Cyclist Magazine: Jana Kesenheimer Profile
December 2024
Cyclist Magazine
Editorial Feature
German ultracyclist Jana Kesenheimer is taking the scene by storm. I caught up with her to talk about her journey from triathlons to the Transcontinental Race, what she thinks about during a race and her hopes for 2025
“It’s not about the moment you arrive, it’s more about the problems you solve every day”
Ultra endurance sport seems to be popular than ever: ultra-marathons now have entry ballots, ultracycling events have seen a rise in applications, and, with stories like Lael Wilcox taking the around-the-world record, the scene is burgeoning.
One of the riders at the forefront of this growth is German cyclist Jana Kesenheimer. She eats mountains for breakfast, heading out on sunrise training rides from her home in Innsbruck.
This summer Kesenheimer came 13th overall in the Transcontinental Race (TCR) and was the first woman to finish, beating a packed field of riders.
Traversing the European continent from Roubaix to Istanbul wasn’t without its challenges, the charger on her dynamo broke and her finish line sprint was marred by a cat jumping out and throwing her off her bike. Still, Kesenheimer finished in 11 days, three hours and 57 minutes, becoming the fourth woman in TCR history to place within the top 20.