The inaugural edition of Frankfurt Eschborn ist about to start and the 149 riders assembled in the peloton look at 220 tough kilometers of racing. We’ve talked at length about the challenges on the course from Frankfurt through the Taunus mountain range back to the city, let’s take a look at how especially the sprinters will manage them.
The first 10km went by without any action whatsoever, then it’s Evonik’s Nsengimana who initiates the first attack. Naesen and Yates follow.
Portela has joined the Australian in the chase of the leading duo. Schinnagel and Yechezkel are a little further behind, also trying to escape the peloton which is still close.
The six eventually join forces and extend their lead on the pack to around three minutes just as they hit the first hills. Breakaways in one-day races are always a longshot, but if chaos ensues in the peloton over all those climbs, this could be one of the rare occasions where they might stand a chance. The final 44 flat kilometers loom large, though.
On the Dillenberg, the third climb of the day, the peloton is still very compact, no one in serious trouble so far. Iberia, Swisslion and Kraftwerk have taken on duties at the front of the pack as the gap to the escapees has increased to five minutes.
The peloton is stretched a bit thinner on the Kleiner Feldberg with percentages as high as 12%. But it gets over the summit in one piece.
The same is true for the breakaway. Yechezkel and Naesen have been consistently on the backend of the group, but they hang on. The Ruppershain with its 13,9% incline is just one descent away though - not much time to recover.
The impact of that ascent can be seen, but both groups remain intact. One more hill and the first third of the race is behind them, before they get to the Feldberg, the longest and highest climb of the day. The advance of the breakaway has hovered around five minutes for a while now, but the peloton starts to increase the pace.
The Feldberg comes and goes without much happening. Nsengimana crosses the summit first. The peloton has taken it easy uphill, which allowed the gap that was already down to just under three minutes to go back up to over four minutes.
Campari and cycleYorkshire have joined in the chase at the front of the peloton. Other than that, it’s still the same teams working as we move into the second half of the race.
After the descent, the second crossing of the Ruppertshain takes its toll on the peloton and we see the first splits. 18 riders are off the front of the pack and there’s another, larger gap further behind! Among the riders not in one of the first two big groups are Granjel Cabrera, Von Hoff, Keough and a few major domestiques like Willwohl and Mezgec. There’s a lot of time to get back to the front, but for many, this is not a good sign.
The groups did merge again as the riders tackle the Glaskopf, but there’s still the third crossing of the Ruppertshain, only a few kilometers away. Time to get into better position now! The breakaway is 3’20 ahead.
In the downhill leading up to it, we see the peloton spreading and gaps opening up again. The best sprinters in great position close to the front are Pelucchi, Degenkolb, Thwaites, Holloway, Boeckmans, Cavendish and Houle.
The other notable sprinters are a bit further behind, with Lobato del Valle, Ciolek and Vantomme closest.
Leading up to the final uphill section of the day, the pack is still all over the place. Only 25 riders are currently in the first group behind the break. Things have changed a bit in the composition: Pelucchi has dropped way back, but his leader Van Asbroeck made it. Ciolek and Vantomme, who were close to the front a few kilometers back, have now dropped and are a long way from the front.
Saber is in this first group, as is Enger and the riders mentioned previously like Degenkolb. Granjel Cabrera is just 30 seconds behind along with Lobato del Valle.
Meanwhile, we see the first casualty in the breakaway. Yechezkel has struggled uphill all day, and on this very last ascent, he can’t keep up anymore. His companions still have a lead of close to three minutes.
We’re a few kilometers into the final flat section now, so let’s take stock of the situation. Up front, Portela accelerates as the lead of the escapees drops under a minutes.
A group of 53 riders is now the peloton. Sprinters (and fast teammates as potential leadouts) present are: Degenkolb with three teammates including King. Boeckmans, also with three dometiques including Kadri. Cavendish with two domestiques including Kreder. Saber with four helpers including Korosec. Holloway with two teammates. Granjel Cabrera with two helpers including Dockx. Enger with two teammates including Bellis. Houle with one teammate.
Delvaux has the most riders with six including Kreder, Lobato del Valle and Breen.
Finally, Mezgec and Altanzul … alone.
Almost two minutes behind, there’s a group of ten with the most notable riders being Thwaites and Tsatevich. The cycleYorkshire rider is doing the work, trying to provide more support for Enger up ahead.
Another minute behind are 29 riders that include team leaders Ciolek, Van Asbroeck, Von Hoff and Boev as well as top sprint helpers like Willwohl and Merino Criado. With a decent amount of Swisslion riders, they might be able to come back. They are smaller in numbers than what is now the peloton, though.
A bit more than another minute behind, we have a small group with Keough, followed by more riders including Vantomme, Kupfernagel, Dupont and a few top domestiques like Pelucchi and Te Brake.
And finally, more than 13 minutes behind the race leaders, we have the Popo4Ever squad with Lutsyshyn and Ulanowski. Undetected by the TV cameras, they fell behind shortly after the Feldberg already and with only one rider behind them ( Scotson, who had a puncture early in the day), they are by now well out of the race.
Under the 20km banner, the breakaway is finally about to get caught. A good effort by the five of them, who will join what is with them a group of 56. Further behind, the Thwaites and Ciolek groups have merged, but they are three minutes behind the peloton - it looks over for them, unless the first group slows down drastically.
In an unexpected twist, Houle attacks with 15 kilometers to go! Without strong team support, he doesn’t want to bet on a sprint, so off he goes!
With more and more domestiques in trouble, leaders like Kreder and Degenkolb flock to the front to chase for themselves.
Eventually, it’s a monumental effort by Ford that reels Houle back in.
That hard chase led to another split! This time, only 22 riders are left in front! Caught behind are Granjel Cabrera, Altanzul and Mezgec with a number of helpers.
The two groups merged again as the pace slowed down, but it didn’t for long! Kal launches another attack! Houle is immediately on his wheel, having found more energy, as is Bellis. Is Enger maybe not doing so well? Eventhough he was ahead of the split a few minutes ago, he seemed to only barely hang on.
We have another trio on the attack and chasing them! It’s Naud with Gallego Martin and Van der Haar! And they seem to open a solid gap! Only 7 kilometers remaing!
Again, it’s the team leaders having to chase now as we see Saber and Degenkolb at the front of the peloton, eventhough Iberia has a man ahead. King comes to his leader’s aid on the right-hand side with Holloway, who’s looking for a good position up front.
Into the final 5 kilometers, the group with Houle has 15 seconds on the trio behind them, who in turn have another 27 on the peloton! That’s going to be tough for the pack to recoup.
Fraile recognizes that and tries his luck as well! It’s still King working, but he’s struggling, so Holloway takes over himself.
And now there goes Degenkolb! The top favorite tries to salvage whatever is possible. What a wild finish. 3 kilometers left for him to catch as many riders as he can.
2 kilometers now! It looks like the trio up front will make it. Houle is easily the fastest on paper, but he has one more attack in his legs than his companions, who also are far from slow. Bellis accelerates first!
Meanwhile, Degenkolb overtakes Fraile and moves up to seventh on the road. His pace is second to none, the trio ahead in reach! How far can he go?
Behind him, it’s everyone for himself. Tanovitchii attacked from the peloton and it’s Holloway in his wheel. He wants a Top 10 place at least, but looking at what Degenkolb is doing, more might be possible.
The remaining top sprinters line up at the front of the pack. Boeckmans leads non-top-sprinter Vanbilsen, followed by Cavendish, Granjel Cabrera, Saber and Enger. But for what place are they even sprinting?
Onto the home stretch, Bellis still leads, but Houle and Kal come out of his slipstream now. No matter the outcome of this sprint, what a spectacular result for Signal Iduna!
(The finish line is the second banner!) Further down the road, Degenkolb couldn’t keep up his enormous pace. He doesn’t reach the second group and it looks like he has to settle for seventh - if he can keep everyone else behind him, that is. Iberia still has Gallego Martin up ahead at least, who’s battling for fourth place with Naud and Van der Haar.
Into the final 200 meters and Houle has take the lead. He was among the favorites before the race, but we didn’t expect it to be in this manner! Kal is trying to overtake Bellis to take second place, but he doesn’t have the speed at the moment.
Hold on now, what is this?! Houle seems to crack! This is not something we see very often, but Bellis, who started the sprint more than 1,5 kilometers ago, seems to have another gear in him!
And my god, he actually takes it! What a stunning upset and what a fitting finish to a marvelously chaotic race! Kal takes home a third place for an ecstatic Signal Iduna team.
In the sprint for fourth, Naud has the lead ahead of the nominally better sprinter Van der Haar. But at this point, it’s just about who has even the slightest bit left in the tank. Can the Campari rider pull through?
Meanwhile, his team leader Boeckmans has closed the gap to Holloway, fighting for the latter Top 10 positions. Degenkolb and Fraile are still ahead of them and that is also still Tanovitchii there, desperately trying to salvage this race for Popo4Ever. But the sprinters are literally just around the corner.
Naud easily outsprints his companions and takes fourth place. Gallego Martin tries to jump into fifth, can he do it?
No! Van der Haar stays ahead. A strong result for Delveaux!
Degenkolb finishes seventh ahead of Fraile. A disappointment for the German; much more for Desigual than they probably anticipated. Behind them, Holloway and Boeckmans try to get into the final two Top 10 spots, but the sprinters behind them are rapidly coming closer.
And indeed, it’s Granjel Cabrera who finishes ninth ahead of Saber, then Holloway and Boeckmans, with Cavendish in 13th.
Tanovitchii holds on to 14th, followed by Ford, Kreder and Vanbilsen. Certainly a massive disappointment for Lierse, while Delveaux incredibly finishes with 5 riders in the Top 20!
Also among the disappointments: Ciolek, who finishes more than four minutes behind the winner, in a group with Van Asbroeck, Von Hoff and Boev, among others, but still ahead of Vantomme and Kupfernagel, who cross the line another two minutes later.
What a wild race this was. It seemed possible that a reduced group would sprint for the win, but the carnage that ensued from the moment Houle attacked for the first time was not something that I think anyone would have expected. While most sprinters leave frustrated, this was a surprising delight for many other teams.
Frankfurt Eschborn 
