 |
|
|
|
|
|
Pssst! The lates insider news: Marcel Sieberg about the Majorca-Challenge, a surprising arrest at the training and his goals for the Volta ao Algarve.
20/02/2025
With ideal weather and agreeable 20 to 25 degrees it was fun participating at the Majorca-Challenge. I know the isle like the back of my hand because I train there regularly. So the race was like a little home-tour to me. Furthermore, nearly the whole German fraction of riders was present, and we were in a pretty good mood accordingly. For our team the Majorca-Challenge was mainly a training-tour, for it was possible to take one or the other day off. We came to Majorca with an array of twelve riders, ten of us starting in each race. I was scheduled for each of the five races...
I caught a very good start, won both intermediate sprints of the first stage and secured myself the lead in the points classification. At the second race I finished fourth, narrowly missing a victory. With a little more luck I could have won, yet I’m really satisfied. It was a sort of pity to me that there wasn’t a special jersey for the lead in the points classification. The reason for this is that the Majorca-Challenge isn’t an official tour but consists of five one-day races. In the finish we received flowers and a cup, but no jersey to wear in the next race. So it was great being the best in this classification, but a jersey is a higher motivation anyway. You’re starting at the front, everybody can see you’re leading at some classification, and in the race you give everything to defend it. At the first stage, our duty was to ride for Erik. On the final day he wasn’t participating anymore. Addittionally, I had a puncture twice, which was quite annoying. So I slowed down a bit on the last kilometers.
After the tour things got really exciting. Before our departure to Portugal, where we are the Vuelta ao Algarv, Björn and I wanted to exercise again. We met with a group of 50 cyclists in order to ride quietly for two hours. After three kilometers I saw a young man sitting on one of our team bikes. This actually is impossible, because the bikes aren’t sold yet. I was sure that this must be Sebastian Siedler’s bike which had been stolen from the basement of our hotel in January. Björn and me slid back at once in order to catch the thief. He also realised that we had recognised him and wanted to slide back without attrackting attention in order to make off. But we got hold of him anyway. He had removed all of the logos from the bike and installed another saddle, but we knew it was Sebastian’s. When we asked him he claimed to have bought the bike. Finally, however, he admitted the theft. We took him to our hotel, notified the hotel direction and the police, and the thief was handcuffed and hauled off.
It was a really exciting experience, it felt like winning at lotto. The thief riding the stolen bike exactly where we train, what a coincidence. In the hotel we had to give evidence to the police before we were able to leave for the airport. Five minutes before the departure we arrived in our plane, where our Italian team-mates were already waiting. Of course we had to answer questions during the whole flight after this experience. The other riders wanted to know everything exactly. Well, you don’t catch a thief every day.
Now we are in Portugal for the Volta ao Algarve. Our main goal is to ride for Alessandro Petacchi. We’ll try to keep the field together and to prepare the sprint for Alessandro in the finale. At the moment he is in a good condition, and I think he will win one or the other race. My target is to support the team at 100 per cent and to integrate myself well into the team. Otherwise I will wait and see what happens.
So far I am really satisfied with my start of season, I wouldn’t have expected it to be that good. I knew I had trained well, because I’m the type of rider who works well in winter. My favourite races are at the beginning of the season, so I’m highly motivated in winter. But before the first race you’re always insecure. And I was, especially because I’m in a ProTour team for the first time. So I wasn’t really sure about my strengths. Surely I always did well, but in a ProTour team everybody does so. The training is completely different, faster and harder, and you often ask yourself if you might not be that good at all. But I knew I had trained well, and this was confirmed by my second rank in Qatar. Of course I was a bit annoyed afterwards, because a victory would have been amazing. But the team was satisfied and that’s what counts.
Meanwhile I settled well in the team. At the first team meeting in December everything was a bit strange still. I hardly knew anyone except from some German riders, and I didn’t understand much. But this got better after two or three days, and at the second training camp I got along really well with everybody. After the training camp Christian and me stayed there for two or three days. We practised with Alessandro Petacchi and I got to know him better personally. That was really cool. Last year I still admired him as one of the grand riders in cycling – and a year later I’m sitting with him at one table. He is a really nice person, pretty relaxed, calm and easy-going. Experiencing this was really great. Meanwhile I know everybody a bit better, the physios and mechanics as well. And I learn a few words of Italian every day, so that we keep understand each other better. So I feel pretty well within the team meanwhile.
From now on there will be one race after the other. After the Volta ao Algarve I will be at home for five days, then I’ll go to Belgium for Het Volk and Kuurne – Bruxelles – Kuurne. After that I’ll be at Paris – Niece, do the whole Belgian programme, the Niedersachsen-Tour and Rund um den Henninger Turm. If everything works out well and nobody injures himself I will have a month off after that. After three months full of races it will be necessary to draw breath, for the season is still long.
So keep your fingers crossed for me and the whole team that the season continues just as well as it has started.
Greetings from Portugal
Marcel
|
|
|
|
