19-year-old Emil Herzog is set to make his debut for Bora-hansgrohe in the extremely tough spring races of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Will cycling fans from Germany see an upcoming man for the classics?
Life is not easy at the bottom. In professional cycling, this old saying has increasingly lost its validity in recent years – young people strive for the top early and very confidently, much earlier than their predecessors. And a young German is also part of this development: Emil Herzog from the Bora-hansgrohe team.
Next Sunday (March 31, 2024), according to the plan, he will compete in the Tour of Flanders as a debutant. Still a teenager, at the tender age of 19. When he made his debut at Belgium’s most important race, no cyclist was younger than the blond boy from the Allgäu, and you can confidently look back in the archives for more than half a century.
Little excited before the premiere
“It will be a special day because it will be my first monument, the biggest race for me so far. I expect a cool atmosphere. But I don’t feel the myth yet,” says Herzog with his characteristic carefree attitude to face new challenges.
Monuments are the five hardest and most traditional one-day races in cycling: These also include Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy. All of them have been under attack for well over 100 years. The names of the key places in Flanders such as Oude Kwaremont or Paterberg are whispered to one another in awe by connoisseurs – they are rough paved stretches that are up to 20 percent steep.
Herzog also completed test drives there last winter and heard the names before but forgot them again. The most important principle remains in his memory: When you drive in, you have to be positioned as far towards the front of the field as possible. Sounds easy, but it is not.
Classic car specialist of the future?
“He’s a guy for the classics, he has exceptionally good control of the bike,” says the sporting director at Bora-hansgrohe, Heinrich Haussler about Herzog: “I expect a lot from him. He was already world champion in the juniors.”
Wheel control is a criterion in these particularly uncomfortable spring races. And because Herzog can pedal surprisingly well uphill despite his comparatively high body weight – around 72 kilograms and 1.83 meters tall – he could also be a man for the mountainous routes near Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy in the future. At Bora-Hansgrohe, team boss Ralph Denk gave the young talent a professional contract early on, partly because of these prospects for success. He grew up in his own junior team, Auto Eder, and is an all-rounder: in the junior classes he was one of the world’s best mountain bikers and was German champion Cross-country skiing, but because of the climate-related lack of snow in his Allgäu homeland, he decided against complex winter sports and opted for a cycling career.
Paving stones instead of snow
Instead of over snow, he now chases success on asphalt and cobblestones. A week after the Tour of Flanders, Herzog will try his first attempt at cycling through the “Hell of the North,” as the Paris-Roubaix cycling race is also called because of its infamous and injury-prone cobblestones.
“Sure, Flanders and Roubaix are the biggest races – but I don’t think the races are more hectic and chaotic than the ones I’ve competed in so far. I don’t have any more respect than I do for any other race here in Belgium,” he says Newbie. “They are the toughest cycling races,” warns Haussler. Data records from professional cyclists show: Nowhere else do people pedal with such a high average power and achieve so many top performances in countless attempts.
Emil Herzog at the Bora-hansgrohe team presentation
Tactical freedom – also for teenagers
“We don’t have a captain for Flanders. Everyone gets their chance,” says Haussler about the race strategy – including the newcomer Herzog. The youngest in the racing team benefits from the fact that the Bora team does not have a candidate for victory after the departure of the classic specialists Peter Sagan and Nils Politt and therefore wants to rely on an early offensive in the race. But there are not only opportunities, there are also dangers lurking.
At the dress rehearsal for the Tour of Flanders, the E3 Saxo Classic race, Herzog was in good shape. But before he knew it, the young man fell headfirst into a ditch and looked despondently at the missed opportunity for a top result – pushed into the slipstream of the world’s best in the fight for position.
At another race in Belgium, the professional apprentice took a pee break on the side of the track – just as things were going off at the front and the leading group was forming, in which Herzog was to be represented. Much to Haussler’s annoyance. The 40-year-old German-Australian is something like Herzog’s mentor. Haussler himself was second at Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders during his professional career. “I wasted many years,” he emphasizes self-critically and therefore wants to give young racing drivers helpful advice. Herzog should listen carefully. “You have to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way,” warns the sports director.
Many opportunities, many dangers
There will quickly be fewer than you think. Because there are many pitfalls around the most difficult races in spring. The Belgian Wout van Aert, originally the top favorite for the Tour of Flanders alongside the Dutch world champion Mathieu van der Poel, fell badly last Wednesday at Cross Flanders and was left with several broken bones. He will miss his favorite races, Flanders and Roubaix, in 2024. Van Aert has been considered a top talent for these tests for years. He’ll be 30 in the fall – and he still hasn’t won either.
