Jens Zemke has spent almost his entire life in cycling. First as a professional on the bike, later as a sports director in the support car. He has talked to professional cyclists countless times on the eve of a race, sounded out opportunities and assessed form. In his eyes, sprinters are a special breed of pedallers.
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“They’re all alpha males. They all assume that they will win the race. That’s how they go into the race and that’s how they drive,” says the man from Wiesbaden, who celebrated a victory at his home race Eschborn-Frankfurt on May 1st. Zemke and his colleagues from the German team Bora-hansgrohe had counted on a sprint finish for their top sprinter Sam Bennett on Sunday – and the plan worked.
The Irishman brought enormous power to the street in front of Frankfurt’s Alte Oper in a mass sprint and won with a clear lead over Fernando Gaviria and the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff, who has already triumphed four times in the traditional race that has been held since 1962. The best German was Phil Bauhaus from Team Bahrein-Victorious, who finished fourth. For the local hero John Degenkolb, who lives in the Taunus town of Oberursel just a few meters from the race track, it wasn’t enough for the top 10. “It hasn’t been a long time since we went to the final laps with almost 100 men. That didn’t play into my hands,” said last year’s second Degenkolb.
Bora-hansgrohe looks back on a brilliant cycling weekend. On Saturday, riders Sergio Higuita and Aleksandr Vlasov achieved a one-two on the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie. The following day Vlasov won the final time trial in Switzerland and also secured the overall victory of the tour. A little later, Bennett, who seemed to be the big problem child of the Raublinger team this season, was the first to cross the finish line in Frankfurt.
An extra incentive for the teams
The former Henninger race not only has a lot of tradition, but has also proven its persistence in its checkered history. The organizers were often asked by the world cycling association to deviate from May 1st as the race day. No chance – the founders Herrmann and Erwin Moos and their successor from the next generation of the family, Bernd Moos-Achenbach, remained steadfast. Even when the event was downgraded to a racing category as a result.
Since the French sports multinational Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), which also organizes the Tour de France, took over the leadership, Eschborn-Frankfurt has received WorldTour status. Eleven of the 20 teams in the first category sent drivers to Hesse. Because at the end of the year only 18 licenses are issued for the first cycling league, the smaller racing teams are hungry for every point they win in order to avoid relegation. An extra incentive, especially when the road to less well-known races like Eschborn-Frankfurt seems easier.
Slip uses two attacks
Last year, when the Frankfurt cycling classic had to be postponed to autumn due to the pandemic, the race had the best participation in decades. Various top players use the exceptional date one week before the World Championships to get going for the big event.
On May 1st, normality returned – on the starter list and at the side of the track. If the organizers had appealed to the spectators last September to please stay at home, the audience has now returned. The large number of spectators made it clear once again how deeply rooted the traditional event – youth competitions and an amateur race with 6,200 participants have always been on the program – is in Frankfurt and Taunus.
The pros initially took it easy at the 61st edition. The five-strong breakaway group was lost early on. It was only when the Odenwald local hero Jonasutsch (Team Education-EasyPost) launched a first and then a second attack 89 kilometers from the finish line that the peloton started to move.
But the big teams agreed that the victory in Frankfurt should once again be fought out by the fast men. The superiority of those who were genuinely interested in a sprint finish was too overwhelming. Especially since the final 40 kilometers at the end of the never-ending ups and downs of the Taunus – more than 3200 meters in altitude have to be overcome – significantly reduce the chances of success for possible attacks.
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The field raced through the city of Frankfurt on the last laps, long since it had reached maximum speed. And the battles for positions flared up, with hard bandages fighting shoulder to shoulder for a good starting position for the last corner and the long home stretch. With the best ending for Bennett.
