How to Wear a Cycling Cap: Jens Heppner

 

It has been a while since I last did one of these type posts, and I am still not sure what compelled me to think of Jens Heppner; I was simply scrolling through Facebooklandia and "pop," for no explicable reason there is the name Jens Heppner in my head. Oh well, roll with it I thought to myself.

Heppner was one of a group of German riders who developed at roughly the same time; one of that German mob in the pro peloton that could be counted in contention at just about any race they entered. Heppner raced professionally between 1991 and 2005, beginning with the Panasonic-Sportlife team, and ending with Team Wiesenhof. Between those were eleven years with the pink-clad Team Telekom. Among his wins came General Classifications at the Tour du Limousin (1994), and the Deutschland Tour (1999), a stage of the Tour de France (1998), and victories at the Rund um Koln (1999), and the Rund um den Flaughafen Koln-Bonn (1999). He was German National Road Race Champion in 1994, and racked up additional stage wins at the Tour du Limousin, Rothaus Regio Tour, and Criterium du Dauphine Libere. Jens started the Tour de France nine times with 10th being his highest overall placing (1992). He also started the Giro d'Italia four times; at the 2002 Giro Jens wore the Maglia Rosa for ten days after claiming it following the sixth stage, losing it after the sixteenth stage due to the pain of small hip fractures following a crash.

Though overshadowed during his career by Jan Ulrich and Eric Zabel, Heppner remembers well that 2002 Giro and his sudden popularity with the tifosi: "The hype was enormous... they always stormed me after the award ceremony, and wanted to snatch something from me as a souvenir. I already had four bodyguards by my side after the first day in pink, otherwise I would never be on the bus..."

Following his retirement from racing Heppner acted as Director Sportif for the Wiesenhof-Felt team, as well as for Team NetApp, and served as a commentator for Eurosport. Unfortunately for Heppner, his years of racing with Team Telekom have been tarnished by that squads' incidents of doping - though he has consistently denied any wrongdoing. 

You know, I never really have ever worn a cap backward, it just never seemed right. Then again I was never as good at the racing game as was Jens Heppner - connection? Naw.