Cycling: Georg Zimmermann made his breakthrough this season. With a stage win at the Critérium du Dauphiné – and almost another at the Tour de France – he has finally arrived in the WorldTour.
Georg Zimmermann crowns his escape
It didn't look good for George Zimmerman (Intermarché – Circus – Wanty) when he was caught again by his pursuer Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) on June 9th on the way to Crest-Voland just a few meters before the finish line. The two were traveling together in the escape group on the sixth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné when the German ran away, but was then caught again by his French colleague. Everything looked like a home win - but Georg Zimmermann saw it differently. The now 26-year-old pooled all his strengths once again. Burgaudeau finally had to give in and the German was able to celebrate his first victory at WorldTour level. In the Velomotion Interview he finally admitted that he had deliberately let his opponent approach again. He was sure that he would then beat him in a sprint. Georg Zimmermann proved that this achievement was not an isolated case just a few weeks later at the Tour de France, when he was only beaten by Pello Bilbao (Bahrain - Victorious) on the tenth stage to Issoire.
Where else can the German develop?
Without a doubt, Georg Zimmermann was already known in previous years as a strong climber and tireless breakaway. This season, however, he made his breakthrough. Numerous really good escape attempts line up. If we look at the PCS ranking from procyclingstats.com, we can see: the German has actually increased every year since 2018. So the question arises: Where can Georg Zimmermann develop in the future? Does he remain the type of driver who likes to jump into the breakaway group and try his luck as an outlier on individual stages? Or is he working on his weakness in time trials so that he can be included in the overall rankings on a tour in the future? No matter which path the Augsburg native takes... his fans can look forward to more exciting performances from him.