When Jens Voigt retired, the professional peloton lost a legend, a man who has been an idol for so many over the last 17 years. He recently sat down with Cycling Weekly to digest almost two decades that have seen an ordinary man from Germany become a legend and icon of cycling.

“Where I come from [Grevesmühlen, in the former East Germany], we had track and field and I liked it. One day we had a long jump training session and I believe I jumped as hard as I could but the coach wouldn’t believe me, so he made me run two penalty laps. I didn’t like it, so I was out of there. Cycling was the other big sport in my little home village. I was 10 years old, and one day the cycle coach said, “Whoever signs up with us this afternoon will get a brand new Diamant bike.” I was very excited to get a free bike. In East Germany, we had only one company producing bikes, Diamant, and Trek bought them after the Berlin Wall came down. I now ride for Trek, which has been kind enough to offer bikes for my kids. So my kids are now riding the same bikes as I did when I was younger.”

Voigt’s childhood, growing up behind the Iron Curtain, didn’t allow him to witness greats like Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche. Instead, he had Eastern riders as his heroes.

“When I was young, we lived behind the Iron Curtain, so I only knew Eddy Merckx from the other side, and a little bit about Bernard Hinault. But I knew all about the East European cyclists, so they were my heroes: Olaf Ludwig, who turned professional with Panasonic, and then Team Telekom, for instance. I had his pictures on my bedroom wall.”

Despite all of his great victories in races like the Tour de France and Criterium International, Voigt has a slightly surprising favourite race of his:

“My victory at the Paris-Bourges in 2003, which was unexpected because I just raced on instincts and guts alone. I had not trained and had been out all night in the bar a couple of nights before. It was not an easy time, as I was about to leave the team and relations with the management were not good.”

When Voigt was asked what he will miss at the Tour most and what it was like riding on the Champs-Elysees for the final time, he had this to say, responding with his usual honesty that the cycling world has come to know and love him for:

“Well, the Tour is 21 stages, and in about 20 of the stages, there were moments when I thought, “Yep, good that I’ve finished because this is getting too hard or too dangerous.” But the last day, into Paris, was comparatively easy. I actually felt good and there were a million people on the streets. Then I thought, “Yep, I’m gonna miss this.”

As for what he wont miss: “I have 17 years of pro cycling behind me, and I have a titanium screw in my left hand, and my right hand will never be 100 per cent straight. I broke my collarbone three times as well. I’m definitely not going to miss the risk of crashing, and the crashes. Another thing I’m not going to miss is the stress of fighting for position. I realised I didn’t like the stress of pushing people with my elbows. You realise you are getting slower and older and you feel the need to be more careful.”

It goes without saying that 17 years in pro cycling is a long time and Voigt says that he heavily relies on his family to keep him going, particularly after a bad day.

“Sometimes I had days where I had burn-out syndrome but there’s nothing I could do about it. I have six kids, who need breakfast, go to school, to kindergarten, so I had to kick myself out of bed and help my wife and my mother-in-law, who lives with us. Sometimes you have bad moments in training. Sometimes you just need people to cheer you up, so you look for a group to train with. Other times, you try and avoid meeting anyone, just have some time to reflect for yourself. Fortunately, I only felt this in the last few months of my career. During my last winter of training, I had moments where I sighed and thought, “I don’t want to do this any more.” Up until then, I had enjoyed being a racer 99 per cent of the time.”

Voigt has been known for his never say attitude and hard work ethic, something he attributes to his father and says that it is his family that helps him keep his feet firmly on the ground.

“My dad always told me, “Once you reach the top level and you are up there, you should never forget where you came from, the people who helped you get there and what got you there. So don’t forget your old friends. Don’t forget your roots. And don’t forget that hard work gets you up there.” I go home and my daughter says, “Daddy, I did my first forward roll today!” They are different priorities, but I really think that having a good family helps you stay grounded and get your priorities right. I mean, sport is great, bike riding is great, but it’s just a sport, and sometimes you’ve got to remind yourself of that.”

But with such a large family, Voigt will never be able to fully relax and enjoy retirement and he is always busy, with family life or with sponsor work.

“The children were happy when I told them daddy is retiring and is going to have more time. But I now realise I’m still very busy, even though I’m retired. Yesterday I was at a meeting in Hanover doing a motivational speech; today I’m here in Birmingham. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not a millionaire! I’ve been well paid, I have a nice house but I have six kids to feed. I live in Germany and pay my taxes there. I’m not living in Monaco or Switzerland, so I will need and also want a job that keeps me busy.”

“I will still be working for Trek, and for the rest of this year I will be working on a book with a friend. Next year I will do a bit of everything by trial and error and then after that I will focus on what I am good at."
 

And how would the legendary German sum up his career?

“My career was not always a stroll in the park. I had to fight for whatever I got but I am happy and am proud of the way I did it, and if I were at the start line again, I probably wouldn’t change a thing. I want to be remembered as someone who was loyal, indestructible, hard-working, and usually had a smile on his face.”