Sunday May 26, 2024 at 3:35 PM
The 106th edition of Rund um Köln was won by Casper van Uden. The Dutchman from DSM-firmenich PostNL managed to survive a difficult race and subsequently appeared to have the fastest legs in the final sprint. Van Uden proved to be far too strong for Biniam Girmay and Louis Blouwe.
Rund um Köln may not be the biggest race on the cycling calendar, but it is a race with a rich history. Today the 106th edition of this German one-day race was on the program. With Pascal Ackermann, Biniam Girmay, Sam Welsford, Florian Sénéchal, Casper van Uden, Amaury Capiot and Visma | Lease a Bike top talent Matthew Brennan, there were many interesting names at the departure.
These riders could prepare for a race over 194.8 kilometers, in the rolling surroundings of Cologne, with an elevation gain of 2,700 meters. In addition to the sporting battle for victory, Rund um Köln 2024 was also marked by the farewell of Rick Zabel. The 30-year-old son of the legendary former sprinter Erik Zabel decided today – in his home race – to retire as a professional cyclist.
The retiring Rick Zabel was put in the spotlight before the start – photo: Cor Vos
Striking moment
The break of the day came together quite early and consisted of eight riders. Michal Schlegel (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Anton Lennemann (BIKE AID), Patrick Reißig (Maloja Pushbikers), Tobias Buck-Gramcko (Rad-Net Oßwald), Julian Borresch, Sebastian Niehues (REMBE Pro Cycling Team Sauerland), Mil Morang (Team Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank) and Ole Theiler (Team Storck-Metropol Cycling) were the names.
These eight front runners were unpleasantly surprised 115 kilometers from the finish. While turning around a roundabout, the front runners were shocked by a woman crossing the road with a walker. With some trickery, the riders were still able to steer around the woman, but Theiler did take the woman’s walker with him in his evasive movement. Fortunately, the woman was unharmed and was able to pick up her walker a few meters away.
The final starts, three riders ride away
And the riders were also able to continue their journey unscathed. At one point the eight leaders were four minutes ahead of the peloton, but the difference was significantly reduced towards the finish. With eighty kilometers to go, the lead had already dropped to just over two minutes. In other words, the adventurers were a bird to the cat and were grabbed by the bones again, in a phase in which the considerably thinned out peloton was rapidly being attacked.
Adrià and Brennan rode a very strong race – photo: Cor Vos
In the difficult hilly zone, three riders proved to be able to break away, with Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Roger Adrià (BORA-hansgrohe) and Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike). This trio quickly managed to get half a minute ahead of the first chasing group of nine riders, including Girmay, his teammate Hugo Page and Marco Haller. The peloton – or what was left of it – followed a little further and was led by Alpecin-Deceuninck.
Sprint or not?
The Belgian formation managed to keep up the momentum in the third group and quickly returned to the nine pursuers. However, the three leaders – with Brennan, Adrià and Johannessen – already had a nice lead. At 35 kilometers from the finish, the difference had already increased to a minute. Was this enough to stay out of control? As the kilometers passed, the difference became smaller and smaller, so the front runners had to step up their game.
Adrià and Brennan decided to increase the pace a bit in the run-up to Schloss Bensberg (900 meters at 6.4%) and this proved disastrous for Johannessen’s chances. The Norwegian was at his best and had to let his two fellow escapees drive. Johannessen was caught again by the chasing group, but the same fate also befell Adrià and Brennan. With thirteen kilometers to go, their escape adventure also came to an end, and so we could prepare for a group sprint.
A prestigious victory for Casper van Uden! – photo: Cor Vos
There is no limit to Casper van Uden
In this sprint, home favorite Ackermann, Girmay and Capiot were looked at, but they were all beaten by a Dutchman. Casper van Uden came out convincingly in the sprint and eventually won by a generous margin. The 22-year-old rider from DSM-firmenich PostNL recorded his second victory of the season and his professional career, after winning the opening stage of the AlUla Tour in February. Girmay had to content himself with second place, the Belgian Louis Blouwe from Bingoal WB finished third.
2024-05-26 13:35:00
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