"That's my personal motivation" - Ralph Denk on doping in cycling and the dream of the maillot jaune

Ralph Denk, the manager of the German professional team BORA - hansgrohe, was a guest of Matthias Friebe on Deutschlandfunk radio. In a personal interview with the journalist, he spoke about the changes in cycling since the time of the doping scandals, his motivation to do better and his dream of winning the yellow jersey.

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It all started at the turn of the millennium. Denk was already a multiple Bavarian champion on the road when he founded his first bike club for mountain biking at the end of the 90s. Actually, the only reason for this was that he had a bike shop at the time and wanted to set himself apart from his competitors with a completely different kind of promotion. However, the field of management always had a special appeal for him, so he increasingly focussed on it.

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However, Denk saw this as a new opportunity and took it as motivation to try his hand at the professional level. In addition, the international governing body of cycling issued doping regulations that were stricter than ever before in any other sport.

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If he has his way, Covid has ultimately also led to a 'rediscovery' of cycling. More and more people are taking a liking to cycling during the pandemic. Denk even draws a comparison with tennis, where the standard German's interest waned after the Graf/Becker era, but "this is not the case with cycling."

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