FAre you following plan A like Ackermann or plan B like Bauhaus? Or does Phil Bauhaus embody Plan A, and Pascal Ackermann represents Plan B? Now it is definitely a trend in cycling to spread the responsibility over several shoulders of the racer.
A so-called multi-captain strategy resulted, for example, in the spring when the German team Bora-hansgrohe won the Giro d’Italia. The alternating attacks of the riders of the Jumbo-Visma team recently brought Jonas Vingegaard the triumph at the Tour de France.
This is mainly practiced in round trips or difficult one-day races in order to be more flexible and difficult to calculate. In sprint finishes, the whole team is usually behind the fastest man. At the Bund Deutscher Fahrrad (BDR), before the Munich European Championship race on Sunday, you just don’t know who the fastest man is who is supposed to sprint for gold in the home championship on the Odeonsplatz: The Palatinate Ackermann or the Cologne Bauhaus?
The similarities
Both are 28 years old, both have two wins of the season under their belt, both travel with the recommendation of a sprint win each at the recently completed Tour of Poland. And now – because neither of them should be disappointed – should do something together as a double leader at the European Championship. Only: Sprinter types, whose profession it is to find their way fearlessly through the tangle of their legs at top speed, are alpha animals on the bike. Not only tolerating a teammate in the race finale, but also having to keep an eye on them in order not to deprive each other of their (medal) chances, is not part of their profession.
Phil Bauhaus after his victory in the Tour of Poland
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Image: EPA
Conflicts of interest when it comes to the use of the helpers or the priority in the allocation of catering are programmed. “We have 209 kilometers to talk in the race,” Ackermann (Team UAE Emirates) tries to calm down. 209 kilometers, starting in Murnau am Staffelsee, continuing through the foothills of the Alps and finally on a circuit that has to be mastered five times in the center of Munich.
There at the latest there will be little opportunity to talk during the position battles. Especially since the drivers at the European Championship will not have a radio link to the team vehicle. So there can be no power word from outside at the crucial moment, but only an internal agreement.
Degenkolb as a cycling mediator
The experienced professional John Degenkolb, like in his team DSM, should take on the role of a chef de mission in the eight-man squad, i.e. possibly that of a cycling mediator. “We have two drivers at the start who both have chances. That makes us unpredictable for the competition,” says the sporting director of the BDR, Jens Zemke, who works for Bora-hansgrohe in his main job.
And: “All eight drivers will pull together.” The only question is which one. The fact that there will be a sprint finish is taken for granted despite the more than 1200 meters in altitude to be overcome. The flat final laps and strong teams like the Dutch with tour stage winner Fabio Jakobsen or the French with Arnaud Démare speak very much for it.
Ackermann, whose season was disrupted by a coccyx fracture suffered in the spring, has described the European Championships as a major summer season goal months ago. Ackermann has already won two European Championship bronze medals in his career. He has Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) ahead of him. “The chances for us as a German team are good,” says the Rhinelander. “We can only fight for victory as a team.”
