Thomas Huber
· 20.08.2023
The northern German one-day race leads over mostly flat terrain, which is why there is often a sprint finish in the finale. It is one of two races in Germany with UCI World Tour status, making it one of the most important one-day races in the world. Alongside Eschborn-Frankfurt, it is the best-known one-day race in Germany. The professional race has been held since 1996, has taken place 25 times to date and has had 4 German winners: Jan Ullrich won the Cyclassics in 1997, Erik Zabel in 2001, John Degenkolb in 2013 and Andre Greipel in 2015. The record winner is the Italian Elia Viviani, who won the race three times in a row between 2017 and 2019. After a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Austrian Marco Haller from the German team won the race last year. Bora-Hansgrohe the race in its favour.
The Cyclassics 2023 start in the city centre of Hamburg and lead the field of riders out of the city in a north-westerly direction. The route then heads north on flat terrain. Via Quickborn and Barmstedt, the cyclists will ride to Bokel, where they will complete a small loop before heading back south towards the start and finish. It then gets tricky past Pinneberg: The riders have to ride over the Waseberg three times, which is only 700 metres long but has an average gradient of almost 10%. There is a sharp right-hand bend before the climb, so that the riders can enter the climb with little momentum. After the Waseberg has been conquered three times, the riders head for the finish. This is located in Mönckebergstraße, one of Hamburg's famous shopping streets. This makes the Cyclassics one of the few one-day races in which the sprinters are the favourites.
Due to the flat elevation profile, a bunch sprint is almost inevitable. Once again this year, numerous top sprinters have announced their participation in the race: Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-Premier Tech), Tim Merlier (Soudal - Quick Step) and Arnaud Demare from Team Arkea-Samsic, who already won the race in 2012, are likely to be among the favourites.
The Cyclassics can be seen on television from 14:50 on ARD and on Eurosport 2 from 14:25. There will be a free live stream on sportschau.de. Discovery+ and GCN+ (both via paid subscription) also offer such a service.
Every year at the Cyclassics, in addition to the professional race, there are also competitions for everyone. These also take place on Sunday 20 August in the run-up to the professional race. This year there are two different routes: one covers 60 kilometres, the other 100 kilometres. Here too, the route profile is mostly flat, which should suit less experienced participants.
The route also leads westwards from the start at the Kennedy Bridge for the amateur riders. The 100-kilometre route then heads north into the Schleswig-Holstein region, just like the professional race. The amateur racers will also cross the finish line in Mönckebergstraße.
In addition to the professional and amateur races, the BEMER Youngclassics, a stage race for the U17 age group, will also take place. Children will also get their money's worth in the Kids Race.
Sunday, 20 August: