Lea Winkler and Christian Johner, dpa
First Georg Zimmermann smooched his girlfriend after his surprising triumph in the Eschborn-Frankfurt cycling classic. Then the German champion sat down on the floor, exhausted, to let the victory sink in for a moment.
The 28-year-old won in a thrilling finale in a sprint from a larger group and thus secured the first German victory since 2019 - and in the German champion's jersey to boot. "I always hoped that I could win a race in this beautiful jersey. And that's the ultimate, to win in Frankfurt in that jersey," said Zimmermann.
"The biggest victory of my career"
The professional from Team Lotto Intermarché relegated the British top favourite Thomas Pidcock to second place. Pidcock's compatriot Ben Tulett came third. However, like the other pros, the two were merely supporting actors in Zimmermann's success.
"This is the best thing I've ever experienced in my career. It's the biggest victory of my career," Zimmermann told Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) after his coup. "I'm just incredibly proud and exhausted and happy - all together."
Local hero Rutsch is crowned king of the mountain
Beforehand, the classic race over 211 kilometres and with more than 3,300 metres of climbing developed into the difficult race that was expected. Initially, a five-man lead group formed around local hero and Zimmermann's team-mate Jonas Rutsch, who was crowned King of the Mountains with the most mountain points in this edition.
The plan from the start was to get into the leading group, explained Rutsch. "That worked out, and the mountain classification actually only came during the race." The leading quintet around him had a lead of more than six minutes over the peloton at one point.
Last Mammolshain trick brings preliminary decision
However, the peloton increased the pace considerably over the course of the race and caught the breakaway again around 65 kilometres before the finish. The final ascent of the Mammolshain climb provided a preliminary decision, where a twelve-man lead group broke away. Among them were the German pros Florian Stork, Felix Engelhardt - and Zimmermann.
Zimmermann hid in the group for most of the final kilometres, saving valuable energy for the finale. He outsprinted the competition with a long sprint.
Degenkolb has no chance, but keeps going
John Degenkolb, who was back at the start this time after his injury-related break last year, had nothing to do with the decision. Weakened by a cold, he lost the connection to the peloton early on. However, it was not the 37-year-old's last appearance at his home race.
Before the start, Degenkolb announced that he would continue his career with Team Picnic-PostNL next year. The veteran had won the cycling classic in Hesse in 2011.
Tougher route profile
Once known as the "Rund um den Henninger-Turm" and later renamed, the traditional event has existed since 1962 and was even more challenging this year. In addition to the slightly longer distance, there was the Burgweg in Schmitten-Niederreifenberg with a length of around 500 metres and an average gradient of around eleven per cent as an additional difficulty. It was travelled three times. This made it particularly tough for the sprinters. For Zimmermann, the new profile proved to be a stroke of luck.
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