Jens Voigt: The teams I could have raced for
From sponsor woes related to Iranian power plants to Lance Armstrong's requests, sports cars and Team Sky. The German has seen it all!
Continuing a new series, I’m talking to riders and ex-riders about teams they almost signed for during their careers. Next up is Jens Voigt.
The German had a long and successful career, racing for the likes of Crédit Agricole, Saxo Bank, Leopard Trek, and Trek Factory Racing.
A decade on from his retirement, we caught up with the German to talk about the teams he could have raced for. Voigt now hosts a podcast alongside his former teammate Bobby Julich, called the Odd Tandem Cycling Podcast.
Here’s Jens in his own words…
In 1997 I was with the small Czech/Australian team called ZVVZ-Giant-AIS. We had a great line-up with Matt White, Jay Sweet, Jan Hruška, and the late Brett Dennis. I had no other options during the middle of that season and at the end of the year the team folded.
The story behind the closure was crazy but please follow me on this journey of phone calls. We start at the White House and the president of the United States of America picks up the phone and calls his ambassador in the Czech Republic.