Elisabeth Brandau stands out in the cycling world. And that's not just because of the team color orange or the bright white jersey that she, as German champion, is allowed to wear during the 2019 season. The cyclo-cross and mountain bike specialist from Schönaich consistently goes her own way. This may mean sleeping in the pop-up tent from the beach supermarket the night before a race. And the race wins. In 2020 there is a highlight for the mother of two: participation in the Olympics in Tokyo. FAULHABER accompanies you on this path.
Passion, motivation, technology - without the right drive nothing works in cycling either. While recreational athletes and pleasure cyclists are increasingly relying on e-bikes, which require compact, powerful drives, these are taboo for professionals like Elisabeth Brandau in the race. But even the two-time German champion in cyclo-cross has to find the perfect combination of technology, fitness, talent and driving style for every race. "The actual driving only makes up a good third, the rest is race planning, physical and mental training."
As a junior, the woman from Schönaich was a successful road racer, German mountain champion and took part in the Junior World Championships in Canada. In order to have more time for her training as a refrigeration engineer, including the championship title, she stopped driving "just for fun". She bought her first mountain bike in 2006, became German amateur champion in the marathon in 2007 and in 2008 German champion for the first time among the professionals and was appointed to the national squad. Then in 2012 German Marathon and German Mountain Bike Sprint Champion.
In 2013 she founded her own team, the Radon Elisabeth Brandau Energie Racing Team (Radon-EBE-Racing for short), for which she still drives today, despite other offers. "If I can't stand behind it 100 percent mentally, then that's no good for me. That's why I prefer to do it on my own.” Like at a race in Spain. "I was on a tight budget and didn't want to add the hotel costs to it." She found a cheap pop-up tent in the supermarket, borrowed a blanket and stayed the night at a campsite on the beach. Airs and graces are alien to her, she prefers the shirt-sleeved, down-to-earth. She won the race the next day. I compete in races against Olympic and World Championship participants. A lot of people don't even know that I have two children and are then totally surprised,” smiles Elisabeth Brandau.
Very few elite level active riders are also mothers. A training camp with the national team is almost like relaxation for them. "Just sleeping through the night for a few nights, regenerating, that's great." But when in doubt, Elisabeth Brandau will not take a course if it means saying goodbye to the family right after a competition. Now that the children are in daycare and kindergarten, she consciously takes her time and trains in the mornings. At noon it's time to pick up the children, cook, do housework, organize the next races, take care of sponsors, give presentations, performance tests and much more.
It goes without saying that her team Radon-EBE-Racing then has to take on more personal responsibility. It consists of top athletes, young athletes and the amateur team and competes in national and international races such as World Cups, European and World Championships. It was also the team that convinced the mother of two to make a comeback after the baby break in 2017. "After the birth of my second son, I had hardly any contact with cycling. If it wasn't for the team meetings, I probably would have quit. They got me back in the saddle and I got the fun back in the sport. I said to myself: you've had two pregnancies, you can do it now. And I owed it to my team.”
The year of her comeback in 2018 was the most successful of her career with two German championship titles, the silver medal at the World Championships with the relay and the qualification for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. At times she worked her way up from 275th to 8th place in the world rankings. Almost on the side, she trained as a naturopath.
Elisabeth Brandau also goes her own way in the race. At the World Cup in Albstadt in 2018, she was the only one to consistently drive the B line. "It was extremely slippery, everyone but one slipped, I didn't want that, I'd rather lose 4 seconds, but stay on a safe line. I have two children who also want to be hugged the day after the race.” In Albstadt she was on the podium in a World Cup for the first time. A goal she hopes to repeat for 2020. In addition to a successful Olympic participation. From 2019, Elisabeth Brandau and her entire team will be supported as part of a sponsorship by FAULHABER.
