Now, the team is the Star

Without a 21-year-old Thurgauer it goes: four years Ago, the locomotive of the Swiss Railways foursome, Stefan Küng was called. Thanks to him, the Team qualified for the first time since 1984 for the Olympic games. It dreamed of Great to it the Star of this Quartet exaggerated short before Rio. In case of a crash in a time trial on the road of bones got broken and the Olympic dream to the end. In Brazil, the foursome rolled inharmonious to rank 7.

Küng, never to return to the track, the number 2, Silvan Dillier, just a little. And yet, the foursome of today, the best Switzerland has ever had. National Coach Daniel Gisiger Says. His driver confirmed his statement at the European Championships two weeks ago in Apeldoorn (NED) with the Swiss record in 3:52 minutes. That was for rank 4. A week later on the 6th was followed by the world Cup in Minsk.

and that brings us to the great Parallel: a 21-year-old Thurgau, also as a locomotive. Stefan Bissegger means of this, the experts speak in equally laudatory words from him as they had done with Küng prior to its exchange to the professionals.

Bissegger draws the rail project and his contract with a world tour Team

Bissegger could be the same as the Star in this Team – the contract with a world tour Team, he has the Only one already in the bag. But he is not there. The contract starts only after the Games in Tokyo. Prior to that, wants to focus bissegger on the rail project, even if the Team EF Education First from the start of the season would have been way seen in its ranks. However, Bissegger says: "I very, very much benefited from the foursome. And my parents have given me something: If you give your word, then you stay here."

The hand position is relevant

Bissegger a lone performance but also the carrier as it was Küng, because the Swiss Team has grown. "In 2015, we realized that the Olympic qualification is not possible – because of Stefan. Without it, not. Now we are eight drivers who can drive fast," says Cyrille Thièry, one of the two remaining members of the Rio-Foursome.

The pressure is now distributed more balanced. But why not become smaller. Because the team pursuit is the prestige discipline on the track. In no more tinkering: the composition of tactics. And, above all, on the aerodynamics. If the Quartet wheel turns on the wheel of the fastest laps with about 60 km/h, every Detail is crucial. It had to be amazed Gisiger. He was responsible for over the years, the rail project alone, in the summer with Mickael Bouget a colleague. The Frenchman is just what the aerodynamics relates to accomplished as Gisiger, which is rather "old school", but the often very young rail riders benefit. "I underestimated how many watts you can get with a different Hand - or back position," says Gisiger.

Bissegger drives only all three races

The influx of Bouget relieved him clearly. The 65-Year-old sounds relaxed these days, surprisingly, when you talk to him on the phone. No wonder: He sits, after two intensive weeks of Competition in the Netherlands and Belarus at home, Bouget is in charge of the Team at the world Cup Event in Glasgow on Friday. That's where it wants to take the next step in the direction of Olympia, with Bissegger as a constant. He is the only member of the team that competes in all three races.

Only eight Teams in Tokyo

The brisk change of personnel is necessary, because the Swiss will try to let in all the six world cups until the end of January would be a very competitive Quartet to compete. For the Olympic games, only eight Teams will qualify. In the standings, the best three results to come in world cups, world and continental Championships. Only: no one knows in advance where the other compete in the best line-up and where not to – what is for a top rank one of the decisive factors. So you have to be at every world Cup strong. And for this it needs because of the crowded calendar, with venues all over the globe for more than a Quartet.

in this respect, the ranks 4 and 6 were very solid. In the Olympic ranking, the Swiss are in first place in 7. For Glasgow is Gisiger defensive hopes on a Top-8 result, because here are the top Nations to compete with their best drivers. "As long as we classify ourselves in front of the Americans, everything is good," says Gisiger. The U.S. Team he sees as the toughest direct competitors.

Where his team goes, can't say he completely. A time of 3:52 minutes, he had set out for Tokyo to your destination. Now this is already achieved ten months earlier. "Maybe at the Olympics 3:50 in there," he says. It was in Rio in 2016, good for Gold and a world record. Then adds Gisiger: "Only the other maybe 3:47 drive then." The world record is now 3:48 minutes. The time hunting in the prestige discipline never stops.

Created: 08.11.2019, 13:01 p.m.