Olympic road race: With the Berlin cycling ultras on the route

It is 3 p.m. and the claims have been staked out at the intersection of Boulevard de Clichy and Rue des Martyrs. Barriers have been erected in front of the sidewalks, and the 90 starters of the Olympic road race will soon race past here. Cycling enthusiasts have been populating the surrounding streets in the Montmartre district for hours. The decision of the 273-kilometer race will be made on the steep climbs up to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

Here, at the mouth of the chestnut-lined promenade in the middle of the Boulevard de Clichy, Olaf Böhlke has identified the best place to watch: “They come by here three times, first from down there, then twice more on their round from the right,” says the Berliner pulls up the wine-red banner that he has attached to the barrier for television: “SC Berlin Ultras” is written there in white letters.

The cycling club from Hohenschönhausen also has “its” starter in the Paris Olympic race: Maximilian Schachmann from Berlin, one of two participants from the ranks of the Association of German Cyclists. The 30-year-old from the Bora-hansgrohe team drove for SC Berlin for a year and a half as a young driver before he began his impressive professional career, in which he won the Paris-Nice stage race twice.

Since then, they have been happy to adorn themselves with Schachmann at SC Berlin, even though he originally learned the basics of cycling at Marzahner RSC. Well, it’s your own fault. “I haven’t seen any Marzahners here yet,” says Böhlke with a mischievous smile. Instead there are the SC Berlin Ultras. “Maybe Schachi can do something today with our support!” Maximilian Schachmann came ninth in the individual time trial on the first Olympic weekend.

Böhlke is a short, wiry man with a beard and a pigtail; you can’t tell that he’s 58. He trains the U11 and U13 drivers at SC Berlin. With his coaching colleagues Oskar, Tobi, Joe and club friend Bodo, they set off from Berlin on Friday afternoon in the club’s own Sprinter team bus. 1100 kilometers, Böhlke drove through, at three in the morning he turned the ignition key to the left in the suburb of Aubervilliers: sleep for the night! His fellow passengers have set up air mattresses on the back seats and the vehicle floor. Böhle hung his hammock over it and tried to catch some sleep. It wasn’t much.

On Saturday morning they set off on Metro 12: out of the banlieues and into the city center. The SC Ultras were there right from the start at the Trocadéro and cheered on the chessman and his opponents. After the starting field raced past their place on the Seine, the Berlin fans ran the four kilometers up to Montmartre. A bit of sightseeing is a must.

Now it’s time to occupy the piece of barrier on which the SC banner is hanging: After all, the Ultras want to cheer on their favorite from the front row. Maybe he hears their calls of “Schachi, Schachi”? Or does he even see the banner? He’ll be rolling on it for a while.

It is becoming increasingly crowded on Boulevard de Clichy. More and more people are streaming in, especially from the direction of Pigalle. All road crossings will gradually be closed. The sun burns relentlessly. They stand in rows of three at the barriers. A squadron of 40 motorcycle police rattles past, people cheer. Danish fans in red and white jerseys have lined up on the opposite side of the street. “Denmark, Denmark!” they chant, the Berlin fan group responds with “Schachmann, Schachmann!” The bystanders laugh, and the surrounding balconies have long been well occupied. Parisian women in summer dresses – wine glasses in hand – expect amusement from the professional cyclists and, if necessary, from the spectators.

At the barrier, many are staring at their cell phone screens: 500,000 people are expected to be on the route today, it is said, and at the top of the Sacre Coeur, thousands of them are sitting on the steps in front of the basilica. At some point the first official cars come racing along the track. The SC Berlin Ultras position themselves, Olaf Böhlke grabs his SC flag. He had it specially made and attached it to a long fishing rod. »Shachi. Absolutely dynamic. One of us” is what it says on it. Do they know what to do with the nickname in Paris? Or with the allusion to SC Dynamo, the predecessor club of SC Berlin in the GDR, which produced a number of Olympians, not least Jan Ullrich, Olympic road cycling champion in Sydney in 2000?

Clubs do not play a decisive role in professional cycling. They only form the basis, the training centers for the professional teams, where the best can start as adults. “When it comes to young talent, SC Berlin is the biggest club in Berlin,” says Olaf Böhlke proudly. “80 children, I think that puts us at the top of the list in Germany.”

And of course it’s easier to find new talent with famous names like Schachmann. Böhlke and Co. sent the professional a greeting video, the SC kids are lined up with their bikes: “Allez, allez, allez!” they shout into the camera, just like the French cycling fans do: France is the paradise for cyclists, Paris is a mythical place with the annual finish of the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées. And now one of them is taking part in the Olympics: Schachi!

The first cars of the entourage arrive on the boulevard, followed by motorcycles: excited honking, a murmur goes through the rows. People are pushing against the barriers. It smells like sweat, beer and sunscreen. The SC Ultras are standing by the barrier, two are now shirtless. Only Olaf Böhlke is now standing a little to the side: he has positioned himself a few meters behind the spectators. He prefers to wave his flag at a safe distance. Not that anything goes wrong yet. The route is narrow and at this intersection drivers have to make a steep left turn.

As soon as the riders whizzed through loudly for the first time, it was clear to the Berlin fans that there would be no chance of a podium finish for their man in the peloton today. Where is Shakhi? The German rolls along at the end of the second chasing group. It won’t be anything big. No matter, the next beer bottles will be opened. Maybe at least his teammate Nils Politt, the German champion, can still achieve something? He’s one group ahead. And this is an Olympic race without the usual team constellations, without the team radio in your ears. Here the racers find out the interim results from the boards on the accompanying motorcycles.

Politt is still there on the second circuit, Schachmann continues to run. But the SC Berlin Ultras don’t care, they celebrate the race itself, just like everyone else standing by: everyone without exception is cheered on, even the Chinese, Ugandans or Greeks who are following behind.

When the entourage passes the Boulevard de Clichy for the third time, the eventual winner is already at the front: the extremely strong Belgian Remco Evenepoel has moved to the front of the field and is driving home the race in the lead. The fact that Evenepoel has a puncture again at the Louvre and has to change his bike is spread by word of mouth among those around him: not everyone can watch the race in the live stream, the cell phone network is probably too weak collapsed due to overload.

At some point Remco Evenepoel stands jubilant at the finish line at the Pont d’Iéna bridge, having been on the route for more than six hours. Maximilian Schachmann rolled over the line in 28th place, 2:59 minutes behind, his colleague Nils Politt in 70th, almost 20 minutes later than the winner. Meanwhile, in Montmartre, the SC Berlin Ultras are packing up their banner: “This trip was worth it,” says Olaf Böhlke. »This mood today! Something like that is priceless, you only experience it once!”

Then he sets off with his colleagues towards the metro. They want to grill a few sausages on the team bus in Aubervilliers before setting off on the 1,100 kilometer journey home. “But not for so long, we can’t dawdle,” says Olaf Böhlke as he says goodbye. »The club needs the car back at eight o’clock on Sunday morning. There’s a competition coming up.”