Frankfurt/Main (AP) – Nils Politt beamed like a winner, then he hugged his triumphant teammate Sam Bennett in the finish area.
The Irish top sprinter spoiled the German cycling party at the Eschborn-Frankfurt classic, but at least let the German racing team Bora-hansgrohe celebrate with his success.
The best German was Phil Bauhaus, who finished fourth in the mass sprint at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main. John Degenkolb had to admit defeat. “I have nothing to blame myself for. I did my best. The course of the race wasn’t such that it really played into my hands,” said “Dege”. “I still really enjoyed it, it was a beautiful May Day.”
Sprinters make victory among themselves
Last year’s second and local hero realized that too many riders made it to the last lap. “In the end I didn’t have a chance anymore,” admitted the 33-year-old Degenkolb honestly after the 183.9 tough kilometers. Instead, the stage belonged to top sprinters Bennett, Fernando Gaviria from Colombia and Alexander Kristoff from Norway. “I had really good legs. Thanks to the team that has supported me over the last few months. It’s fantastic to get this win for a German team,” said Bennett.
It was finally the first success of the season for the two-time Tour de France stage winner. “I think that a whole sack full of stones falls from his heart,” said ex-sprinter Marcel Kittel about Bennett, whom his team boss Ralph Denk had previously predicted as the favorite and winner despite the weak spring.
“It will traditionally be a cat-and-mouse game between sprinters and mountaineers who are trying to escape in the Taunus,” Denk had also predicted. It was the same in previous years, but the sprinters and their teams had always prevailed over the years. The well-known scenario was repeated in 2022 – on the demanding but not too hard course. This time, too, there were courageous and brave breakaway groups whose attacks were not crowned with success.
Ackermann so far last German winner
The traditional race took place for the first time in three years on the regular date on May 1st. In 2020, the corona pandemic caused a cancellation and a virtual replacement event. In 2021 there was a corona-related postponement to autumn, when the race was held as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup. Sprinter Pascal Ackermann, the last German winner so far in 2019, was absent this time due to a fracture in his coccyx. Other top German pros weren’t there because they are already preparing for the Giro d’Italia, which starts on May 6th in Budapest.
The mood was the same as before. Tens of thousands of fans lined the streets of the Taunus, on the climbs like the Feldberg and above all across the metropolis on the Main, which the cycling spectacle on May 1 is already used to. This time, fans from Eritrea made themselves particularly noticeable, celebrating Gent-Wevelgem sensational winner Biniam Girmay loudly with songs, flags and drums – and that even before it even started in Eschborn at noon.
Lisa Brennauer for women’s races
It is not foreseeable whether the current classic program in Frankfurt will remain in the future. Olympic cycling champion Lisa Brennauer had expressed her wish for a race for women during the broadcast on Hessischer Rundfunk. “Of course that would be amazing. There used to be a women’s race here. Maybe it’s just a matter of time. I would be very, very happy to see a big event in women’s cycling in Germany again,” said Brennauer.