How the drivers age over the years

Do you remember the pictures by Timm Kölln?

Yes, especially the first one in 2008 after I won the Tour de France stage from Bourg d’Oisans to St-Etienne. That was an incredibly happy moment, the highlight of my career (after an escape over 150 kilometers; d. Ed.). On the second stage, ten years later after the first tour stage in 2018, you can see the rapid change.

What do you think when you look at the pictures?

How time flies. I still remember my first training camp as a professional with T-Mobile in 2005, when I shared the room with Thorsten Hickmann. He was a professional seven years, I was half a month. I thought, ‘Man, that’s forever.’ I’ve been there for 15 years now, rode the Tour de France eleven times, and have been riding for Bora-hansgrohe for three years. It feels like flying to me.