Rainbow stripes in autumn (nd current)

In the Velodrome of Roubaix on Thursday evening fists flew through the air and shrill cries of joy rang through the oval. After Olympic gold in Tokyo and the European Championship title in Grenchen in October, the German cyclists had now also won the title at the track cycling world championships. The plan for success, but also the fashion plan, was thus perfectly fulfilled.

»Now we still want the stripes on our jerseys«, 28-year-old Mieke Kröger from Bielefeld had loosely formulated her goal before the World Championships in northern France. Anyone who wins a world championship title in cycling not only has the right to compete in competitions in the discipline they have won in the rainbow jersey for the whole of next year. The regulations also state that the small rainbow stripes can be sewn onto the jersey sleeves forever. That has now also worked for the women’s foursome. The win in the final against Italy is also the crowning glory of a fantastic year.

In Tokyo, Kröger had won Olympic gold in the pursuit together with Lisa Brennauer, Lisa Klein and Franziska Brauße. A few weeks later she won a rainbow jersey with Klein and Brennauer at the World Cup on the street, in the mixed relay. This was followed by the European Championship title, again on the track, this time with Laura Süßemilch instead of the injured Klein. With the same line-up, the next triumph followed in Roubaix: The win against the Italians was clear, with almost five seconds ahead.

Special position

In the semifinals, the German quartet even caught up with the Irish – and thus saved some energy for the big performance on Thursday evening. Kröger had a special position with him. First, in her only long lead, she expanded the lead over several laps from two tenths of a second to more than a second – and thus demoralized the opponents. After she got out according to plan, she became an enthusiastic spectator. It spun down at the top of the track. »From there I had a good view of everything over the last four laps and saw that we were well ahead of the Italians. I really screamed again. It was just great to see, ”she said.

This made the Grand Slam between track and road perfect. With the Italians, Elisa Balsamo was at least the newly crowned road world champion in the team. Likewise Martina Fidanza, who had become world champion in scratch the day before. And Letizia Paternoster only missed the final because she had won the championship title in the elimination race on the same day. The competition class refines the German triumph.

Rediscovered the road to success

Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich could already look forward to new stripes on the textile in Roubaix on Wednesday. For the trio, however, a rainbow jersey is almost routine in the team sprint. Grabosch was already successful in 2018, back then with Miriam Welte, who has since resigned, and Kristina Vogel, who had died in an accident. Last year she won the title with Hinze and Friedrich in Berlin.

This year, however, they seemed to have slipped off the road to success. At the Olympics in Tokyo, Friedrich and Hinze lost to the Chinese, at the EM there was silver for Friedrich and Grabosch behind the Dutch. Meanwhile, Hinze took a break. She had to come to terms with her own disappointment and also deal with what she saw as the insufficient appreciation of the silver medal in the eyes of the media and the public. And Friedrich also came out of the European Championships with a cold and had to spend a whole week in bed. Despite this unfavorable starting position, the trio in Roubaix was very sovereign. “That feels great. I am very proud that we set three world records and were able to conquer the jersey again, «said Hinze. In contrast to Olympia, she noted: “Today there was lightness again. I approached it differently. It’s definitely fun again. “

Further successes in Roubaix are also conceivable. At the weekend, the women will start in the time trial, keirin, points race, two-team race and in the single pursuit, while the men’s Omnium, Sprint and the elimination race are on the World Cup program.