Tour de France: Party in Alpe d’Huez: German team celebrates Tour victory

Ronny Lauke also found a place for the spontaneous party after the four-second thriller on this perfect summer day. High up in the legendary ski resort of Alpe d’Huez, most of the hotels were closed, but one establishment was persuaded to open the bar for the German cycling team Canyon-Sram. There, people celebrated Katarzyna Niewiadoma’s unexpected triumph in the women’s Tour de France until two in the morning.

“That was a new level of emotions,” team boss Lauke told dpa. Niewiadoma won the most important race of the year with a lead of just four seconds ahead of the Dutch defending champion Demi Vollering. She had attacked Niewiadoma early on, wanting to make up the 1:15 minute deficit. “It was like a tug of war on the road. We were under pressure for two hours. From what I remember, it was the most exciting bike race I have ever experienced,” said Lauke.

In the car with Erik Zabel

Niewiadoma reached the finish line in Alpe d’Huez in fourth place and was the big winner. “In the end, it was four seconds for us. That’s just awesome. I can’t think of another word for it,” said Lauke. His top rider was rewarded for a great fight. “The last kilometer was so crazy, so painful. I don’t know what I really felt at the finish,” said Niewiadoma.

Lauke has been the boss of the Leipzig-based Canyon-Sram team for almost nine years. As managing director, he has withdrawn from the sporting management. However, since two vehicles per team are permitted in the tour, the Brandenburg native was on site and shared a car with Erik Zabel, who works for the team’s sponsor.

Extend sponsors

The 47-year-old’s team is not one of the budget kings of women’s cycling. Before the Tour, it was ranked between sixth and eighth. Before the tour, however, the two main sponsors had already promised further cooperation – combined with an increase in the budget. Canyon-Sram is still not financially top, but it could count itself among the top four teams in the future.

When Lauke started in women’s cycling many years ago, teams like SD Worx, where Vollering rides, lured the best talent away with good salaries. Lauke was able to stop this trend, and in Niewiadoma he has one of the top riders under contract. “Nevertheless, we must continue to be creative in the development of athletes,” said the Brandenburg native.

Women’s tour emancipates itself

In Ricarda Bauernfeind (24) and Antonia Niedermaier (21), Lauke has two top German talents under contract for tours. It is not impossible that one day they could be in with a shot at a Tour victory. Bauernfeind missed this year’s tour due to a knee injury, Niedermaier was spared out of consideration for her already full racing schedule. “We want to develop her and have a lot of fun with her in the future,” said Lauke.

The development of the Tour, which was held in this form for only the third time and for the first time separately from the men’s race, is also positive. “Of course, the big question was who women’s cycling could lure out of their shell after the European Championships, the men’s Tour and the Olympics,” said Lauke. “The organizers were very satisfied with the perception, and we are also happy from the impressions from the car.”

The finale after Alpe d’Huez was watched by an average of 1.38 million viewers on ARD, which corresponds to a market share of 8.7 percent. The Tour de France Femmes was shown for the first time on the main program under the leadership of Saarländischer Rundfunk. Sports director Uli Fritz hopes for a development similar to that in women’s soccer. It “took time, and today it is very popular with the audience.”