The Eschborn-Frankfurt 2024 classic came down to a sprint from a group of around 35 riders after the bravely fighting breakaway rider Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates) was caught two kilometres from the finish. In the sprint, co-favourite Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) came out on top just ahead of Alex Aranburu (Movistar) and Riley Sheehan (Israel-Premier Tech). Roger Adria from the German team Bora Hansgrohe finished fifth.
Van Gils steps up at the right moment
In the final sprint, Lukas Nerurkar from EF Education-EasyPost launched a first serious attack, but it came a little too early. Alex Aranburu then passed the American on the left, followed shortly afterwards by Maxim Van Gils on the right. The Lotto Dstny rider had stayed in the slipstream a little longer than Aranburu and therefore had the right timing with his attack. In the end, Van Gils crossed the finish line just ahead of Aranburu and can celebrate victory in the Eschborn-Frankfurt 2024 classic. Numerous German riders were also involved in the final - including the Bora-Hansgrohe riders Maximilian Schachmann and Emanuel Buchmann. They were mainly involved as helpers in the final, which is why they were only indirectly involved in the decision.
"That was an incredible sprint. I didn't feel so good today. That's why I tried to save as much energy as possible and concentrated on a possible sprint. A lot of things are going perfectly this season." - Winner Maxim Van Gils in the winner's interview
Eschborn-Frankfurt 2024: Results - the top 10
- Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) 4:46:49
- Alex Aranburu (Movistar) +0:00
- Riley Sheehan (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
- Lukas Nerurkar (EF Education-EasyPost) +0:00
- Roger Adria (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
- Kobe Goossens (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:00
- Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:00
- Sören Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
- Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
- Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility) +0:00
How Eschborn-Frankfurt 2024 went
Shortly after the start of the race in Eschborn, three riders were able to break away and form a breakaway group. The trio consisted of Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal - Quick Step), Jacopo Mosca (Lidl-Trek) and local hero John Degenkolb (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL).
Peloton lets Degenkolb and his breakaway have their way
The peloton then took it easy and the race situation stabilised. After 20 kilometres, the escapees had a lead of over seven minutes. Lotto Dstny and UAE Team Emirates then increased the pace in the peloton and the gap narrowed again, hovering around the four-minute mark for a long time.
John Degenkolb proved agile on the climbs, winning the first two classifications. The local hero put in a strong performance in the day's leading group. In the end, he even won the mountain classification at Eschborn-Frankfurt 2024.
120 kilometres before the finish, Jacopo Mosca had mechanical problems in the breakaway group. He had to change his racing bike and dropped out of the breakaway group, which from then on had to ride two abreast.
Degenkolb's breakaway attempt comes to an end
On the climb to Mammolshain 94 kilometres before the finish, John Degenkolb had problems, leaving Warre Vangheluwe alone at the front of the race. Meanwhile, the peloton moved closer and closer to the leading riders.
On the following Feldberg, 89 kilometres before the finish, all the escapees were swallowed up. The race was back to square one: The pace remained high and the race became more nervous. A good 40 riders were still in the peloton.
As a result, there were repeated attacks, including from the two Bora-Hansgrohe riders Roger Adria and Emanuel Buchmann, but also from Ben Healy and Darren Rafferty (both EF Education-EasyPost). The riders broke away from the larger field by a few seconds, but were all caught by the peloton a short time later.
Christen misses out on solo victory
36 kilometres before the finish, the third and final climb to Mammolshain began. There, Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates) took the lead and distanced his pursuers, who were unable to counterattack. The chasing pack broke up a little on the climb, allowing Christen to extend his lead. The Swiss rider was able to pull away by over half a minute and made a strong and determined impression. Behind him, a chasing group of around 30 riders formed, including Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) and Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Shortly before the finish - around two kilometres before the finish line - Jan Christen was caught. This led to a final sprint at Eschborn-Frankfurt 2024, which Maxim Van Gils won ahead of Alex Aranburu. Although Bora-Hansgrohe had a good number of riders, they were unable to get their sprinter Marco Haller into position. In the end, Roger Adria was the best of the German team - he finished fifth.
