What an emotional World title

The World Championship win in the team time trial was incredibly emotional for me. The last race for my current team. The last race with the guys and the staff. I am overjoyed with the win but sad, too, of course. An era is going to an end for me. But at any rate I am ending it successfully. What a way to go out! Thanks for the great time!

Winning with the team is always something very special. The last few weeks we have practically been permanently together, discussed every detail and studied every meter here. Plus I had my preparations with the heating unit ;-) We didn’t want to leave anything to chance, so that after two years we could finally bring back the rainbow jersey.

In the end it was more of a fight against the heat and ourselves than against BMC. The heat factor was brutal. It is not really dry heat like we know from the Vuelta or Tour, but very moist with high humidity, like in the bathroom after a hot shower. To be honest, I was pretty knocked out after only 10 kilometers. The others felt the same. And from there on it was just a battle against ourselves.

Our plan worked out well. Arriving at the finish with the minimum number of four riders was not a problem. We had figured on that. And honestly, it was better to ride so compactly in the more technical closing part.

We are totally happy with this win. And it gives me personally a lot of self-confidence for the individual time trial on Wednesday. I could gather a few more important bits of knowledge today. But I will tell you about that later. Yours, Tony.

Photos: roth-foto.de