Eschborn-Frankfurt 2023: Kragh Andersen wins out of the leading group
"In the end, it was more climbing than I had expected," Kragh Andersen also expressed his surprise at the winner's press conference. "I really suffered on the second Feldberg crossing. But I never gave up and the race in the group ended perfectly for me. The victory means a lot to me because I haven't won for a long time." The last time the Dane finished a race in first place was in 2020.
Preliminary decision takes place in Mammolshain
Max Walscheid (Cofidis) opened the race in changeable but mostly dry conditions shortly after the sharp start and formed a leading group with five other riders, which was given a maximum lead of eight minutes. Although the lead had already shrunk considerably after the first Feldberg crossing, the group still made it over the first two Mammolshainers, only to be caught on the approach to the second Feldberg. It was enough for Walscheid to win the mountain classification.
In the second Feldberg, around 30 riders broke away from the peloton, with only Michael Matthews among the sprinters (Team Jayco-AlUla). Accordingly, the group did not run smoothly and was dropped 52 kilometres before the finish. At the last Mammolshainer Stich, a leading group of ten riders formed again. Zimmermann and Steinhauser were among them, as were Konrad and the Swiss rider Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates).
Main field gets to within 20 seconds
The group reached Frankfurt with a lead of around a minute, but only 20 seconds ahead of a reduced peloton of around 30 riders on the final 6.6-kilometre lap. But that was enough. Zimmermann tried to attack again in the last two kilometres, but was also caught again. Then came Kragh Andersen and rode the sprint home from the front for a long time. Arnaud De Lie led the peloton to the finish 18 seconds behind.
John Degenkolb (Team DSM) finished 18th in his home race. "I really suffered. As expected, the nature of the race was different than usual, even if you couldn't see that on the start list," said the 34-year-old. "I had to ride in the red for a very long time, but I realised that the others weren't doing any better and that the mountains had left their mark. It wasn't completely hopeless, but I was also on the verge of completely blowing up. But that's where the home advantage comes into play: I know every bend, I always know how steep it is. The support was phenomenal. It's really cool to have a home race like this."
Shortly before the elite race, the U23 raced their Eschborn-Frankfurt. A Dane, Joshua Gudnitz, also won there, while his compatriot Gustav Wang came second.
Further voices on Eschborn-Frankfurt
Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe, second): "It was a very exciting thriller. My primary plan was to get through with the group and I invested accordingly. I knew that Sören was the man to beat. When I got up to his height in the sprint, it looked good. But he put up a strong fight and is the deserved winner."
Alessandro Fedeli (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, third): "This is my best result on the World Tour so far. So of course I'm over the moon. I would like to thank the organisation for the fantastic race, there were no risky sections anywhere and the roads were good. I'm also happy for the team. We now want to continue this programme successfully."
Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty, seventh): "My conclusion is ambivalent. We circle through the last kilometre or two and suddenly I hear Lorenzo on the radio that we have a small gap. I ride right over it and am also a few metres out, but Hirschi closes the gap. I don't know whether it would have been smarter to stay on. But do you really have a realistic chance of winning the race then? In any case, I liked the new course and I'm happy to keep it that way."
Result Eschborn-Frankfurt 2023:
- Sören Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 4:51:27
- Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
- Alessandro Fedeli (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) +0:00
- Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
- Lorenzo Rota (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) +0:00
- Georg Steinhauser (EF Education EasyPost) +0:00
- Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) +0:00
- Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
- Ben Hermans (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
- Martin Marcellusi (Green Project - Bardiani CSF - Faizane) +0:00
