Man with a beard leaves the stage
Simon Geschke goes on his last ride
September 26, 2024, 4:39 p.m
Simon Geschke will compete in his last World Championship race before retiring this weekend in Zurich. This is followed by a trip to Münsterland and that was it. The next generation is already ready. The Berlin native looks back one more time before being surprised.
Simon Geschke is no longer excited. Anticipation and nostalgic thoughts accompanied the German professional cyclist as he began the short journey from his adopted hometown of Freiburg to Zurich for his personal Tour d’Honneur on Thursday. The last week of the 38-year-old’s successful career has begun, and Geschke will be stepping off the big stage at the World Championships road race in Switzerland on Sunday. “I’m very happy that I can drive there again. That was important to me,” said Geschke,
The mountain specialist with the distinctive beard is the veteran in the otherwise young German team. Three of the six starters from the Association of German Cyclists (BDR) – Marco Brenner, Georg Steinhauser and Florian Lipowitz – were born in 2000 or younger. Veteran star Geschke, the 2015 Tour stage winner, says goodbye. His potential successors are just getting started.
Lipowitz in particular has recently made a name for himself. The 24-year-old finished the Vuelta in Spain in seventh place overall; his performance was crucial to the triumph of his Slovenian teammate Primoz Roglic. At the World Cup, where the Germans are again just outsiders in the hunt for their first title since Rudi Altig in 1966, Lipowitz is at least the hottest contender for the top German result. “If he was able to keep his Vuelta legs, he can be at the front,” said Geschke.
20 years on the bike are enough
How far Lipowitz can go forward, how his development will proceed in the coming years, and whether he will focus on classics remains to be seen. Geschke is confident. “There’s still a lot to come,” said the Berlin native, who doesn’t envy the young stars around Lipowitz. For over 20 years he “rode his bike almost every day.” A lot has changed during this time.
“A lot of professionalism and science” have found their way into professional cycling. Nothing is left to chance anymore, meticulous attention is paid to every detail, and in topics such as nutrition or aerodynamics “every small percent is taken into account. It has become very extreme. The young drivers don’t know any different,” said Geschke.
On the other hand, what has recently been causing him problems is that you really have to be there from December to October. There’s not much room left to let it slide a little bit in between.
Simon Geschke will be able to determine his own workload in the future. After the 273.9 km between Winterthur and Zurich, there’s the Münsterland Giro on October 3rd, then it’s over. “I think it won’t get really weird until November and December if I don’t start training again,” said Geschke: “Then I’ll definitely enjoy hanging up the bike.”
