Marcel Fleschhut (23) from North Baden has won eight medals at German championships, three of them gold, three silver and two bronze. In 2010, he won silver in the relay at the World Championships. After leaving school, Fleschhut pursued a dual career at a vocational college at Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences and in a specialist sports shop in Mannheim. He has been permanently employed there since 2014. Fleschhut was long regarded as one of the great young talents in German cross-country sport. At the beginning of 2014, the eight-time DM medallist decided to retire. A conversation about freedom, danger and money.
BIKE: You simply posted your resignation on Facebook ... that seems a bit hasty.
Marcel Fleschhut: No, not at all, but all friends and acquaintances who should know are on Facebook. It's also better than sending it officially to websites, magazines and so on. I struggled with quitting competitive sport for a long time. You know, I love biking and would have loved to earn a living from it, but it doesn't work out. At some point, you do an internal calculation with all the pros and cons. Then you ask yourself: What do I want and what else can I achieve? I've realised for myself that I can't do this sport at a professional level with almost no earnings. And if I can't do that, I'll never be able to stand on my own two feet financially.
You already stood on your own two feet during your U23 career and completed a dual study programme. Why did you never try to concentrate 100 per cent on cycling during this time?
It's just not my thing. I didn't want to be left empty-handed if I didn't make it in professional sport. I was lucky enough to ride with the Lexware junior team. I had great support here. I'm too old for that now. I don't want to end up like one of the many examples who try to gain a foothold in top-level sport until their late 20s but ultimately fail. You simply don't earn any money if you're not one of the top ten, maybe 20 bikers in the world. I don't want to be in my late 20s, without training, without a degree. Who wants you then? What do you say in a job interview? Like: "I raced bikes until I was 29." As a competitive athlete, you have a short shelf life. If you haven't managed to earn enough money before it expires, there will be problems. The sport has also become much tougher.
What do you mean by that? Is the riding faster, is it more unfair on the trails?
People have always ridden fast and there has always been healthy competition. It's not that the athletes have problems with each other, it's that the tracks are becoming too difficult. The consequences of crashes are more dramatic. I crashed so hard in Pietermaritzburg in 2012 that the season was actually over. Just look at the cross-country courses: It's getting more and more extreme. In Albstadt, Manuel Fumic and Sabine Spitz both injured themselves so badly in training that they could no longer ride. It's even more dramatic for young athletes: with a one-year contract in a professional team, you can't miss out. If you're so shattered at the start of the season that you have to take four months off - try to get a new contract!
Nevertheless, young athletes are making the step into the professional circuit. At the moment, everyone is looking at Julian Schelb and Markus Schulte-Lünzum, who have made a big splash in the U23. Is that a risk?
No, the two of them are already accomplished athletes. They've both got good professional contracts. You actually have to be at professional level at the end of your U23 time in order to be taken on. Only very few manage that. There are many young bikers who need one or two more years of development, but the pro teams don't want to invest in this development work.
Many of your former comrades-in-arms therefore choose the route via the sports promotion group. Why didn't you join the Bundeswehr?
I don't want to be controlled by others, I am a free person. For me, this military background is so present that I don't want to throw my principles overboard for it. I would feel like I was selling my soul.
No professional team, no army - will the sport of cycling now be completely cancelled?
No, I love biking and will concentrate on other things. I work in a large specialist sports shop and have the opportunity to realise my full potential there. I sell, advise, test and offer riding technique courses for customers. I will also try my hand at enduro in 2014. I've always enjoyed difficult cross-country courses and I think the enduro format is very cool. Let's see, I'm currently in talks with sponsors and might ride for an enduro team.
So competitive sport again after all?
The sport of enduro is still very new, it's easier to establish yourself and perhaps earn money again. I see enduro continuing to grow over the next few years. I think people want to see the whole package of biking again and not just highly trained machines milling through the forest.
