“Up as wide as a seventh grader”: professional cyclist Anton Palzer goes climbing once a week “so as not to look so narrow-chested”.
Image: dpa
Toni Palzer used to be a ski mountaineer, now he’s riding the Giro d’Italia. In an interview he talks about borderline experiences, cycling as an incredibly tough business and why he pulled the ripcord as a mountaineer.
Mr Palzer, as a ski mountaineer and mountain runner you have won everything there is to win. You have been a racing bike pro for two years. Not much countable has jumped out so far. Why is it?
It just took me time to get used to the sport. You can’t compare cycling and ski touring at all. These are two completely different worlds.
Did you think it would be this difficult?
I really never would have imagined that it would be so “bang”. Not to sound arrogant, but I used to be used to winning. Then from one day to the next it suddenly went away. Of course I was aware of that, but it wasn’t always easy to be the apprentice again. Right at my first big professional bike race, the Vuelta in Spain, I immediately polished my “Goschn” clean. That was a 21-day roller coaster ride for me.
