Lennard Kämna Bandwaggon thread

[Samu Cuenca]

As things currently stand, it looks like it's been a mistake for him to target the GC in the Giro rather than hunting stage wins and KOM. The team has of course got its stage wins anyway, so it isn't a disaster for BORA, but it's still a shame they've taken all his aggressiveness and exciting riding style and replaced it with a jar of out-of-date pickles.

That said, I didn't think Gaudu would be worth much as a GC rider either after he failed in the 2021 Tour, so there's obviously still plenty of time for him to win me over.

 

[Colonel]

As things currently stand, it looks like it's been a mistake for him to target the GC in the Giro rather than hunting stage wins and KOM. The team has of course got its stage wins anyway, so it isn't a disaster for BORA, but it's still a shame they've taken all his aggressiveness and exciting riding style and replaced it with a jar of out-of-date pickles.

That said, I didn't think Gaudu would be worth much as a GC rider either after he failed in the 2021 Tour, so there's obviously still plenty of time for him to win me over.

His goals was not sole GC for Giro, this was Valsov. He inherited it due to Valsov leaving. He has done just fine this Giro

 

[janraaskalt]

As things currently stand, it looks like it's been a mistake for him to target the GC in the Giro rather than hunting stage wins and KOM.

Not a mistake, but a test with negative results. I don't think he'll ever climb good enough for a GT podium.

 

[SafeBet]

Not a mistake, but a test with negative results. I don't think he'll ever climb good enough for a GT podium.

Yeah this looks like his ceiling. At least he tested himself but going forward it'd be better to stage hunt. He can win a lot more.

 

[staubsauger]

German Media and cycling fans gonna hype that 8th place at the Giro d'Italia up. Ignoring that Kämna was completely invisible during the race and this field was really low quality in depth.

Of course he should go stage hunting rather. He's got everything in house for that. This year's Vuelta a Espana route for example theoretically offers 3-4 chances to win a stage if he was in peak shape there.

 

[Pinot's goat]

His first attempt at GC and he is going to finish 5th-7th. A lot of doomers in this thread. That is not a reason to give up hope trying to finish on GT podiums.

 

[trevim]

Good that he gave it a try for GC. Nothing wrong with no chasing stages, he has plenty of time to get back to do just that

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Good on him for pulling through. Outside the last ITT he never lost more than 1:30 minutes on the best place GC rider so a very good base level throughout despite there being quite a few rumors that he was battling a little sickness at the start and in week 3. His team was utter dogshit, plenty of times he was isolated pretty quickly which doesn't help in terms of getting bidons etc. The way the race was ridden also didn't suit him I think, he thrives more in chaos and this was mostly pretty straight forward.

Having said this, he obviously also benefitted from dropouts a lot, in a more competitive field he never finishes top 10 with that form. Yeah, Leknessund and Pinot finished ahead of him because they were gifted breakaway time but all the guys around him were mostly domestiques, like who did he actually beat to finish top 10? Rubio, Buitrago, Barguil, Paret-Peintre...

Probably depends on how he evaluates this race for himself, if he thinks he can up the level a bit because he was actually held back by said illness than he could go for GC again at another GT. But I'd rather see him going back to stage hunting or targeting the Polkadot at the Tour at some point.
Bora's management is at time pretty stupid with their German/Austrian bias, so they might prefer to have him Zubeldiaing a couple of more GTs.

 

[Netserk]

When you are not a top-5 GC rider, stage hunting can be combined with GC. I hope he realises that.

 

[geisterhome]

Good on him for pulling through. Outside the last ITT he never lost more than 1:30 minutes on the best place GC rider so a very good base level throughout despite there being quite a few rumors that he was battling a little sickness at the start and in week 3. His team was utter dogshit, plenty of times he was isolated pretty quickly which doesn't help in terms of getting bidons etc. The way the race was ridden also didn't suit him I think, he thrives more in chaos and this was mostly pretty straight forward.

Having said this, he obviously also benefitted from dropouts a lot, in a more competitive field he never finishes top 10 with that form. Yeah, Leknessund and Pinot finished ahead of him because they were gifted breakaway time but all the guys around him were mostly domestiques, like who did he actually beat to finish top 10? Rubio, Buitrago, Barguil, Paret-Peintre...

Probably depends on how he evaluates this race for himself, if he thinks he can up the level a bit because he was actually held back by said illness than he could go for GC again at another GT. But I'd rather see him going back to stage hunting or targeting the Polkadot at the Tour at some point.
Bora's management is at time pretty stupid with their German/Austrian bias, so they might prefer to have him Zubeldiaing a couple of more GTs.

He showed he can be a GC rider, stay alert, not losing time when it doesn't need to be, not crashing, not cracking. All that over tree weeks.

Problem is rather the physical level he is at. In Germany he is hyped to be the biggest GC talent than Jan Ullrich. Now that isn't too difficult, but even if you don't take Klöden into consideration, Buchmann has been climbing way better in the past than KÄMNA anywhere ever and and it's not like he has more than a solid TT compared to other GC riders.

He ended up where I expected it before the race. And the top 10 wasn't just due to drop outs either, really every GT has a lot of highly regarded GC riders not finishing the race, this Giro isn't an outlier. With that performance he would have finished in the top 10 of most recent GCs.

Personally I don't regard stage wins (competing against a handful of riders actually not good enough to win if they go up against the best in the race) that highly but compared to such an unremarkable ride into 9th place winning another Giro stage would probably preferable.

Still I would like to see him giving it another go, maybe there still is some untapped potential, although I doubt it would be enough to make a a podium contender.

 

[skippo12]

In hindsight maybe this years Giro wasn´t the best choice for his first GC attempt. In the past he has been at his best on long climbs with shallow gradients. Third week with three stages that finish on super steep ramps did not play to his strengths.

 

[Filippo_3467]

I think you can't call it a mistake or a failure.

I'm quite upset with people talking about 6th to 10th place in a GT like it is nothing and a waste of time. Most riders that can place in that zone have the potential to go further and get a higher ranking but you need experience trying so that you can do it, also you are one of the best cyclists in the world if you reach that level so it's really disgusting how people treat those riders sometimes. Like they are sooo silly not going for stages. Also Kämna has his stage wins in the Giro and the Tour. He was once a big talent for stage racing but then progressed on other levels more als due to his psychological needs. So going for a GC was not a mistake.

Was it a failure? I think the 9th place is a big disappointing because of the not great last two stages and of course Vlasov was out for Bora so it's not like the 7th place for Buchmann last year which wasn't really important for the team anymore. On the other hand they have again two stages and so having someone else to compete in the GC was really good for Bora even if it is maybe 1 or 2 positions lower then anticipated in the last week. I hope Kämna can build on that because I don't think his career is fully developed. I doubt he wants to go the de Gendt route and just go for being the breakaway king. Nothing wrong with that but in it's interviews he's quite clear that he has plans for his career no that he restarted his career in 2022.

We can debate if 3 week races are the right way for him to compete in the biggest races. With his riding style I wonder if he couldn't be more of a factor in one-day races. During his career he almost exclusively rode stage races and had not many good results in one days. maybe that could be an interesting path but also Bora will give him the support the be co-Leader again at a GT.

Just don't overrace again. TdF is out of the question so I think either going the Vuelta for stages + support for a GC rider (Cian or Vlasov) would be great. But I would also like stages like Pologne, Deutschland Tour, Worlds and italian fall classics as a path. All in all I if GTs are in his futures riding two one for GC and one more in a free role could be also a good way. Having Kämna in your team is always great because he can shine in so many ways (satellite rider, stage wins, surprise gc threat, positioning...)

 

[Mayomaniac]

German Media and cycling fans gonna hype that 8th place at the Giro d'Italia up. Ignoring that Kämna was completely invisible during the race and this field was really low quality in depth.

Of course he should go stage hunting rather. He's got everything in house for that. This year's Vuelta a Espana route for example theoretically offers 3-4 chances to win a stage if he was in peak shape there.

Honestly, Tota Kämna was climbing at a higher level.

 

[Mayomaniac]

He showed he can be a GC rider, stay alert, not losing time when it doesn't need to be, not crashing, not cracking. All that over tree weeks.

Problem is rather the physical level he is at. In Germany he is hyped to be the biggest GC talent than Jan Ullrich. Now that isn't too difficult, but even if you don't take Klöden into consideration, Buchmann has been climbing way better in the past than KÄMNA anywhere ever and and it's not like he has more than a solid TT compared to other GC riders.

He ended up where I expected it before the race. And the top 10 wasn't just due to drop outs either, really every GT has a lot of highly regarded GC riders not finishing the race, this Giro isn't an outlier. With that performance he would have finished in the top 10 of most recent GCs.

Personally I don't regard stage wins (competing against a handful of riders actually not good enough to win if they go up against the best in the race) that highly but compared to such an unremarkable ride into 9th place winning another Giro stage would probably preferable.

Still I would like to see him giving it another go, maybe there still is some untapped potential, although I doubt it would be enough to make a a podium contender.

Compared to Herklotz and Brenner he never had the crazy expectations and hype by the German media as a junior ("as good as Ullrich at his age" for Herklotz & "better than Ullrich at his age" for Brenner). Now, the stupid coaches in the German developmental team are also to blame when it comes to making those kind of statements.

Gc in shorter stage races and stagehunting in gts (maybe Polka Dot in the Tour) would be a good option for Kämna and given his previous mental health problems it would frankly be better and healthier for him.

 

[SafeBet]

Honestly, Tota Kämna was climbing at a higher level.

Or was the competition not at Giro level (yet)?

 

[will-10]

Given how the race went with so many breaks going to the line, riding the anonymous GC top 10 was probably a mistake, but hindsight is 20-20.

 

[Reynard]

Like in the Tour last year he tipped his hand too soon. Now probably no one will wor with him in groups. He is really on a great level for stage hunting, but it will be hard now to get the full collection of GT stage wins done.

If the peleton would have kept it together a km longer he could have done it.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Like in the Tour last year he tipped his hand too soon. Now probably no one will wor with him in groups. He is really on a great level for stage hunting, but it will be hard now to get the full collection of GT stage wins done.

If the peleton would have kept it together a km longer he could have done it.

I think it was also not helped by the time gaps failing in the decisive part, he could have had a chance with the tactics behind if he had attacked earlier.

 

[Scarponi]

Like in the Tour last year he tipped his hand too soon. Now probably no one will wor with him in groups. He is really on a great level for stage hunting, but it will be hard now to get the full collection of GT stage wins done.

If the peleton would have kept it together a km longer he could have done it.

I like how stage hunting has its own little dynamic. GC and sprinters obviously a
Strong early marker is a good thing but not for breakaway riders

 

[QueenStagiaire]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1775560952047423763

View: https://twitter.com/BORAhansgrohe/status/1775560952047423763?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet%7Ctwtr%5Etrue

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I guess this means Pogačar will win the Giro.

 

[kingjr]

According to Ralph Denk, he is conscious and able to move everything, but hit the deck pretty hard. There is no danger to his life. The crash apparently was not Kämna's fault and occurred when he collided with a car, says Denk. Further details are expected to be provided tomorrow.

Lennard Kämna in Verkehrsunfall auf Teneriffa verwickelt - Bora-Fahrer im Krankenhaus - "keine Lebensgefahr" - Eurosport

Lennard Kämna ist nach einem Verkehrsunfall während einer Trainingsfahrt auf Teneriffa in ein Krankenhaus eingeliefert worden.

www.eurosport.de

 

[Faserr]

According to Ralph Denk, he is conscious and able to move everything, but hit the deck pretty hard. There is no danger to his life. The crash apparently was not Kämna's fault and occurred when he collided with a car, says Denk. Further details are expected to be provided tomorrow.

Lennard Kämna in Verkehrsunfall auf Teneriffa verwickelt - Bora-Fahrer im Krankenhaus - "keine Lebensgefahr" - Eurosport

Lennard Kämna ist nach einem Verkehrsunfall während einer Trainingsfahrt auf Teneriffa in ein Krankenhaus eingeliefert worden.

www.eurosport.de

Feared for worse at the beginning. Hope we see him racing again this year.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Get well soon, Big Lenny!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Has there been any other accidents on Tenerife in the last few years?

I remember quite a few from mainland Spain, the US, Italy, Denmark, Benelux and France, but I've had the impression, until now at least, that Tenerife was fairly safe, considering how many riders travel there before and during the season nowadays.