The future of German cycling: The young guns in training camp

By Susan Westemeyer

Marcel Sieberg (Milram), Gerald Ciolek (T-Mobile) and Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner) are preparing for the upcoming season in their various training camps. Susan Westemeyer got their impressions of things at their team presentations.

Sieberg is in his first ProTour year, and his first ProTour training camp. "Everything is much bigger than at Wiesenhof," he said. "Of course, there we only had half as many riders." He feels relatively comfortable in his new team, saying "I already knew most of the German riders anyway." The tall German is preparing for a lot of traveling. Immediately after the team presentation in Bremen, Germany, he was off to training camp in Tuscany. He will be starting the season with the Tours of Qatar and Mallorca.

At the T-Mobile presentation on Majorca, Ciolek said "This is only my first season. I have a lot to learn. I want to get a taste of it." When asked how he feels when called the "second Erik Zabel," the confident young man says, "I find it a compliment. He's had a great career and is a role model for many cyclists, but I have my own goals."

Haussler is the "old pro" of the group, going into his third year at Gerolsteiner. He had returned to Europe only the day before the presentation in Gerolstein, Germany, after spending five weeks in Australia. "I haven't been training that much, but keeping fit," he said, and was looking forward to his upcoming training camp on Majorca. He notes that his experience over the last two years is paying off. "Last year I was doing maybe too much more than I should have. I came to training camp with an attitude of too fast, too long training, too many hours -- and I think that stopped me a lot" during the season. "Now I have more experience and I know what to do." He will be doing the spring classics this year and hopes for a nomination for the Tour de France.