Cycling: Next Sunday, August 23rd, the Vattenfall Cyclassics will start for the 20th time. The starting signal for the professionals will be given on the 20th anniversary in Kiel – inside the Stena Scandinavica ferry at Bollhörnkai. The field of the only German UCI WorldTour race is top-class.
A large part of the UCI sprint elite will gather among the 160 professionals in Kiel. In addition to the four-time stage winner at the Tour de France, André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), his compatriots Marcel Kittel, Nikias Arndt, Simon Geschke (all Giant-Alpecin) and the recovered Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) will also do the honors . But top international riders will also find their way to northern Germany next weekend, including last year's winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep), Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka).
The spectators on site and on the television sets can therefore expect a probably tight and extremely gripping mass sprint. Of course, Germany boss Endurance Events at the organizer Lagardère Unlimited Events Germany, Kai Rapp, is enthusiastic about the top-class starting field: "The fact that the field of riders is stronger this year than it has been for a long time shows that the Vattenfall Cyclassics have long since found their place in the UCI WorldTour calendar and therefore also deserve the seal of quality for modern classics in an international comparison."
The distance
As already mentioned, one of the big highlights is right at the start. Around 160 professionals start from the belly of the Stena Scandinavica in the port of Kiel and make their way over the 221km through Schleswig Holstein to Hamburg, where, among other things, three Waseberg crossings await. After a mostly flat 150km through the Plöner lake landscape and past the wide fields of northern Germany, things get serious for the participants within the Hamburg city limits.
Waseberg, located in Hamburg's Blankensee district, is already a permanent fixture at the Cyclassics and of course it shouldn't be missing this year either. The 700m long and up to 15% steep third highest elevation in the Hanseatic city will be conquered three times this year. Here it is important for the sprinters in the field not to lose touch with the leaders in order to be able to get into a good position in the grand finale on the Mönckebergstraße.
The Everyman Race
In addition to the elite race, there are several routes for everyone this year. The short distance over 55km includes mostly the western loop of the Cyclassics (Strava route), while the 100km middle distance will lead the participants to the Südschleife and, among other things, over the famous Köhlbrand Bridge (Strava route). Those who want to face the 155 km of the amateur long-distance can enjoy the west and south loops (Strava route).
There are still starting places for all distances, although late registration on the day of the race is no longer possible. So if you decide at short notice that you still want to start, you have to do so at the following times:
Thursday, August 20, 2015 11:30 a.m. to 19:00 p.m
Friday, August 21, 2015 10:30 a.m. to 18:30 p.m
Saturday, August 22, 2015 10:30 a.m. to 18:15 p.m
More information about late registration, routes and conditions of participation can be found on the official website:
TV and streaming
Anyone who wants to follow the elite race of the Vattenfall Cyclassics on their home TV has a choice this year: both ARD and Eurosport will be broadcasting live from northern Germany.
15:35 am - 16:30 pm
16:00 p.m. – 16:45 p.m. - XNUMX:XNUMX p.m
Cycling fans at home are also spoiled for choice on the Internet. Either they resort to the fee-based Eurosportplayer back, or they follow the Cyclassics via the free one ARD live stream.
If you want to follow the race from abroad and there are no pictures on TV, you can, as always, go to www.cyclingfans.com look around. All internationally receivable Internet streams are collected there.