At the limit

What nobody suspected on the 16th day of racing in the murderously steep mountains above Lake Garda: Yannis Voisard was not only riding in support of team leader Michael Storer, but was also waiting for his own chance. At the morning strategy meeting in the team bus, he had received the order from the coach to break out if the situation allowed it. In other words: if at some point Storer didn’t have to be “pulled” up the mountain in his slipstream. “I was nervous,” says Voisard. “You don’t get carte blanche like that every day. And I knew that there’d be very few to zero ideal moments for an attack.” At this point, it might be worth taking a quick look at what such a high-altitude stage means even for the best professionals in the world. You’ve been in the saddle every day for the past two weeks and are squeezing maximum performance out of your body. Well over 2400 kilometres lie behind you. You might have stomach ache because of having to swallow endless energy gels to compensate for the loss of calories. Besides the physical exertions, you’re juggling mental challenges, fatigue, the demands you place on yourself and strategic instructions from the team boss. You might get brought down by a mass pile-up. There are likely to be some mind games going on in the dense peloton. Or you pace yourself wrong on these 203 kilometres with 4900 metres of altitude difference, gradients of between nine and 14 percent and an average speed of 36.3 km/h.

But it is precisely such extremes that Yannis Voisard, the 27-year-old mountain featherweight from Montreux, revels in. He had a hunch: the second-to-last climb before the finish would separate the wheat from the chaff and the leading group from their pursuers. In fact, there were only six of them at the top. The crazy thing about such moments: the riders are each others’ biggest adversaries and yet they have to stick together. When Isaac Del Toro, who was leading the overall standings, attacked, the other riders took turns to slipstream him and caught up with him again. A lot of energy had been used up when Voisard saw his moment on the final climb – and pulled away. Metre by metre. As if such a superhuman mobilisation of strength were the most normal thing in the world. The gap got bigger and bigger... Until his competitors got their act together.

At school, something completely different began to interest him, something he would never have expected, even though he’d always been very much at home in nature: biology. Because Voisard didn’t want to put all his eggs in the cycling basket, he opted for the University of Neuchâtel. Or rather: he decided to do things the Always in full kit, even during training: Voisard has been part of the Tudor Pro Cycling Team from the start. hard way and studied biology at the same time as navigating the existence of a semi-professional cyclist. “Noone in my family was a top athlete and no-one was an academic. I had to feel my way around both worlds without role models and find out what works for me.” 

But as we’ve already said: Yannis Voisard loves it when the going gets tough; no path seems too steep for him. He has since completed his degree and after riding some good races in 2023, different teams came knocking on his door. One was Fabian Cancellara, who wanted to recruit him for the new Tudor Pro Cycling Team. “His vision was exciting, ambitious and crystal clear. I didn’t have to think twice,” says Voisard, still visibly honoured. And he adds mischievously: “I once completed a taster apprenticeship at Maurice Lacroix and the world of watches has always interested me. Thanks to Tudor, I’m suddenly right in the centre of this universe.”

Of course, this isn’t the aspect he likes most about the Tudor Pro Cycling Team, but the team identity, in which not only performance plays a role, but also the people behind it: “A lot of people might claim that, but our team bosses actually model that kind of culture. That builds trust. And trust is an important part of the balance.”

Balance is a major theme for Voisard when it comes to the ability to regenerate after a tour. His private environment is also crucial to this, he says. He moved in with his girlfriend in January. “She works in Valais, I need an airport nearby, and Montreux is the compromise,” he says. Surrounded by mighty mountains, the area also offers an ideal training ground. “And the view over the lake helps you to relax.” Just one week lies between the last tour in Tuscany and the next one in Malaysia. “The body recovers after three or four days, that’s not the problem,” says Voisard. “It’s more about the mental aspect, about switching off after weeks in a confined space with the team.” 

What he’d love best would be to go trekking for days on end, up there in his wild mountains. But that won’t be an option again until the long break from racing at the end of the year. Until then, apart from his daily training rides, he’ll have to make do with short hikes. Sometimes he stops off at farms on the way to buy fresh vegetables, which he mentally processes into a dish to surprise his girlfriend with as he heads home. His camera often accompanies him on his walks. It creates a direct connection between him and nature and forces him to look closely, to wait for the right mood. Focus, perceive with all your senses, recognise the moment: Yannis Voisard seems to have mastered these processes not only as a racing cyclist, but in all other life circumstances as well.

FABIAN CANCELLARA 

«IT JUST CLICKED» 

Cycling legend Fabian Cancellara on Yannis Voisard, his collaboration with Tudor and his favourite watches.