Cycling: Caleb Ewan won the Cyclassics Hamburg 2016. After an exciting and varied race, the Australian prevailed in a turbulent final against John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo). A strong breakaway group had almost outsmarted the sprinters in changeable conditions, but was caught shortly before the end of the race. In a chaotic finale caused by a crash, Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) finished first, but the Frenchman had pushed Caleb Ewan off in the sprint and was penalized after the race in 27th place.
The Cyclassics in Hamburg have already enjoyed an excellent reputation among the sprinters in the peloton in recent years. This year, the importance of the German one-day race has increased even more as it is one of the last chances for the sprinters to go head-to-head with the top-flight competition ahead of the Road World Championships in Doha in October. This is all the more true for the German drivers, since the question of the captain for the World Championships had not been clarified in advance and with Marcel Kittel, André Greipel and also the reinvigorated John Degenkolb, there were three possible candidates ready to lead the team in Doha. After today's race, however, the captain's question should be finally clarified.
Today's day in Hamburg began with changeable conditions for the drivers: short, sometimes heavy rain showers repeatedly interrupted the late summer sunshine in northern Germany and made for a difficult road surface that was difficult to assess at times. Nonetheless, a group of six managed to break away from the field early in the race. Among the participants were Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Argon 18), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), whose lead quickly grew to over two minutes.
Even if the peloton took it easy afterwards, it was always clear who would hold the reins should the worst come to the worst: Giant-Alpecin in particular was often at the top, with Lotto Soudal and Trek-Segafredo also emphasizing their claims. Somewhat surprisingly, however, Etixx – Quick-Step held back. When the 50km mark finally fell, the pursuers finally picked up the pace: Again it was mainly Giant-Alpecin who put a lot of pressure on the breakaway group. The lead melted with every kilometer driven and it seemed only a matter of time before the brave leaders would be conceded. A little less than 20 km before the finish line, however, a fall happened at the head of the peloton, which completely shattered the very good pursuit work up to that point and encouraged the weakening riders in the escape group again.
The lead then leveled off at around one minute and the front of the field clearly had problems organizing the follow-up work. Only when the final 10km started did it get uncomfortable again for the four remaining front runners. Almost all teams started to pick up the pace and the pressure from the field increased. Above all, it was the Australian team from Orica-BikeExchange that set the pace. Consequently, the gap shrank to less than 30 seconds within a very short time - the resistance of the leading quartet seemed broken and everything seemed to be going as expected - but things turned out differently.
When 1.000m before the finish line the field had almost caught the breakaways, a fall in the front third almost happened in a right-hand bend - even if none of the drivers went down, the rhythm was gone and the breakaways sensed their chance again. With one last effort, the field finally managed to catch up - a few hundred meters from the finish. In this rush, however, a crash happened on the still wet road at the front, causing complete chaos and throwing numerous drivers onto the asphalt. There were no more orderly sprint moves and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) started the sprint early – too early. Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) and Caleb Ewan (Orica-BikeExchange) were also able to leave the chaos behind; Nacer Bouhanni started his infamous all-out sprint, pushing off Caleb Ewan in the process. The Frenchman was the first to cross the finish line, but after the end of the race he was put at the end of the group by the race stewards due to his action - that means 27th place for the Cofidis professional. John Degenkolb was only a hair's breadth behind the winner of the Orica-BikeExchange, but underlines that he is back to his old strength.
Final result Cyclassics Hamburg
Tour Locations | Driver | Country | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Caleb ewan | Australia | Orica Bike Exchange | |
2. | John Degenkolb | Germany | Giant-Alpecin | |
3. | James Nizzolo | Italy | Trek-Segafredo | |
4. | Danny van Poppel | Netherlands | TeamSky | |
5. | alexander kristoff | Norway | Katusha | |
6. | Dylan Groenewegen | Netherlands | LottoNL Jumbo | |
7. | Mark Renshaw | Great Britain | Dimension Data | |
8. | Sandre Hols Enger | Norway | AMI Cycling | |
9. | Matteo Trentin | Italy | Etixx - Quick Step | |
10. | André Greipel | Germany | Lotto Soudal |
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