, okay, WorldTour contract, you're definitely getting a spot and we're taking you on all the grand tours, there was a lot of trust and advance credit flowing toward him.

Niclas: In the background I don't think everything was always smooth sailing, like, you stay in the team and get a contract, blah blah. No, I'll say this, against a lot of naysayers, surely even from the team side, he held firm and pulled the thing off. Because one thing you can't forget: team is always important, but at the end of the day, it's always an individual performance. Ultimately. And he just pulled it off, fully. And we can't look in, how much team is behind it. I can only really say that about one team, and that's Visma, how much team is behind it. And there's a lot of team behind it. And yeah, the way I sometimes get wind of it from afar, I have the feeling that with him especially, it's been an extremely individual performance. Over the years, over the years. How it was at this Tour, I can't say exactly.

Björn: Yeah, but I thought at the Tour, the way he rode overall, you could see, he never let his head drop at any point. You could've said, on the day where he lost so much time to Oscar Onley, where he closed to 20 seconds on GC, I could imagine there would've been some riders who mentally cracked and thought, okay, this is done, he put so much into me today. I won't manage it the next day. There are also some who go more to McDonald's. Like who? And he just stayed on it. Now Evenepoel's going to Bora, Red Bull. Looks that way, right? Going to be the new teammate. Who knows. I mean, fundamentally, for an Evenepoel, a lot of respect. Crazy good time trialist, races well too. But I don't like this attitude a bit, this, yeah, I'm pulling out because we have so many other goals for the year. Yeah, you can kind of understand it, but somehow I also think it's cooler when a rider bites down and fights, because there are so many other riders who'd kill for that spot at nature, just to be on the start line. And when a rider, let's say, even though he could've finished, doesn't finish and pulls out, it's a bit of a shame.

Niclas: Yeah, I'm curious how that'll work. I always find it difficult when you bring in multiple leaders, and especially two really young guys who both have total ambitions. And I'd assume Evenepoel has more on paper right now. Of course. Tour is still my thing. Sure, you can do it that way. And then they ride for a few years. And I can also imagine that Lipowitz says, okay, I'll ride for you now but then I'd like it paid back a bit later. Like with Wiggins and Froome, Ullrich and Riis and whatever their names were. Or here... Vingegaard and Roglic. Whether that works with those two? I can imagine, for Lipowitz, I can imagine it, but whether Evenepoel would dig in for him, if in the case Lipowitz is stronger than Evenepoel at the Tour, if they even ride together. Would Evenepoel put himself in service of Lipowitz? Hmm.

Björn: I don't think so.

Niclas: I don't think he'd put himself in service of anyone. Doesn't matter, we don't need to talk about it. But it's interesting. That kind of team setup is interesting. Evenepoel's always been in discussion at Bora, or Red Bull.

Björn: Ultimately, Specialized is pretty much behind it too. They say, we're not letting him out of our hands. He has to ride in a team where Specialized bikes are ridden. And then on the other side, probably at Bora too, Red Bull is clearly saying, we want an absolute top rider for the next few years, who has the potential to win world championships, big classics. Win grand tours, and on paper, let's say, we look before the Tour, on paper for the next few years, let's say next five to next ten years, there were really only three riders who bring that, and that's Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel. Mhm. So, those three. Sure, now after the Tour you can say, okay, Oscar Onley and Florian Lipowitz are also riders who'll come through in the next few years and obviously have the potential. But fundamentally, the team leadership probably had to do something so that you've got a rider who in the coming years is going to deliver on this Red Bull cycling project.

Niclas: Yeah, definitely. And it's about time for this team. The interesting thing is, my god, how long has this existed? How long has this setup with Denk and Raubling etc. been around? But I don't know if you feel the same way. I think this team has relatively little identity, as silly as it sounds. Also, sure, you could say UAE doesn't have identity either, but because Pogacar has been riding there forever, you feel like UAE is Pogacar, and there are all these riders. I find that really hard with Red Bull. I know, even Sagan for me is somehow gone in this team. Sagan for me is Cannondale.

Björn: Sagan for me, for example, is Saxo Bank.

Niclas: Or Saxo Bank, yeah. But for me, Sagan's always somehow Cannondale, like Liquigas and so on. And Bora, I really struggle with it. They've got good riders, sure, I mean they win Vuelta, win Giro, but it's so watered down. It's hard to...

Björn: I always thought, with Bora it was this German identity, this German thread, all the top German riders ride with us. I thought that was Bora. Sure, you've got to go international if you want the wins and the goals, of course you need a rider like Roglic, who, let's say at the time they signed him, still had it in the tank. Or maybe still does. He won the Vuelta again last year. So still a top rider. But I thought that was actually the identity behind Bora. And now it's a bit... I don't know where the identity really is. I feel like Denk is just doing everything to win the Tour. And no matter how.

Niclas: Yeah, I've just never really grasped this team's identity. Even though it's a German team, and this band of brothers thing, somehow you don't buy it. Then they have tons of changes all the time. It's always... You've never got the consistency there. I mean, even the people who aren't there anymore are just kind of gone. And I think that's a team that's hard to grasp. With a lot of other teams, they're tangible for me. I mean... Quick-Step, Mapei, those were always teams where you buy that identity. Or Lefevere, you never think about him. Sure you see him, but as eloquent as other team managers, he just isn't. He doesn't come across as cool. And yeah, I mean, how crazy, Sky or Ineos, they have such a strong identity. Even when they're riding like shit, they just have... This year they had...

Björn: Arensman really pulled their cart out of the mud.

Niclas: Mega good. And of course, with their, I wouldn't say affair, but after the documentary and their longtime soigneur who apparently had something to do with doping and so on, and they didn't comment on it, which is of course difficult. It's all a bit not great right now. And now we have to see what even comes out, if anything comes out. But they have a strong identity. They just did that really well. Kept all these riders bound for so long. I mean, even Wiggins didn't leave the team on good terms. And Froome, after he crashed and got badly injured and went to Israel. But still, you connect those athletes completely with that team. And it still echoes. And it's a really English team. That echoes a lot. I just don't have that with this team. And with the French teams we don't even need to talk. It always resonates. You see it in the lineups, they have tons of French riders, after all they're French teams, sure. Now you could also say, at Visma I think there wasn't a single Dutch rider at the Tour, but through Van Aert, Campenaerts and co. you still feel like there's identity. Now they've rebuilt Rabobank. And the staff behind them, they're the kind of staff where the employees are well-known, they've been around for a long time, Mathieu Heijboer and whoever, you feel like there's real identity behind it. With Bora I've got my issues, and not because somehow... It's tricky, right? Because Germans always talk their own stuff down. No, I can't really get around to it. And now, how many German riders are even left at Bora? Uh, at Red Bull? I don't even know.

Björn: Lipowitz, Ben Zwiehoff. Those are the only two I still know. Schachmann gone, Politt gone, uh... Schwarzmann gone. Kämna gone.

Niclas: Kämna gone.

Björn: Ackermann gone.

Niclas: But the bus still says German Cycling. Anyway. Whatever. I hope the thing goes up. And I see the junior development work being done there. Now you have to see that this topic... We produce our own Tour winner. That would be mega. Nothing would make me happier. That'd be crazy. That's also some kind of statement. That's definitely the statement from Red Bull, saying, we pull from our development team, and an unbelievable amount is being invested there. And you see how well they ride too. They've really gotten hold of really good people. We want to create our own Tour winner. Yeah.

Björn: Would be sick if they pull it off with Lipowitz already. Going to be tough, you've got to say. Before that, two guys in quotes have to drop off and struggle.

Niclas: Pogacar's going to stop in three years. He's going to win the Tour seven times now, or eight best. Then he's got more than Armstrong.

Björn: Yeah, but look, he's only got four now. So he'd have to do four more. Didn't he, wasn't there a video of Ben Healy walking into the tent after some race asking, hey Tadej, when are you going to stop? When do we finally have a chance to win races? And he's like, yeah, I have a contract until 2030. So Lipowitz, past 2030.

Niclas: This year Pogacar looks a bit, sure he's got motivation, he wants to race, it's fun for him, and he makes a ton of money from it. But I think after a Tour like that, you also think, dude, really, actually, I've got so much money already, I could...

Björn: stop. You know what I found today on the topic of Tadej Pogacar and how dominant he actually is? There's the UCI World Ranking. And I'll tell you now how many points third and second have. Obviously Pogacar's at number one. Then guess how many points Tadej Pogacar has. So third place is currently Mathieu van der Poel with 4,366 points. Second is Mads Pedersen with 4,555 points. How many points does Tadej Pogacar have? No idea, 7,000? 11,465 points. Crazy. Well, he does start a brutal number of races. Yeah, and he wins them all. And these are all the highest, best races there are. That's completely bananas. The guy's 26 and already has 104 pro wins.

Niclas: Solid.

Björn: It's so crazy.

Niclas: Yeah.

Björn: But also the way he rides, the way he behaves. He's just, he's so kind. Look, no matter what happened in this Tour, whether he took Jorgenson's side saying, hey, that was my own fault. How many riders would've said, yeah, the jerk cut me off and took my front wheel out. He's always so kind, always so correct. I don't know. He seems like he's from another planet.

Niclas: I don't know him personally, got to say. I just know his coach pretty well, and he gets along well with him. And Fabio is a super guy too. So from that, I assume, yeah, the chemistry is there. Yeah, but Tour, now we can still, I could talk about the Tour for hours. Also about past Tours. I think at some point people lose interest. Now they can all look it up.

Björn: But one more question. What was your surprise of the Tour? At what moment did you really think, yeah crazy, I wouldn't have thought that possible?

Niclas: First, that Vingegaard is so bad at time trialing. I wouldn't have thought it possible.

Björn: Especially because they have our software.

Niclas: I know, I'm a bit deeper in it. That was, and he says it himself, we don't have to debate it, he just didn't put down the numbers, full stop. Aerodynamics fits, it's great. He just didn't ride the numbers. Otakam, for me too, that was a surprise, first that the attack was even in there, I thought that was crazy. Then multiple surprises. Positive, and you said it, we said this last time too, team Visma really tore themselves apart until the second to last day. I thought that was super. That's just, how dominant this team is. I mean, even UAE... Sure, with Nils Politt, who was riding in the wind the whole time, or Tim Wellens, who really laid it down, and Narváez, sure, they did a lot too. But UAE, always riding off the front, relay stations, really pushing. My god, did they put their stamp on it. I thought that was mega. They just put on a good show. And that's what makes it so interesting. Whatever, you can say, there was a mistake here and there, and they gassed themselves and then... You hear Wiggins and Armstrong, and then they say how badly they're riding, or Riis also comments? I don't think so at all.

Björn: My god, try making that decision, it's super hard. I don't think they rode badly at any point. In terms of team performance, tactical team performance, Visma was actually always the team where even you as a, in quotes, layperson, not a road racer, could see, okay, they have a plan right now, they're up to something. They always had the groups covered, always formed relay stations, in case Vingegaard is on, or he can shake Pogi somehow. So I think, if there had been any weakness in Pogacar, Visma would've been there, would've used it, and would've taken it.

Niclas: And in hindsight, of course, it's always super easy to say, there was a mistake. I mean, there were so many, and I thought this Tour was so exciting, so many situations that weren't predictable. We know it from all those years with Sky for example, they'd ride a high tempo, And it got completely controlled through, done. This time it wasn't like that at all. That was, what was that? The stage... Was that Madeleine? Yeah, but I don't remember which one. So the, or Trump, I have no idea. So that, when Oscar Onley lost so much time, yeah? Yeah. On one stage, and then closed back up. That was a pretty cool stage, because everyone takes it apart on the first, on the, let's say, the mountain before the big mountain, and everyone's like, wow, crazy, it's going off now and... But then suddenly it all turns around again. Oscar Onley comes back from behind, Jorgenson isn't in that shape after all, lets the gap go up front in the group, and you see, suddenly everything feels like it was for nothing. Like, whew, what was that? Everything got shaken up somehow, and now it's all coming back together. But that's the sick thing about cycling.

Björn: And I think you've got to say, they assume, the guys are all pretty much on the limit, and they hope, okay, maybe Pogacar cracks one mountain earlier today. Maybe he has some weakness, maybe the cold is too strong. And that's it, they just have to try. But I think, looking back, you see, okay, they tried everything, but in the race it was always the case, okay, Pogacar didn't crack, Pogacar stayed on. And what can they do? The riders are only human too, they can't pedal infinitely, and Pogacar just stayed there. He was on, and then... Yeah, what can they do?

Niclas: Yeah, so for me, those were the moments I found exciting. Overall a super exciting Tour, but above all because of Pogacar and Vingegaard. And the surprise, of course, Lipowitz, pulling it off for three weeks like that, super, totally positive, I thought it was mega good. I thought the broadcast too, the images, it keeps getting better. I thought the commentary with Vogt and Carsten Migels and what's the third's name? I have, or the fourth is a woman. The names escape me. I thought it was super, really enjoyed it. It was never boring. Good anecdotes. It was a Tour I really enjoyed for the first time in a long while, though the last few years too. Actually, ever since Roglic got knocked out of the jersey, the Tour has gotten so much better. I've got to say, the Sky Tours, even though I think Wiggins is a cool guy somehow, I always thought they were brutally boring. I couldn't watch them, they were just, it was just destructive racing. There was always one highlight, like when Chris Froome sat on the top tube and kept pedaling, highlight 1, or Chris Froome's bike breaks and he jogs up the mountain, also a sick highlight. The Tour, yeah, mega, but the Tour when Egan Bernal won or Geraint Thomas, I thought was super boring. Terribly boring Tour de France. You just couldn't watch. They completely passed me by.

Björn: Yeah. Yeah, I've got to say, this year's Tour was really amazing. Really had a lot of fun. Yeah. Good. Good. Last topic, closing topic.

Niclas: Closing topic, the most important topic for listeners. But we'll really dig deep into it. We can go deeper next time. Maybe people can send us funny questions about what we need to pay attention to. But we're talking about Ötztaler.

Björn: Yeah, last week King of the Lake time trial, now Ötztaler. Mhm. 226.2 kilometers, 5500 meters of climbing with the current course. Record time 6 hours 49.14. Who's the threat? Well, with the current course, it's Jack Burke. Ah, Jack Burke. Yeah, exactly. You've got to say, in 2009... the overall record was 2019 Matthias Nothegger. Back then the course was actually 11 kilometers longer. It was 238 kilometers with 5500 meters climbing. And he rode that in 6:47. Crazy. So it's actually almost worth even more. But that's why I specifically said, with the current course, as the course stands now, the record is Jack Burke's. And it really is, if you think about it, 227 kilometers, 5500 meters of climbing in under seven hours, that's pretty bananas.

Niclas: Yeah, I'd like to see Seewald ride that thing as a real machine. That would be sick to see how much faster they could ride.

Björn: If you put a Tour de France pro on the course, let's say Pogacar or Vingegaard, does a 6:30 show up? No, right? Then it's maybe a low 6:40.

Niclas: They barely lose power. That's the amazing thing, even at altitude. I'll simulate it for next time.

Björn: Okay, true. That'd be a good idea.

Niclas: And you can have a team on the start, then the world gets even better.

Björn: Yeah, that is, I think, something you always have to mention. These times, somebody will pull you up the Brenner Pass, but if you have, I don't know, a Nils Politt pulling you up the Brenner going full gas, pulling the field along behind him, that's different from when... in quotes, with a rival you ride up there and they also intend to ride the other passes afterward quickly too. So I think if you really put a whole team on it, you'd get another level of time.

Niclas: Yeah.

Björn: I'm just checking whether I even have the Ötztaler in the system. Yeah, we do. Of course it's in there, pretty sure.

Niclas: Oh yeah, somebody was already busy this year, already loaded in.

Björn: Well, it's only four weeks now, five weeks. I don't know exactly. Let me check. Yeah, four weeks now until Ötzi. This week it's Albergiro on Sunday, and then we have, let's say, after this week, it's another three real training weeks, and then it's taper for Ötzi. It'll definitely, I've got to say, in recent years, what I find so exciting about this race, it's this mixture. Sometimes you get ultra shit weather and sometimes brutal heat where people all die on the Timmelsjoch.

Niclas: It's never really pleasant there, no matter what.

Björn: Yeah, you don't even get one of those chill days, 20 degrees, easy peasy, just cruise through. It is a race, and I always find that sick about the Alps. You really have to be prepared for everything, and you're always going to have some extreme.

Niclas: Yeah, for sure. Altitude and length make it in the end. And if you cope well with altitude, Timmelsjoch won't completely kill you. Yeah. That's the trick. Everyone's got to prepare well, because that's where the race gets decided. Yeah, at the start, what do we climb up first? Kühtai I think, and then it goes there. Brenner. Brenner, and up until there everyone's usually still in the group. Yeah. And then it blows apart. And yeah, yeah.

Björn: Yeah, then Jaufenpass is another 15-kilometer thing. And then Timmelsjoch is just 29 kilometers.

Niclas: After our Attersee thing, which we're pulling off next year, we'll do the Ötztaler the year after.

Björn: Yeah, I was actually about to propose that I just ride the Ötztaler next year. I'd like to, in quotes, ride it relaxed once, and then learn from it and try to ride it fast. Yeah. Yeah. Riding that long too, like, sorry. No, I wouldn't have any problem with that. I just don't feel like dealing with the altitude.

Niclas: The altitude would be okay, but I mean this, nah, I really don't feel like it. And then you know, you know exactly, on something like that, with a time trial, you know it's, from start to finish, it starts nasty and ends nastier. And at the Ötztaler you know, okay, it starts like this and then it's nasty, and then it's okay again, and then it's really nasty. And then, it's this wave, wavelike so to speak, you've got to cope with that. You've got to mentally pull yourself together every time. It works, but...

Björn: I've got to say, with these very, very long races, I find, up to the halfway point, if you don't blow yourself up on the first climb, it's usually bearable. So it's manageable. And then it starts getting nasty, and you've got to cope with it mentally. Okay, you're riding for example, I don't know, on the Jaufenpass your legs start hurting, and you know, okay, I've still got to climb this Jaufenpass at this power, doesn't matter if the legs hurt. And then you've got the Timmelsjoch to climb too, ideally at the same power. With these ultra races, there are always things, you've got to... Or what I usually do, I know, okay, this is just going to hurt, and I try to talk it up somehow, that the pain isn't that bad, or whatever. So, adjusting to the pain a bit, and knowing, okay, what's coming, how much will it hurt, and then coming up with a strategy or inner dialogue, how do I talk it up that these pains, I don't know, last another two hours.

Niclas: I ran the simulation on the side. Sorry, I couldn't resist. But just for myself. It's not accurate, of course. So actually, it's really interesting. The system would currently say, you ride down first. You still ride that one up relatively relaxed. Yeah, I'd climb that one at around 260 watts. And that's not hard. I've actually ridden it before, on some Tour Transalp many years ago.

Björn: Did you do it at your current fitness, or what value? Yeah, with my fitness.

Niclas: I rode it up exactly like that before. It was easy. With my team partner at the time, who wasn't that good, I was even doing circles. Then comes Brenner. That's also not wild. And at kilometer 140, Jaufen starts I think. Interestingly, the system says, you've got to hammer it up there, that's where you can make the difference, bam, and then comes Jaufen, full gas up, and then comes Timmelsjoch, and on Timmelsjoch you've got to basically do your own thing, that'd be the optimal energy distribution, and you only climb there at 240 watts. Starting at the bottom with 250, 260, that's what I'd ride in that case. And then from 2000 meters I'd drop the power to 240. And total time would be 7 hours 48. Okay. One kilo of carbs burned. Nice. Average power 192.

Björn: That'd be good. Yeah, that'd be good. And the time, so riding under 8, that would be sick.

Niclas: Yeah, you've just got to save energy brutally. That's basically the whole trick. You can't... Sure, you've got to catch the group, that's clear. But you blow most energy... Yeah, up and out. What would happen if we take a really crazy threshold?

Björn: Take a Pogacar. Let's say 64 kilos with, I don't know, 430 watts threshold.

Niclas: Right, and he has a crazy W-prime too. Aero 7.2. That's a sporty aero. So I've pulled out quite a few aerodynamic tricks. Don't forget that.

Björn: You rode that basically in TT position with your 192 watts average.

Niclas: Yeah, pretty much. When you see it...

Björn: When you ride a long time in an aerodynamic position, you don't realize how well it works up those climbs.

Niclas: Right, now I've still picked a pretty aero position. Okay. Pogacar can do that too. Yeah, he can. 27 CdA value is pretty aero. Now it takes forever for this thing to compute, because it is a lot of kilometers. We once had somebody, not somebody, an athlete of mine, Daniel Steinhauser, who had the Race Across Italy simulated. That's 700 and something kilometers. Yeah, the system was already... Well at the limit, but it worked beautifully.

Björn: But I think, one thing you can definitely pass on to people, always use the time, when you ride over the crest, use that time to fuel. Eat whatever you can, because when you roll down the mountain, you can fuel much better than when you're under load climbing up. Sure, on the climbs you've got to drink too and so on, but for example shoving in big amounts of gels, that sort of thing. I noticed that again at the weekend. Make a good plan for when you take how many carbs, and then actually take those carbs when your breathing and GI system aren't maxed out like when you're, I don't know, going full gas or pushing tempo up a mountain. It makes a difference. And it makes it easier. So, push, I don't know, you ride over the crest, then shove two gels in and chug 500 milliliters of water. It feels like crap at first. But then you ride a quarter hour downhill, roll a bit flat through the valley, and when you roll into the next climb, you're fresh again and you've got the energy in the system.

Niclas: And aero really makes a big difference. Stay in the group as much as possible. That'd be super, super important. And gear-wise it makes sense too. Because when you're riding alone, you're going over 16 km/h, aero makes sense at some point.

Björn: Yeah, I think... These really simple things. Skinsuit if it's not brutally hot, a reasonably aero helmet, shave your arms and legs, aero gloves, aero socks. These aren't huge efforts, but just by doing that... you save yourself real time at the end of an Ötzi. And I'll say, compared to that, if you've got good carb fueling, a plan set up, I always find it interesting too, many athletes say, yeah, I don't have soigneurs to stand on the road and hand me a bottle. Here's my stage-racing partner Aaron, he just made himself a wooden post, on which he can position bottles. And he just drives ahead to the course, slams this wooden post or two wooden posts into two spots, and he's already got four bottles on the course. Yeah, super easy. Then you've got your fueling more or less ready, and you don't need a soigneur. Sure, if 5000 people do this at Ötzi, the course looks pretty funny. But it's just the idea. I've also said to an athlete, he lives close to a race, so you just drive to the course. Then you position a hydration bladder or hydration pack behind tree X, ride past. What does that cost you? You ride past on the climb, stop briefly, get off the bike, grab your hydration pack, get back on. At most, 30 seconds. But then you've got good carb fueling. And when you blow up and have no carbs left, we're no longer talking about a 30-second time loss.

Niclas: Andi Seewald won World Cups or World Series races that way. I think it was at Forestier. He wasn't at Canyon yet. Drove there with his old Ford Galaxy or S-Max or whatever.

Björn: Was Forestier the race where he slept in the car and ran the rice cooker in the car?

Niclas: Right. And then he hid the bottles, and just rode off the front with Huber and co. behind him. And he'd just grab the bottle quickly in between. That's how it was, I think. Yeah.

Björn: So you don't always need a whole team, if you put some thought in. And I'll say, sure, at Ötzi with such a big loop, it's not that easy to stash bottles. You've got to know the area and maybe sit in the car the day before. But fundamentally it's possible. To get yourself properly prepared, if you really want to go for it. I mean, if you're riding the thing and you want to finish, you can also go through the normal feed zones on site. But let's say, if you want to ride a decent time, the Bogen Media has your carbs.

Niclas: You're sitting in the car the day before for 200-and-something kilometers, hiding bottles?

Björn: Yeah, but you don't have to. You can just, I don't know, stash a hydration pack somewhere before Jaufenpass. But then somebody steals it. Well, you've just got to hide it behind a tree or whatever. I've done this.

Niclas: So quite often, for example, when I... You hide camouflage backpacks. Hydration packs.

Björn: No, in training I've also done this. Rode out with four bottles, stashed two bottles somewhere, rode on, and at some point picked up my two full bottles again.

Niclas: So I've now, I've ran the numbers, it's totally crazy. With a CdA value of 29, which isn't great, right? And climbing CdA will go up, to over 30. CdA downhill, 24. Barely any power losses. Though at altitude I'd still factor in a power loss. So we'll drop to 380 at some point. He'd also push on the Jaufenpass again. And actually only on the Jaufenpass. The rest you just cruise.

Björn: Yeah, okay, but if we're talking about cruising... And we entered roughly 430 watts threshold. At how many watts is it cruising?

Niclas: Listen, so you start with 330. That's zone 2, Fatmax. Yeah. As tough as that is, that's how it is for him. He'd ride Fatmax until kilometer 29, 30. Sometimes even under that. 330, 320, then they pick it up to 300, then he rides up the mountain at 380. Kühtai. Tempo range. Tempo, yeah. Then it goes down. Then he rides 320, 320, 320 again. Brenner only 320. Yeah, Brenner comes next. And there he rides 360. 370, 380, then he rides 360, 360, 360, 360, then it goes downhill again, you ride 300 again, then it goes really steep once, yeah, so he climbs at 440 there, completely empties himself there, yeah, he'd do 440... Jaufen too, okay. So Jaufen you climb at 440, threshold, completely. Then he reaches the top. He's empty. But then only the descent is left. On the descent you can't do anything. You don't pedal at all. You just roll down. You only ride like 240 or something. That's how it is. Right. Then comes Timmelsjoch. 380. Then from 2000 meters you drop to 350, 360. Then you roll down and you ride the thing in 6 hours, I'd estimate 6 hours 4, 6 hours 10. And I think with a team, with a team, maybe you can even do it, with completely aerodynamically optimized gear, and they really push, keep you out of the wind the whole time, under 6 hours.

Björn: You're telling me that if we, assuming we had an eight-man UAE team in top form, and they'd ride that through for Pogacar, you could do it in under six hours? Yeah, I think so. You've got to think about it. If you already look at what Jack Burke's putting down with 6:49, which is really, Jack Burke has really good watt numbers. He's really a very good climber, and I always say, on these Alps marathons he's a top rider. So he doesn't have crazy power losses at altitude. He doesn't have crazy power losses late. He's, in these races, very optimized. Uh... that there's another 50 minutes on the road. I think so.

Niclas: And I think it's all aerodynamics. And where do you invest energy?

Björn: Holy hell, that's insane.

Niclas: So especially on the Kühtai, I get the idea of saying, hey, we make a little drama on the Kühtai so we drop a few people. But ideally, the thing is, you don't ride up full gas. I mean, at 63 kilos he rides, I mean, he still rides 6 watts up there.

Björn: That's so dumb. That's so dumb. When you think about it, he rides the first climb at 6 watts per kilo, which is a threshold that basically nobody outside the WorldTour reaches. Outside the WorldTour, only the top pros actually hit it. And I'll say, normally you're a really, really good rider with a threshold of 5.4 to 5.5, 5.6 watts per kilo, where you can actually win mountain bike marathons really well, and where you normally win all road races as an elite rider. Uh, that's just dumb.

Niclas: But I've already optimized the aero a bit. He's not sitting there with a flapping jersey or whatever, it's already... Not like Remco. So it's already, it's already good. It's already good. Ah, I've got to, sorry, now everyone who's not into it anymore can stop, can hang up.

Björn: Well, I think after we've said now that it's possible to ride Ötzi under six hours, some people have probably already said, come on, let those two talk. Hung up. Anyone who's ridden the thing and is listening to this now, is saying, come on, you two are sitting in front of a computer spouting off.

Niclas: Easy peasy, right? By the way, I was pretty close with my numbers, right? I predicted everything correctly.

Björn: That's also the thing, because you know, the time trial at the Tour de France this year up the mountain, you predicted to the second.

Niclas: And the other time trial I nailed too. And now another story. Marc Stutzmann rode this stage race in Spain, Colina Trieste. And he said, hey Björn, I need a pacing and so on. I don't know the course and I always overcook it and so on and so on. He's like, yeah, we went out, two hours, race duration for sure like 1.5 hours. Then I simulated it, and, the mountain bike one is tough because you never know the terrain, and I came out at 1:16 and gave him the pacing. He rode, 1:17. Damn. And he says he couldn't believe it. He said he won the thing overall on Díaz. He said he lost especially on the descents.

Björn: Yeah, but Díaz is also someone who's unbelievably good at trail races. So if you look at Díaz's results, on push-tracks he's a good pro, in quotes. On trail tracks, look, on Elba back then, almost pure trail track, he just gets third. Or even second? Third overall. Where you think, huh?

Niclas: Yeah, totally. And he knew, knows the course inside out, because his girlfriend lives there. So we were pretty close, which made me totally happy. And Marc said, this can't be. How come I'm riding exactly the time that was predicted? Yeah, that's how it goes. So, now let's do, Niclas, I'll put you at threshold 400 watts, 300, 300, 300.

Björn: Look, if we pull up my data from last week, last week I say, I was riding over an hour at 420.

Niclas: Let's just take 400.

Björn: Yeah, you've got to say, at 300 meters altitude. As soon as altitude gets into the mix for me, I'm really garbage. Sorry, Aaron. You'll have to wait for me in Switzerland again.

Niclas: Yeah, so I'll run you through one more time.

Björn: With Niclas I can ride at altitude too, though only from 200 on... If we said I'd do Ötzi, then I'd look at, I don't know, five weeks beforehand, three weeks chilling in Livigno. I can pull that off somehow.

Niclas: We'd have to make sure the cardiac minute volume doesn't drop too much. Then we've just got to smash a few intervals in Bormio now and then. After, I don't know, ten days. Bormio is nice. We can do that. Yeah, exactly. You've got to go down again. So I'll run the numbers now, funnily enough. Let's see what comes out.

Björn: Got to say, Bike-Discount Radon brought a fitting bike for it, at any rate. They've got this new climbing bike now. I think aero is even more important. Would you rather ride Ötzi on, let's say, a 7 or 7.5 kilo bike that's more aero, or on a super lightweight 6.5, I mean, at Ötzi you're allowed to do anything, you can ride a 5.5, 6 kilo bike at Ötzi.

Niclas: Yeah. That'd be a good thing to simulate next time, because that would really go beyond the scope now. The Tour, Tour Magazin used to do that all the time, running these numbers. We'll simulate different scenarios, I can do that, what a really light bike brings, but not quite as aero-optimized. Let's see what comes out. Though, the frame is really the key thing. And the position, I'll think about something, how much comes out.

Björn: But you've got to, if you looked at Visma at the Tour for example, very often quite low-profile to pretty low rims, but always on the S5, and always in the aero position.

Niclas: Sure, I mean, when was Campenaerts ever not riding the aero helmet?

Björn: Yeah, but that's also, sorry, it's uncomfortable. Huge respect, what a racer Campenaerts was this year at the Tour. Ultra sick. If you look at the last few years, sure, last year he won a Tour stage too, but... What a development he made at Visma. And I think you can see a bit, the rider thrives in this team, because he's so aero-nerdy. And they fully support him in that. He's also, I think, having the time of his life in this team. He's having so much fun. That's how it comes across at least. But that helmet, it really looks so bad. Sorry. I've even considered getting one. No, Björn, no, no, no, no, no, no. So if we do the King of the Lake time trial, we can wear that, okay. Or some aero helmet, whatever, right? For a time trial, okay, but wearing an aero helmet outside the time trial, no, that's a no. It looks so bad.

Niclas: That's so uncomfortable. Are we allowed, we've got to check the rules, can we wear any aero helmet at the King of the Lake? On the road bike too? I think so, right?

Björn: I think King of the Lake has no regulations on that. I think if you take a road bike, in the road bike category, I think we'd even be allowed to put clip-ons on.

Niclas: No, we're not. I don't think so. No? No.

Björn: Okay, I can see we need to look into this.

Niclas: If we can ride any aero helmet, then I'll ride the Zero aero helmet. Or the POC.

Björn: So I'd ride, I think, more the aero POC road helmet, the one Healy rode a lot too. Yeah. My athlete at Rock am Ring, who got the 24-hour record time, also rode with it the whole time. I think that one's still just about okay, but ideally I'd just ride, I don't know, a Giro Vanquish or Met Manta, Specialized Evade, something like that. But... Probably, if we want to optimize this thing, we've got to wear a real time trial helmet.

Niclas: So we can completely embarrass ourselves when we need an hour 15.

Björn: Yeah, but we'll manage. We'll pull that off.

Niclas: So, Niclas, we're still computing.

Björn: It's going to take a bit longer. Yeah, that's because I'm heavier. That's why the system takes longer. The system is thinking, nah, at that weight you're not riding Ötzi, leave it.

Niclas: Body Mass Index is blowing everything up. Body Mass Index 33.

Björn: Errors are coming up, you're too heavy. Please lose weight.

Niclas: Yeah, please lose weight. At some point it does pay off. Tour de France of the women, we didn't even talk about that. My god.

Björn: Sorry, but first day, unbelievably sick how Pauline rode that thing. And I actually thought, it looked like, is she consciously not pulling through, or did her legs just go? I thought, was it really planned that Marianne would take it, and she rides that attack to pressure the others? But I actually thought it looked like, her legs were just dead.

Niclas: She was just done. No idea. And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see. The hard stages are still coming. I'm curious about Demi Vollering, who kind of crashed.

Björn: Yeah, that was yesterday, right?

Niclas: Yeah. Do we know anything? So I read that she definitely went through the concussion protocol blah blah, and was going to be checked again this morning. So I'd assume she's racing, but why did she crash? I didn't catch it.

Björn: There was a big mass crash in the right-hander, I think. Yeah, she crashed in that, and she had to be pushed the first meters for sure, didn't lose time because it was in the last five kilometers, but still I think it's difficult, when you had such a hard crash, to really perform over the next days.

Niclas: Yeah, Marlen Reusser is already out. Yeah, but she was sick beforehand too, had a stomach bug, then crashed, and yeah, a shame really. But that's how it is, when you go in already weakened, normally it doesn't work out.

Björn: So for the story, I'd find it ultra sick if Pauline wins it now, then this woman's really won everything you can win in women's cycling.

Niclas: Yeah, track she could still do.

Björn: And she could also still become Olympic road race champion.

Niclas: But then she'd have pretty much won everything you can win. She'll win it. You think? Yeah. She's so focused on it, and you see this metamorphosis of her body too, it's completely geared to winning the thing.

Björn: Yeah, that's really crazy, right? Yeah. That's really, she probably has the best team behind her too. If it all goes through, it'll be exciting. Yeah.

Niclas: Niclas, I made a mistake. I think we've got to wrap it. We'll do it next time.

Björn: Okay. So next time the simulation we've got to do is climbing bike vs. aero setup.

Niclas: Yeah.

Björn: Then run me through too, in quotes, a heavier rider.

Niclas: Yeah, a normal rider.

Björn: Then just a pacing strategy for, let's say, the average rider. Let's say 75 kilos and 300 watts threshold.

Niclas: Anyone can run this pacing strategy themselves too, on our website at Afasteryou. But I'll simulate various scenarios, especially the scenario, does lighter make sense, or does aero then make sense from a certain point on? Do I invest 2000 euros in a wheelset, or do I maybe sit a bit differently on the bike? Yeah. Yeah.

Björn: Finally, because there are still four weeks. What's your last training tip for the final four weeks?

Niclas: Heads up, now it's going to be totally, how do I put it, uncool. I'd ride tempo training. You actually never, or rarely, ride threshold. Maybe once. But actually sometimes you ride sweet spot.

Björn: As a hobby and amateur athlete, ideally you ride max sweet spot.

Niclas: Yeah, I'd ride the whole time in this unpopular training zone, tempo. And a lot, long, I'd ride super much, I'd ride long, I'd also blow up a few times in training, eaten too little, and so on. That does the trick. As tough as it is, it really does the trick, because that's what most athletes are missing, the length. A pro, we've got it easy, it's like people coming from the Continental team, they ride the first 150 kilometers with the road, with the real WorldTour pros, and then they say, hey, up to kilometer 150 easy, and then nothing left. Sure, because most Conti riders aren't racing 200+ kilometer races, they only ride 150 and so on. And the length makes the difference, riding long, Fatmax, zone 2, tempo training, also doing, that's training I do with some athletes, I had recently, well, not so recently, somebody, a WorldTour coach asked me, how do you do this? He came from mountain biking, raced really well in the World Cup, really, really well, how do we get him to ride well over the length? And I said, yeah, after the World Cup just let him ride 200 kilometers the next day. They did it, this is already a bit back. And then he rode really steady at the Tour or something. And it's simple: beat the lactate production down. And that's the best way. It's not quite as destructive. You can eat it back okay, but the energy turnover is still so high you can't eat it all back, and just really ride long. Every weekend really, really ride long. Test your gear, good feel again, sure, really check your brakes before riding the thing, really brakes, new tires, new chain, all of it ridden for at least a week already. Please don't swap it the day before, swap everything a week before. So the tire has seated on the rim, the chain's on, the chain link is properly sealed, the brake pads are broken in a bit.

Björn: But only a bit, because you need lots of brake pads.

Niclas: Yeah, exactly. Not like back then Jens Schwedler, with whom I raced the North German Championships many hundreds of years ago. And he was with completely worn-out brakes, really, the brakes were totally gone. And you had, and that was still rim brake time, and you had just this metal-plastic stuff. And that's how I crossed the finish. It was fine weather that day too. That was crazy. But Jens Schwedler could do that. He was once German Champion in cyclocross too. On a trekking bike so to speak. Because I think Stevens, at the time he became German cyclocross champion, didn't even have a cross bike in the lineup. Imagine that. It was really... If I recall correctly, it really was basically a kind of trekking bike. Yeah. Right. Right.

Björn: Good, so next week we'll do Ötzi again and talk through a few simulations.

Niclas: And people should, if they're listening, ask some questions that we can still answer.

Björn: Best way. Best is actually either DM you or me on Instagram, then we'll see it best.

Niclas: Exactly, or with Afasteryou for that matter, I'll see it there too. And we'll get it done. I hope we're not too nerdy. I listened to the last podcast. I rarely listen to my own podcast, but I listened to that one with the family in the car. And at some point I thought, how many people are still following along? And that wasn't even highly technical, far from it, yeah. But the topic is pretty niche, I'd say. But my wife liked it. My sons fell asleep.

Björn: Well, that's also okay. At least you had a quieter car ride. Right. Very nice. Björn, then until next week. We'll hear each other. Ciao, ciao.