The Girlfriends of Zülle and Camenzind meet for a little "Girl Talk"

Oscar Camenzind (28), winner of the Tour de Suisse in 2000. The first one he thanked after his victory was his girlfriend Angela (28). And when Alex Zülle (32) had to drop out of the Tour de France only a few months later, he went straight to girlfriend Andrea (28).

As the partners of world-class athletes who are always underway, Andrea and Angela lead lives of loneliness, freedom and long-distance love. Their relationships are ruled by the Giro, the Tour de France, the Vuelta or the Olympics. Andrea, the unathletic (has never gone bike riding with Alex) and Andrea, the athletic (inline skating, aerobics, biking) got together to talk with "SonntagsBlik" about their men, the hour-long telephone calls, the desire for children, and sex. In other words - typical girl talk.

Your men are gone nine months of the year. Let's see if you still know them. What is the pulse count of your loved one?

Andrea Meyer: Oh, I think yesterday it was about 54. But Alex has a slight cold.

Angela Oeschger: I don't have any idea. Don't ask me about pulse or body fat or anything like that...

Andrea: Don't ask me about those things either. I barely know who else in on Alex's team. All those spanish names...

Angela: Naw, I do know Ösi's teammates.

Do you two actually know each other?

Angela: Yes. But mainly from tv and from the press. We met at Roli Meier's housewarming...

Andrea: Exactly. We talked about loneliness. How it is, when you're home alone so much...

Angela: I find, you get used to it! It's more difficult when Oscar comes home again (laughs). I have to get used to that again. I have to cook again then. When I'm alone, I rarely even go into the kitchen.

Andrea: I have to think about what I will cook. When I'm alone, sometimes I'll go three weeks without shopping.

Angela: Fortunately mine is easy to take care of. He eats absolutely everything that I put on the table.

Andrea: Alex doesn't particularly like vegetables and salad, except for creamed spinach, peas and carrots. He does like rissoto and spaghetti.

So the stress starts with cooking. But what do Ösi and Alex actually do first off when they come home after one of the long tours?

Angela: Well, Ösi looks at his mail. Usually in the middle of the night. If he feels like it, he might unpack his suitcase.

Andrea: Alex, no matter if it's the middle of the night or early in the morning, he empties his suitcase, washes his race clothes and takes care of his mail.

Angela (amazed): Why does he wash his race clothes himself? Are they so precious?

Andrea: No, he has just always done it. He comes in, changes his clothes, and throws his things in the washer. Alex is very pedantic: everything in his suitcase is incredibly organized: underpants here, socks there.

Angela looks unbelieving.

Andrea goes on: The worst thing that can happen to Alex is when he can't properly open his suitcase in the hotel room. He is very finicky.

Angela: That's great! Ösi is exactly the opposite. His suitcase is absolute chaos. And his hotel room, too, it looks like a battlefield.

Andrea: That's true.

Angela: He throws the towels on the floor, the beds are full of clothes. I find it all quite messy. Is Alex so neat and tidy at home, too?

Andrea: Sure. He removes every hair from the sink, cleans the floor, and immediately washes the pots and pans.

Angela laughs and looks unbelieving again: Well, I've gotten Ösi to the point where he wipes down the shower when he's done. He will do that much. But cleaning out the sink? He'd never do that. If I said that he should, he'd ask if I was crazy!

How much do your lives actually revolve around your men?

Angela: Well, mine does a lot. My friends and family live in Canton Argau. I moved to Gersau with Oscar because he can train better here. When he is at home, then I want to enjoy my time with him. My life revolves fairly strongly around him.

Andrea: Sure, I orient myself around Alex. Of course it has happened, that he comes home unexpectedly and I have plans with friends. Then I go out with my friends anyway. I want to see my friends even when Alex is home. Otherwise, my life revolves around him. Everything revolves around him!

Both laugh.

Andrea: Sometimes I'm not home when Alex calls. Every evening at 7 o'clock the phone rings. If I'm not there, then he starts going, "oh no, where is sheeeeeee..." Sometimes he gets really upset if he can't get hold of me.

Angela: Oscar doesn't get upset that easily. He did once, though! On a Saturday night. He had a really bad stage and was emotionally very low - and I was out. He really wanted to talk to me.

Andrea: Could you have helped him?

Angela: Yes. How do you do it?

Andrea: I say, tomorrow everything will probably be different.

Angela: I say that, too. Or: You can't expect to be good every day. You're just a man and not a machine.

Andrea: During the Tour de France I lit a candle for Alex every day in the church. When he came home early, he said, "See, it didn't work." "Sure it did," I said, "you didn't have a crash. Always think positively!"

Do you suffer with them during a race?

Andrea: Sure. Sometimes I can barely watch, when Alex is riding. It's awful.

Angela laughs.

Andrea: It's getting worse. Before, I could sometimes watch. But you feel so helpless, you can't help. And when he falls...

Angela: Well, I enjoy watching.

Andrea: When I see that he can't stay with the others in the mountains - then I think I suffer more than Alex.

Angela: I have to make a video of every race for Ösi. He wants to look at them all.

Your men are in the public eye --you are more or less in the shadow. Does that bother you?

Angela: It's no problem for me. I don't even go much to the races. Sometimes to the Tour de Suisse. But after one day I'm glad to be able to get away from the whole thing.

Andrea: I'm not the type who likes being in the spotlight. Alex rides the bike - I don't. I don't even get jealous when Alex is surrounded by a lot of women.

Angela: Me either. The riders don't have any time at all to flirt - racing, interviews, eating, sleeping!!

Andrea: Trust is the most important part of the relationship.

Does one have better sex with a world-class athelete?

Both laugh, but don't answer immediately.

Angela: I don't really know whether our man really have more stamina or not.

Andrea: An athletic man surely has his special qualities

Angela: I've never really thought about it.

Andrea: Well, I didn't fall in love with Alex because he's in such good shape, but I simply love him as he is. He has a great sense of humor and I can laugh at him and with him. What do you all think about getting married?

Angela: We can live together fine without getting married. Marriage will come into play only when children are planned. As long as Ösi is a pro cyclist - which he plans to be for 5 more years - then marriage and children don't come into question. I have no interest in being a single parent.

Andrea: Alex is already starting to think about the future. He is 32 now and won't be riding for another 5 years.

Angela: He can always find something in PR. Lots of ex-pros do that now. I'm not at all worried about our men and their futures.

Andrea: Alex absolutely won't want to go back to his former job of painting houses!

Both laugh.

Angela: I can't imagine Ösi not riding. It will be a major change for me.

Andrea: Sure, but I think one gets used to it.

Angela: Well, maybe. But I don't want to plan too much for the future. You never know what might happen, and it usually happens otherwise than you plan anyway!

So says Ösi Camenzind's girlfriend as she takes a big piece of cake on her fork. Life is there to be enjoyed! They don't have to worry about any financial problems in their futures.

Many thanks, Andrea and Angela! A little girl talk and gossip is a lot of fun!!

© SonntagsBlick, 30.7.2000, by Gina Kern