Sunshine, a cozy 18 degrees, only a few cars on the road – many world-class cyclists on Mallorca these days traditionally do their extensive preparation work. Felix Großschartner is also back in the saddle with joy after a well-intentioned outing to run in November was his undoing. The Marchtrenker broke his heel.
“At first I didn’t really think that it could be something worse. But over time the foot swelled up quite a bit,” says Großschartner. At first he suspected the Achilles tendon, an MR examination then provided certainty. Großschartner is by no means an isolated case in his business with a stress fracture. According to international studies, almost 85 percent of professional cyclists have bone density in the range of osteopenia, a preliminary stage of osteoporosis. “Actually also logical. We sit thousands of kilometers on the bike almost all year round and are not used to such shock loads,” says the driver from the German Bora-hansgrohe team, who will be 28 next Thursday.
The tenth of this year’s Vuelta a Espana saw the short break relaxed. “For the first time in years, I didn’t get started right away, which could ultimately benefit me in the following structure,” says Großschartner, who is now one of the strongest riders in the entire cycling peloton and only a hair’s breadth at the Vuelta on the seventh stage the leader’s red jersey missed.
Aldag new head of sports
Großschartner is good for the fact that he has a new head of sports at Bora in the form of the German Rolf Aldag, the former noble helper of Jan Ullrich. “He has an extremely professional approach and is not too good for anything.” Aldag, who also guided Austria’s ex-professional Bernhard Eisel to Bora, personally brought bike spare parts by car for Großschartner and his teammate Patrick Konrad, this year’s stage winner on the tour, from the team base in Bavaria to the Balearic Island.
The form for 2022 has been diligently worked there since December 10th. In the raceless time, the usual coffee stop should not be missing during training. Großschartner was amazed at who he ran into last Saturday. Former soccer star Bastian Schweinsteiger and his wife, ex-tennis ace Ana Ivanovic, sat at the next table. Like the celebrity athlete couple, Großschartner also has their second residence, so to speak, on Mallorca. He goes home for a short time over Christmas before moving back to Spain from December 28th to January 25th. “After that I’m definitely looking forward to the first races because I already know every corner of the island,” laughs the Marchtrenker.
Source: Nachrichten
