Marco Haller celebrates anniversary: ​​ten participation in the Tour de France!

Marco Haller celebrates anniversary: ​​ten participation in the Tour de France!

Marco Haller celebrates a very special anniversary at the 112nd Tour de France. The 34-year-old cycling professional starts in this prestigious race for the tenth time and would like to present himself excellently in his new team Tudor. While the tour begins in Lille on Saturday, Haller has already gained its experiences and challenges in this competition in the past.

With his participation in Lille, Haller sets up a new record for Austrian cyclists, with Bernhard Eisel with twelve participation between 2004 and 2017. Georg Totschnig follows in third place with eight participation, while Gregor Mühlberger von Movistar extends his event to the seventh participation and Felix Gall from the Decathlon team climbs into the saddle for the third time.

goals and challenges

Haller looks at his fifth participation, which he has been in particular on - apart from 2015 due to a knee injury. He decided to put his own ambitions behind the team goals, especially for Mikel Landa, whose achievements he would like to actively support. The 34-year-old recently completed the Wallonia tour in 16th place and will use his strength to put the team to the finish.

He knows that this tour could be one of the hardest in history and regrets the absence of many sprinter. These circumstances contribute to the discussion of which drivers are suitable for the overall ranking and what the starter field will look like. Haller emphasizes the importance of a strong field of participants and sees the tour as the most important event in cycling, comparable to the Super Bowl or the Champions League.

statistics and developments in cycling

Cycling has changed considerably over the years. In 2020, the average age of the tour participants was 30 years, with its body weight over around 5 kg since 1990. The average BMI of the participants also fell, which indicates increasing performance and training. In today's world, cycling professionals are often larger and lighter than in earlier times, which is also reflected in the racing strategies.

faced with pitfalls and opportunities, it is evident that the commercialization of sport has both positive and negative effects on competitiveness. Jonathan Vaughters, team boss of EF Education-Nippo, calls for a salary cap to increase equal opportunities in professional cycling and to strengthen sport as part of the entertainment industry.

Haller packed his suitcases and traveled to Nice with a large and a small suitcase and a backpack in which he brought only a few personal things with him, since his team provides the majority of the required equipment. His best result so far was a twelfth place on the final stage in 2019, and this year Haller hopes to increase its performance and to represent the Tudor team in the best possible way.

The coming days at the Tour de France promise both tension and challenges, and for Marco Haller it is the chance to enter into the footsteps of cycling legends and to please further pioneers of professional charging.