Is there a character in the peloton who’s loved by fans more than Jens Voigt? We doubt it, and in this video you can see why.
In #BELIEVE, Voigt talks about what keeps him going, his attitude to racing, his disastrous 2009 Tour de France and lots more.
His core motivation seems pretty simple. “I hate defeat,” he says. “I hate to lose. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be bitter to the end of my life cos I gave up too quick, too easy.
“I’m not much of a head person, I’m more of a belly and heart person. That’s also how I race. If I feel okay, the sun is shining, I feel like a short attack, I go.”
Coming round from the horrific crash that took him out of the 2009 Tour de France, Voigt says his first thought after he’d been stitched up was to let his family know he was okay.
“Around 10:30 at night I was clear enough that I could speak. I said ‘Hey I need a phone to call my family to let them know that I am still alive and I’m gonna be okay.’”
Voigt says he told his wife “There’s nothing that cannot be repaired. I remember you, I remember that we are married, I remember the names of all of our children, their birth dates. I’m fine, I just need time [to heal].”
It doesn’t sound like he’s afraid of a repeat. “I just refuse to get controlled by fear,” he says. “Every now and then you’ve just got to have self-belief beyond reason.”

3 thoughts on “Video: What makes Jens Voigt tick?”
I wish he would hurry up and
I wish he would hurry up and retire because he makes a mockery of the pathetic excuse that i trot out when skinny 23 years old speed past me.
‘Give me a break – im a 43 year old father of three – there is no way i can compete with you’
Jensie needs no excuses!
Some Fella wrote:I wish he
oh come on – no excuses – you just need to man up :)) – I’m in my 50’s and I regularly overtake young whipper snappers going up hill.
Self-belief beyond reason.
Self-belief beyond reason. Love it!