KATUSHA and RennRad magazine are looking for the German Super Stagiaire 16.04.2019: German contest winner earns a trainee internship in Team KATUSHA ALPECIN What young racing cyclist does not dream of wearing the jersey of a WorldTour professional cycling team? Or sitting in the team bus and

German contest winner earns a trainee internship in Team KATUSHA ALPECIN



 
What young racing cyclist does not dream of wearing the jersey of a WorldTour professional cycling team? Or sitting in the team bus and standing on the start line of a great professional race? Which amateur sportsman does not ask himself: how do I become a professional cyclist and how do the professional athletes train?




All of these questions will be answered this summer - KATUSHA and the German RennRad magazine are looking for a rider to experience all of this for himself. The winner of the contest will officially become part of WorldTour Team KATUSHA ALPECIN. He will train together with team stars like Nils Politt and Marcel Kittel and race, for example, in the Tour of Germany 2019.




Professional cyclist in Germany


The road to becoming a pro cyclist is long and full of hardships, and it’s getting more and more difficult in Germany as the number of stage and road races is continuously decreasing on home soil. "But young talents need racing to gain the competitive edge and to be able to develop positively,“ says RennRad Editor-in-Chief David Binnig.



He adds: "When KATUSHA came to us with this idea, I was absolutely thrilled. We can give an Amateur or U23 rider the opportunity to race for a WorldTour professional team. This has never happened before in a direct casting for this kind of talent." Stagiaires are a kind of professional trainee who, according to the UCI regulations, can sign a team contract from 1 August to 31 December and, as an official team rider, are allowed to start in professional races.




Two-phase application process


In phase 1, the candidates apply via the RennRad website. In addition to personal data and the classic "Why me?" cover letter, more information must be entered. The applicant must include race results, but in addition, also training kilometers or special achievements such as Strava best times and Zwift successes. At the end of the first phase, six riders will be selected to be appointed to the "KATUSHA RennRad - Super Stagiaire Team".



In phase 2, the six candidates will undergo medical and performance testing by the KATUSHA ALPECIN team, equipped with the latest products of the KATUSHA collection and closely monitored. At the end of the second phase, a winner will be announced: the "Super Stagiaire“.




"Society is changing. The professional sport as well. With this unique project seeking young talent, we want to give the candidates the chance to realize their dreams. I'm really looking forward to seeing the applicants because the contemporary, very direct application process also offers so-called lateral entrants a real chance,"says Alexis Schoeb, President of the KATUSHA Group.





 
Falk Nier Photo © Laura Fletcher/The Peleton