Swiss mountains are calling

Konrad has to get on the podium track for his Tour ticket

Patrick Konrad climbs for his Tour de France ticket in Switzerland.(Bild: Team Lidl-Trek)

From the Sierra Nevada to the flatlands. After the altitude training camp, Patrick Konrad is finally back home on the roller trainer. These are the last kilometers before the Tour de Suisse. Next week, the Ebreichsdorfer will be competing for a ticket to the Tour de France - and that is a hard-fought battle. But he has a "Plan B", which is called "Yes to A".

"I've had a tough few weeks at altitude," gasped Konrad on the roller trainer during a phone call with the "Krone", "but I feel good." The spring was not an easy one for the 32-year-old: After a bout of flu around New Year, he started with a training deficit, he crashed at the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic, plus the 2021 Tour de France stage winner had to slip into the helper role more often with his new team Lidl-Trek. "It's not that easy to find a chance for yourself," says Konrad. At the Tour of Catalunya, however, he showed that he can do it by finishing fifth in the "queen stage".

And he will have to do the same in the Tour de Suisse starting on June 9. Although he will be supporting defending champion Mattias Skjelmose Jensen there, Lidl-Trek will select the starting line-up for the Tour de France in Switzerland and at the Tour of the Dauphine.

The 32-year-old still has a "Plan B", and it's called the Tour of Austria.(Bild: Team Lidl-Trek)

Patrick has fond memories of Switzerland: "The last time I rode the Tour de Suisse, I was on the podium." In 2019, he was third overall, back then still in the colors of Bora-hansgrohe.

And if Konrad is not nominated for the Tour de France after all, he has a "Plan B": the cycling star would then like to take part in the Tour of Austria with the Lidl-Trek development team. Then the Tour of Austria would suddenly have a new favorite.