Rambazamba is cancelled, Remmidemmi too. For the time being, Lennard Kämna will no longer stir up the peloton in these styles, as he did so regularly. Last week in Italy, the planned transformation of the North German racing driver was clearly visible. How he did not attack in individual stages at Tirreno-Adriatico, but remained persistent and patient in the group of favourites every day. In the race finals of the hard-hitting long-distance drive, it was not uncommon to have a pain-distorted face on mountain roads, at the edge of which there was plenty of snow.
The most important finding of the seven-day race, which ended on Sunday afternoon, is that it seems possible that the 26-year-old professional from the German team Bora-hansgrohe will go from an aggressive rider aiming for individual one-day successes to a serious competitor in the fight for the classification.
After wearing the blue jersey of the leader in the overall standings, Kämna finished the long-distance race in a strong fourth place. "All in all, I have to be satisfied with the last few days. My form is good. There was simply the last bit missing, the last few percent to the front," said Kämna, who as a stage chaser has already recorded stage victories at the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia. Against the show of Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma), who won three difficult stages in a row from Thursday to Saturday and thus also the Tour on Sunday, there was still nothing to do for him.
"It went very well and absolutely in the right direction for Lenny," said Bora team boss Ralph Denk in an interview with the F.A.Z.. For the first time in his time with the Raublin team, Kämna spent almost two and a half weeks in an altitude training camp in Tenerife in February. It was important to Denk that he not only gets the work at height, but that he can also draw an increase in performance from it.
In the 11.5-kilometre time trial at the start, the lightweight surprisingly finished second. Now Kämna was once world champion in this discipline as a junior, but then as a professional he no longer prioritized the fight against the clock. However, good time trial skills are an important building block for ambitious cyclists. Especially with the next big goal for Kämna: the Giro d'Italia, whose course this year includes plenty of time trial kilometers.
"I think there is still room for improvement," said Kämna at the beginning of the season. "I'm still not there to say: I'm one of the top ten best climbers in the world." This proved to be the case with the well-known Tirreno–Adriatico. But the man from the northern German lowlands was also competitive on the Italian climbs. "It's a shame that it wasn't enough for the podium yet," said Denk. "But who knows what that's good for."
Experiencing deep personal crises
At Bora-hansgrohe, they are careful not to overload Kämna with expectations. Because the brooding highly gifted has already gone through deep personal crises twice in his career. Most recently, in 2021, the drive for his sport was extinguished for months. He got lost, lived his life wrong, did not appreciate successes and took setbacks too hard, he said. "As a team, we learned a lot from him and through him. He gets a lot of trust and the stability he needs," says Denk, who extended Kämna's contract until the end of 2024.
At the Giro, Kämna is to tackle the classification for the first time in a three-week tour. Of course, he should not carry the burden as sole captain, teammate Alexander Vlasov also gets the full support in the race. Especially since the German team contests the Tour of Italy as defending champion after last year's triumph of Jay Hindley (starting this summer at the Tour).
So it has been initiated what many cycling fans in this country have been hoping for for a long time: that Kämna channels his enormous talent on the most difficult path there is in cycling. "The air up there is very thin," says Denk. "Being a free spirit on the bike like before and attacking spectacularly is not compatible with the new way. He and we are aware of that – and hopefully his fans too."