Herr Rutsch, Sechster bei Paris–Roubaix, dem schwersten aller Radrennen. Ein großartiges Ergebnis. Wie fühlt man sich nach so einem Tag?
Mit welchen Erwartungen sind Sie ins Rennen gegangen? Sie haben es früh in eine Fluchtgruppe geschafft.
It is always a maximum of ten drivers who can be shaped by the final. The group really loosens.
How was the requirement, the plan?
The team was the plan that I should keep an eye on the group. I was divided and prepared myself. I had picked up the moment I started. And then it worked too. A fairly strong top group loosened and I was there. The Tadej Pogacar team UAE has followed us because it had no one in the group. It was really on knife cutting edge whether we could still hold the group because they fulfilled from behind at full throttle. But at some point they put on. Our maximum lead was three minutes.
If the group has formed, what do you have to pay attention to?
As soon as you are in a group, you have to switch from the full attraction mode to the energy saving mode immediately because you know that they will come from behind. We were the first to go to the first plaster sector at kilometer 100, and that was a relief. Then you don't have the stress of having to fight through the big field, there can always be something. Of course you can try to go into a sector somehow in a reasonably good position, but if it puts one in front of you and it falls, then you don't do anything on the cobblestone, then you fly over it. I have had that too often in recent years. Last year I was in the hospital somewhere in France after a mass fall, and this year I just wanted a different scenario. I said to myself: Better to die in the group rather than inherit nothing in the back. We did it in the group up to kilometers 150 or something. I was the first to go into the Arenberg paving sector, then they came from behind at full throttle.
Then survival mode is the order of the day?
Yes, then you have to go to the red area and fight to stay tuned. I practically did the next 40 kilometers than fighting survival. You have to bite so much and give everything because you know that every moment is crucial now. If you fly out now, the race has run for you. It was a constant up and down. You have to go up again and again, then drive down again without spending yourself too much.
After these hard 40 kilometers, what happens then? Can you recover halfway from the hardships until then?
It is less that you recover, but rather in such a way that the others get as tired as you are. Then it is a question of how you house your strength and divide the further race. At some point everyone is at the same level, and it's all about willpower.
Was there no material problems this time, no plates, no falls?
I actually got through without any problems. Of course that's luck, but if you are the first to go to a sector, you can also choose the line, you have a better view and can better recognize the stones. You just have more room for maneuver. If you drive in the big crowd, you have to follow the line that is given to you by others. Then you fly over a stone and suddenly the front wheel is over.
How is you about the last 20 kilometers?
Finally, everything falls into groups and the race is extended. In the end we were still three. For us it was about sixth and we quickly agreed that it makes no sense to mark the strong man and attack each other. Maybe you will get away, but maybe you will also die cruelly on the way to the bike and will be caught up again. We said we are now going together and who in the end may win the most grains. And that was me.
What does this sixth place mean for you?
I have often spoken of a “respectable success” that I would like, and this sixth place is exactly that. It means a lot to me because that day is so much on this day and you invest so much all the season, the many years to finally achieve something. On Sunday there was a day when you know what you do for all of this, for which the whole tapping was worth it.
Behind the finish line when the slow dying has come to an end: how do you feel there?
And then? First of all in the famous historical shower in Velodrom?
Yes, it was the first time I was in this shower. Usually you have always hosed down the dirt with the motor cleaner, or I just crawled myself on the bus. But this time I was actually in there. After that we celebrated with the team because we drove a strong race. We had four people in the first 20th my family was there too, and we ended the evening together.
How is it going on for you now?
Now it's a break. I will only look at the bike this week for a limited extent – maybe not at all. But I'm looking forward to my next race: on May 1st in Frankfurt.
