After storming to the silver medal on a very hard course in the 2018 Innsbruck World Junior RR behind a certain Belgian machine, there seemed to be endless possibilities to where Marius Mayrhofer’s career could go.
But injury derailed his debut U23 season in 2019, and like almost all U23s, he lost a lot of racing opportunities with the Covid-19 pandemic this season. The Sunweb Devo rider has re-upped for another season in 2021, and he is on the hunt for some big results.
Yet despite his lack of racing, he still has some very nice moments on his palmares already, as we will go on to discuss. Now you can get to know the German better with my exclusive interview.
“Overall, 2020 was a successful season. 2019 wasn’t great with injury and I missed a lot of kilometres in both training and racing. I started again with base training in January and I was behind a lot of the peloton. My goal was to get back to a good level, and with the corona break, I trained hard and allowed me to improve and catch up to other riders. This period will be important for me in the coming seasons.”
Given his lack of racing, 27 UCI race days in two seasons, Marius says he is still not too sure what type of rider he is at this point in his career. He is getting a grip on his strengths and weaknesses, but defining a speciality is not yet possible.
“It’s not so easy to say what sort of rider I am. I’d say I’m an overall rider, an all-rounder. I like the Classics and I’d say sprints, hard races, those would be my strengths. My TT is my biggest weakness, I haven’t done a lot of training there, mostly because with the knee injury I had, it was not possible to get into such an aggressive position. With the climbs, I am not a climber, but I am also not one of those riders who cannot get over some climbs either.”
Whilst Sunweb Devo, like in previous years, has a roster comprised mostly of first and second year U23s, the team announced a few older riders will be staying on the team, including Marius. For the German, after two unfortunate seasons, he is grateful to be staying on the team where he feels at home and knows he can develop well at.
“It’s a good sign I can stay for at least one more year with the team. It’s where I think I can best develop. It’s fair to say I have not had the most normal last two years. I would just like a normal season in 2021! The team is a good environment and I’m happy to continue there.”
As an older rider, Marius will be looked to in a more senior role, which he is happy to do. Marius is more than willing to share his experiences with his younger teammates and do whatever it takes to help them develop.
“The team gives out roles for each race and I will always do my best in whatever role they assign me. I am older and a little more experienced, so for sure I will try and guide the younger guys a bit. I will try and share the experiences I have had with them.”
Even in such a shortened season, like I mentioned earlier, Marius was not without results. After returning to racing at the savagely hard Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc, he was able to sprint to 5th at the elite German National RR, which was a big result.
“I had the opportunity to race in Savoie Mont Blanc, which I was really happy with after the corona break, as we didn’t know if there would be any races. For sure the race didn’t suit me, I am not a specialist climber like I have said, but I used it for good training and tried to profit from it. Then I did the elite nationals with Savoie in my legs. The team worked well together and I was positioned well for the sprint, but I didn’t have the legs to come out of the slipstream.”
Looking to 2021, Marius is hunting for some results to add to his CV, as well as continuing his development as a rider, now that he feels he has caught up with the rest of the peloton in terms of base training miles.
“My goal is to keep developing as a rider and try and get some results this season. I have no race schedule yet as corona is not making things clear. I will take what races come my way and do my best. That’s the rider I am, if I am supporting someone else or racing as the leader, I always give 100%.”
For the soon-to-be third year U23, he doesn’t have a dream pro race he wants to win, but he does dream of winning at the Classics in general.
“There is not one race that sticks out for me. Overall, I like the Classics, those are the races where I would like to be good. Those would be my dream wins. I’ve always loved riding my bike, first the mountain bike and then switching to the road at 14, I’ve always enjoyed it and improved. It would be good to be a pro, that’s always a dream.”
As Marius has said, he has been hampered over the last two seasons with factors that were out with his control. Now he is back to full health, he can finally shine in 2021 and show why he was such a big talent at junior level.
U23 Cycling Zone wishes to thank Marius for taking the time to answer my call, and I wish him all the best for the future. I also wish to thank Sunweb’s Lukas Kruse for coordinating the interview. You can find Marius’s Instagram linked here.
U23 Cycling Zone 