Maximilian Schachmann finally gets answer after mysterious 2026 struggles

For months, Maximilian Schachmann was searching for an explanation. The legs did not feel right, the results were not coming and the German was struggling to understand why he could not reach the level he expected from himself.

Now, at least, the 32-year-old has an answer.

Schachmann revealed that he was diagnosed in July with tendinopathy at the proximal hamstring insertion, an issue that had been affecting him without a clear diagnosis during the first part of the season.

“The season hasn’t quite gone the way I had hoped so far, and for a long time I couldn’t really understand why I wasn’t feeling or performing like myself,” Schachmann wrote on Instagram.

Finding the cause appears to have been an important turning point. The 32 year old has since started treatment and says he is already beginning to notice a difference.

The Tour de Pologne provided the first real signs of progress. Schachmann finished seventh on the demanding sixth stage to Bukowina Tatrzańska, his best international result of the season so far, before eventually finishing 17th overall.

There is still a considerable way to go, however. Schachmann says the injury remains particularly noticeable when he is riding in his time trial position. That was reflected on the final day in Poland, where he finished 52nd in the 12.5 kilometre individual time trial, losing more than a minute and dropping out of contention for a higher place in the general classification. A dissapointing result for a rider known as a strong time trialist

“Especially in the time trial position, I’m still struggling and definitely not where I want to be,” he explained.

Schachmann’s difficulties stand out when compared with the level he reached during the most successful period of his career.

Between 2018 and 2021, the versatile German established himself as one of the strongest all round riders in the peloton. He won a Giro d’Italia stage in 2018 before enjoying a breakthrough 2019 campaign in which he collected six victories, including three stages at Itzulia Basque Country and the German road race title. He also finished third at Liège-Bastogne-Liège that year.

His biggest successes followed at Paris-Nice. Schachmann won the general classification in 2020 and returned a year later to successfully defend his title. His 2020 season also included third place at Strade Bianche, while in 2021 he finished third at the Amstel Gold Race, fourth overall at the Tour de Suisse and tenth in the Olympic road race.

The results became considerably harder to find after that period.

Schachmann went without a victory in 2022, managed one win at the Sibiu Cycling Tour in 2023 and again finished the 2024 season without an individual victory.

There were encouraging signs last year after he returned to Soudal Quick-Step following six seasons with Bora-Hansgrohe. Schachmann won the opening time trial at Itzulia Basque Country and eventually finished third overall, while later in the season he became German time trial champion for the first time. Those performances suggested that his best level might not be beyond him after all.

That made his struggles at the start of 2026 all the more difficult to explain, and far from ideal with his contract at Soudal Quick-Step expiring at the end of the year.

The diagnosis now offers some context to those performances and, perhaps more importantly for Schachmann, a path forward.

“But it feels good to see progress again and to feel more like myself on the bike,” he said. “I’ll keep working hard, taking it day by day, and doing everything I can to get the most out of what’s left of this season.”

For a rider who spent much of the year wondering where his old level had gone, simply feeling like himself again could be the most important result of all for now.