Next week, Linus Gerdemann will make his comeback in the pro cycling world after a year without a contract. The German rode for RadioShack Leopard Trek in 2012, but very late in the season, the team told him that he hadn’t earned himself a new contract. He wasn’t able to find a team, so he decided to look for a team for the 2014 season instead.

The South African team MTN-Qhubeka has strengthen their team in order to make some good results this season and the most remarkable signing is Linus Gerdemann. He will make his season debut in La Tropicale Amissa Bongo. A race he doesn’t know much about.

“I am actually feeling quite well, but the problem is that I don’t think the route is so selective,” he said, when asked what his expectations are. “It will be a little bit more like gambling [about when to attack]. It is not like there will be final climbs where I can say I can drop everyone or I can go with the best,” he said to Velonation

“It is a bit difficult to say how selective the race is. I don’t really know what to expect from the race. I feel good about my condition but I don’t know if I can profit from a race like this, in terms of my own results. I just looked at the profile. If it is the real profile, then it seems super flat. If so, perhaps it will be difficult to make a difference with the sprinters.”

Still, he’s not dismissing his chances. Perhaps the profile is not as it seems, he reasons.

“I hope there are some surprises in Gabon. Maybe a climb that isn’t as it seems in the profile. Sometimes it looks a little bit hilly in the profile at the end, really short hills, but then you look at the specific profile for the last three kilometres, and sometimes it is quite different, perhaps completely flat. 

“So I hope the profiles are not one hundred percent correct. Maybe there is a little more climbing than it looks like. Anyway, I will take it day by day and try to do well with the team. Then we will see.”

Gerdemann’s interest in the team was made after having heard what his friend Gerard Ciolek had to say about the team. Ciolek has been with the team since 2012 and last season he won Milano-Sanremo. 

Gerdemann confirms that he will not be racing in Gabon, and so instead another of the team’s riders will have to come up with the goods in the sprints. 

“It is more an African selection which will be going there. I am not 100 percent sure, but I think I am the only European who is going there from on the team,” he said. 

“We will see what we can do there. Gerard is our main sprinter. Although he is not going there, I think we still have some good, fast guys. We will see. It is the first race of the season, so I think it is always a little bit about knowing each other better from racing and seeing how it works.”

The race in Gabon will be preparation for his main goal of the season, Giro d’Italia. But since MTN-Qhubeka is a Pro Continental team, the team has to receive a wild card from RCS Sport in order to participate in the race. If they receive the wild card, it would be the first Grand tour for the team. Gerdemann is awaiting the announcement for the race, knowing that his programme will only be finalised once that is done. 

“Normally I will race Mallorca after doing Gabon, then hopefully some of the one day races in Italy. And if we get the invitation for Tirreno-Adriatico, normally my plan would be to do Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo. That is my provisional schedule.”

“Riding well in the Giro d’Italia would be one of my main goals. Hopefully we will get an invitation for it. I think we are a really strong and competitive team. I am optimistic, but we need to wait and see what the decision is.”

The German has already won a stage in Tour de France and has also worn the yellow jersey. The next goal for him is to wear the Maglia Rosa and maybe win a stage in the Giro.

“I think it is a difficult Giro, as it is every year. At the end of the day you need to be in good shape to perform well there,” he stated. 

“I have only ridden the Giro once. That year, in 2010, it was probably the hardest stage race I ever did. There were thirteen days of rain and super long stages. So it is definitely a tough race,” he said. 

But still, when asked about his main objective of his comeback season, he wouldn’t give a precise answer.

“It is difficult to say right now,” he answered. “I will take it step by step. I would like to see the African guys racing well and maybe able to give them a little bit of my experience, to teach them a little bit in Europe. 

“But of course I want to win races. I am motivated and I feel good, so I am optimistic. I can’t really say precisely I want to win this or that race, though. I will take it step by step and see how it goes in each race.”

When you as a rider have been out of the sport in a year, the most important thing is self-discipline. If you want to return to the cycling sport, the form must be right. This hasn’t been a problem for Gerdemann, who thinks that he can profit from the things he has been doing away from cycling.  

“I was actually always motivated, it is not that I was lazy in the years before,” he answered, when asked if the time away would make him work harder. “But maybe I was able to work on different things during the summer. More core training…perhaps you don’t have the time to work on it if you spend six hours each day on the bike. I think I will profit from that. Mentally I am fresh, so I am looking forward to racing again.”

Asked about, if he thinks he will be a better rider than before, he laughs and answers the following:

“I wasn’t a bad rider before,” he said, with some humour. 

“I am just 31 now. I think that in cycling, that is actually normally the golden age. So I am optimistic…I think I can perform well.”