With a sixth place in the Amstel Gold Race, Simon Geschke had his best ever Ardennes classics campaign but the German is not resting on his laurels. These days he is working hard to support his Giant-Shimano teammates in the Giro d'Italia and he also hopes to do the Tour de France for the second year in a row.

Giant-Shimano may mostly be known for their great sprinters but the team is working hard to also make their presence felt in hillier races. One of the riders that is expectd to shine when the going gets a bit tougher is Simon Geschke.

The 28-year-old German has had a very steady progression since he turned professional with the team in 2009 but this year he has clearly taken a further step in his development. In his preferred races, the hilly one-day races, he took some excellent results, finishing just off the podium in the Brabantse Pijl and taking a fine sixth in the Amstel Gold Race.

There hasn't been much of a break for Geschke though as he is already back in action in the Giro d'Italia. As usual, his Giant-Shimano team is mostly focused on the sprints where they initially supported Marcel Kittel and now are backing Luka Mezgec, but Geschke will join Tobias Ludvigsson and Georg Preidler as the team's leaders in the hillier stages.

"The sprint stages are of course solely for Marcel - and they don't suit me and my characteristics either - so on those days I will gladly work for the team to bring the sprint train into a good position," he told CyclingQuotes in Armagh. "When it gets more hilly, I will get a chance. I will try to get into a break or get a good result in the finales. There are several stages for me."

Geschke had originally targeted the fifth stage and was well-placed when the peloton passed the flamme rouge but he ultimately faded back to finish 33rd.

The Giro-Tour double

Last year Geschke did the Tour de France and he hopes to again make it onto the Giant-Shimano roster for the world's biggest race.

"I would like to do the Tour de France," he said. "Of course my chances aren't that great on a pure sprint team where it is all about the lead-out train. But I hope to be part of the roster. Now I will first do the Giro and then we will consider my options.

"The big highlights later in the year will be the Canadian one-day races and hopefully the Worlds but I have not heard anything [from the German federation] yet. Those are my long-term goals and it would be really great to do the Tour."

In no other country does cycling have such a poor reputation as it has in Germany where the many doping scandals have haunted the sport. Most of the German races have all disappeared, there is no longer a German team at the highest level and not even the Tour de France is broadcast by the public TV channels.

Cycling in Germany

With Marcel Kittel, André Greipel and Tony Martin, the country has some of the biggest stars but Geschke is not too optimistic that the situation will change.

"The problem is that success is not enough," he said. "If the media don't cover the sport, the people in Germany don't realize our success. Other sports get a lot of hype but everything concerning cycling doesn't get any mention at all. Hence, I don't think that the situation will change in the near future if the media continue not to cover the sport impartially - or at all.

"They don't need to make any hype and of course they are free to mention doping cases - even though there have not been that many recently. But it is time for the media to change their focus and cover the sport in a different way - impartially and not negatively. That would be preferable.

"Cycling is still very popular in Germany. It has nothing to do with professional cycling but the number of cyclosportive events is really booming and professional cycling is still very popular. I've been told that Eschborn-Frankfurt has good viewing figues - of course not like the Tour de France in the 90es - but I think that the interest is still there.

The beard

Like Luca Paolini, Geschke stands out in the peloton due to his beard. However, he refuses to have been inspired by his Italian colleague.

"It has nothing to do with cycling," he said. "It was a personal choice. I simply stopped shaving myself during the winter. Until now, I like it - it has nothing to do with Paolini.

"Apperently, it doesn't slow me down so I will keep it as long as I like it. It can't be that non-aerodynamic because I have been doing quite well this year."