One of the big changes prior to the upcoming Bundesliga season was that Lasse Lührs has left Buschhütten. After winning the second round in Berlin last year, he was an important component of the Buschhütten team on their way to reclaiming their crown.
Going forward, he will be representing Bonn.
“Hopefully it’s the right decision!” he said. “I’m really looking forward to the new season and being in a new team.”
The switch came after living in Bonn for two years. Lührs noted, “it felt right to compete for team I train with every day.”
At Bonn, he is also coached by Christoph Großkopf who is the sporting director of the Bundesliga team. Racing on the same team in the Bundesliga will enable them to deepen their partnership.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to learn from each other when we are together at races. We’ll be staying in the same hotel and directly before we’ll be able to do some things together.”
With a crowded calendar and WTCS goals and Olympic qualification on the line, he will not be competing in the full series. Moreover injury has thus far prevented him from racing in 2023. Towards the end of 2022, he suffered from an oedema in his left ankle. There was no specific incident that precipitated the injury, but rather “it was a little bit too much last season”.
He took a short break and the injury seemed to heal. However it had not cured completely by the time he returned and so flared up upon full training. At the beginning of the year Lührs therefore elected to pause again to totally fix it.
“It is more important to be at my top level in the summer than doing the first races of the season.”
As a result, he missed the WTCS season opener in Abu Dhabi. Furthermore he won’t be racing at WTCS Yokohama. Instead, he will kick off his year in Kraichgau at the first Bundesliga race of the season.
“It’s a pretty good opportunity to get race experience and into the season.”
Since his second pause, Lührs has returned to running and is taking it step by step. With the uncertainty around his injury, he spent a lot of time on the bike and swimming.
“I tried to use the injury as a chance to improve in the other two disciplines,” he explained. “I worked really hard over the winter so I’m pretty confident.”
With swim-driven breakaways becoming more of a factor in the men’s WTCS last season, the first discipline may be vital going forward. Lührs has tried to improve his opening speed and generally added more metres to his training. Otherwise his approach has remained mostly the same.
He will follow up Kraichgau with WTCS Cagliari. Last year he finished 4th at the race, narrowly missing bronze behind Manoel Messias, so will be confident of being able to bring a similar result. Thereafter, he won’t be at either the third Bundesliga round in Schliersee or at WTCS Montreal, which fall on the same weekend. Both clash with a training camp in preparation for the Paris Test Event.
After that camp, he will be into a full swing of racing.
The fourth Bundesliga round in Düsseldorf will be up first. It is mandatory for members of the German team as it couples as German Championships. As the defending champion, he will look to repeat last year’s success. His team mates at Bonn will certainly get a boost if he can do so.
Then WTCS Hamburg and WTCS Sunderland follow in a hectic July.
Once August rolls around, Lührs should be battle-hardened for the Olympic Test Event. He will need a top-8 finish to secure his Olympic slot, something well within his capabilities. In addition, the Test Event should give him a fourth WTCS score prior to the Final in Pontevedra.
He was non-committal regarding the final Bundesliga race in Hannover. His attendance there will depend on how the rest of his season goes. Less than four weeks after Hannover, the WTCS Final in Pontevedra lies in in wait.
At both Paris and Pontevedra, Olympic qualification is on the line. With several German men that could conceivably achieve the requisite top-8 at either lurking on start lists, does that ever give Lührs pause for thought?
Ever the diplomat, he politely dismissed the notion.
“It is good for the team and for nation to have so many good guys,” he said. “Of course there are a number of us that can make the criteria, I’m confident I’m one of them.”
Right now, he stands in 7th place in the individual Olympic rankings and is the only German man inside the top-15. His confidence is therefore well-founded.
If all goes to plan, Lührs will have wrapped up qualification in Paris so Pontevedra will purely be for his WTCS ambitions. Last season he really came into his own and finished 9th overall in the Series.
Could he become the first German man to medal in the end of season WTCS rankings since Steffen Justus in 2010?
With his injury hopefully behind him and a new stage in his Bonn relationship about to begin, Lührs could just be the man to do it.
