Another one today is one of my favourite smaller races, Germany's biggest one-day race (with apologies to Hamburg, but this is the better race and the bigger deal), the 54th edition of the Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt (formerly Rund um den Henninger Turm). It's where my interest in cycling began, and so I've always had a soft spot for it. The parcours is a looping one that heads through the city then out to the Taunus mountains, with the long but gradual climb of the Großer Feldberg early on, then smaller climbs later, culminating in a double pass of the short but steep Mammolshainer Berg, which is last crested around 35km from the line.
Actual profiles of the final climb are hard to come by but the hard part of it is about 2km at 8%, with a maximum gradient which varies depending on source. It's reputed at up to 26%, but some sources claim "only" 21%.
After the run back into the city from the suburb of Königstein im Taunus (going past the block of flats I used to live in), there's a twisty and tight 3km city centre circuit which is undertaken 3 times at the end. The short length of the circuit often means lapped traffic is pulled off the course or not allowed onto the circuit, so the attrition numbers are usually very high indeed at Frankfurt.
This is typically a difficult race to predict; it attracts a mixed field and its post-Classics-season position in the calendar means form cycles are often a factor in the race. The course can lead to unusual outcomes - a few years ago we had a small group off the front which included Domenico Pozzovivo who'd attacked on the Mammolshainer Berg, with a slender advantage over a reduced bunch which nevertheless Lotto were leading out for André Greipel. If you still can't tell who will finish first out of those two and both are legitimate shots at victory with 1km remaining, you've got an intriguing parcours.
The race was suspended last year due to a terrorist threat; a man who had been on the police watchlist had been spotted scouting various points on the race route, and his apartment was raided leading to arrests. The police felt that while they had prevented this individual's involvement, they were unable to ascertain if any others were involved in the operation, therefore they were unable to guarantee the safety of the riders and spectators, and the race was cancelled. However, the GP Frankfurt is traditional - this is the 54th edition - and it returns to the calendar this year.
Victories have been in a variety of fashions over recent years, from solo attacks from small groups to bunch sprints, so many different riders are a threat.
2014: Alexander Kristoff (won from a sprint of 40-50 riders)
2013: Simon Spilak (he and Moreno Moser just held on from a quartet including Pozzovivo, the others being engulfed by the sprint of a group of 60)
2012: Moreno Moser (attacked the leading quartet late on)
2011: John Degenkolb (won from sprint of about 70, HTC didn't repeat the mistakes of the previous year)
2010: Fabian Wegmann (won from a group of around 20-30 after Milram eliminated HTC from contention, then taking advantage of unusual sprint layout)
2009: Fabian Wegmann (won from two-up sprint with Karsten Kroon, ahead of a group of 5 fellow escapees)
2008: Karsten Kroon (won a sprint from an escape of 9 also including Rebellin, Wesemann and Andy Schleck)
2007: Patrik Sinkewitz (won a few seconds ahead of a small escape)
As you can see, as we tend toward the present day a heavily reduced sprint is perhaps the most likely outcome, however there are plenty of different options. We have a mixture of WT, ProConti and Conti teams, albeit many with odds-and-sods lineups due to the clash with Romandie, Turkey and Yorkshire.
Катюша lead us off with the pseudo-defending champion Kristoff wearing dorsal number one. The team seem to be banking on a sprint, with Tsatevich and Guarnieri also in the team. Giant-Alpecin are led by Degenkolb, the local favourite (although from Thüringen, he lives close to Frankfurt and regards it his hometown race) although obviously given the horrific training crash at the start of the season, expectations of him will be limited. It will also be interesting to see some of their young guns, Sindre Skjøstad Lunke and Sam Oomen, while hardman Ramon Sinkeldam may be their most realistic chance. Etixx have a good chance; they have Richeze if it's a general sprint but realistically Gianni Meersman is more the type for this course if a sprint race develops; Tony Martin likes this race and has almost taken it home from the penultimate passage of Mammolshain before because he's Tony Martin and you don't give him a lead because it will be very hard to catch him; while Niki Terpstra and Yves Lampaert are also pretty genuine threats on a course like this from reduced groups too. Ag2r have gone with a team of odds and ends, I'm afraid I'm not sure where I see a victory coming from for them, unless Alexis Gougeard has really turned his form around.
Bora have a decent lineup for this, as it's a home race, with Sam Bennett in a reduced sprint perhaps their hope, but Emmanuel Büchmann, the reigning German champion, will be interesting to see. Dominik Nerz has finished 2nd here before, but that was in a previous incarnation. Stölting have the journeymen of the last German generation, Linus Gerdemann - although he is in decent form after top 10 at the Vuelta a Castilla y León - and two time former winner of the race Fabian Wegmann, albeit now a few years removed from their best performances. For the future though, they have the very talented Lennard Kämna, and Guldhammer returning from injury. Wanty have a reduced team with the likes of Claeys out in Turkey, but Kenny de Haes is nothing to be sniffed at. Topsport Vlaanderen are a team who you can expect to put somebody up around the top 10 here, with a decent team including the likes of Floris de Tier and Pieter Vanspeybrouck alongside the vastly experienced Preben van Hecke. CCC have Maciej Paterski who will be a threat if the race reduces down, although many of their best riders are also in Turkey. De La Parte being here is a bit strange. Then you have Crelan and Verva-ActiveJet, Roompot may have some outside bets with former cult hero Johnny Hoogerland - again a few years past his best - and former youth phenom and unluckiest cyclist alive, Kai Reus. Fortuneo also have a smaller team but with Florian Vachon and Yauheni Hutarovich they have options. Delko have Siskevicius and Duque but on this course perhaps Yannick Martinez from a reduced sprint is their best chance to impact the race.
Then you have the Italian ProConti teams whose lineups include some surprisingly big stars (albeit ones on the wind-down - Damiano Cunego and Filippo Pozzato the most obvious) whose form will likely be on the up with the Giro on the horizon. Finally, you have the national teams and their development groups.
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