cycling
Cyclassics: Haller steals the show from superstar van Aert
Marco Haller was able to assert himself at the Cyclassics in Hamburg. photo
© Georg Wendt/dpa
At the Tour de France, Wout van Aert was one of the main actors: three stage wins, green jersey and noble assistant to champion Jonas Vingegaard. In Hamburg, however, he is surprisingly duped.
Marco Haller threw up his arms, roared his joy and, together with his teammate Nils Politt, celebrated a coup that had hardly been thought possible.
The Austrian from the German Bora-hansgrohe team stole the show from the big favorite Wout van Aert and surprisingly won the 25th edition of the Hamburg Cyclassics. Haller won the sprint of a five-man lead group after 204.7 kilometers in front of van Aert and his compatriot Quinten Hermans, succeeding the Italian Elia Viviani, who, before the race was canceled twice during the corona pandemic from 2017 to 2019, three times in of the Hanseatic city had triumphed.
The German drivers played no role in the decision on the Mönckebergstraße in the prominently attended WorldTour race. The best German was Phil Bauhaus ten seconds back in seventh place, Max Kanter was ninth. Sprinter André Greipel ensured the last home win in 2015.
First victory for Bora in Hamburg
After all, the Bora team was allowed to celebrate for the first time in the Hanseatic city. “A dream comes true,” said Haller: “Beating Wout van Aert is one thing, but having good legs after more than 200 kilometers makes me very proud. I only believed with one meter from the finish that I would win Wout can hit.” The Belgian didn’t expect that: “Marco surprised me. That was a bit disappointing.”
Haller’s teammate Politt was also overjoyed. “A super nice day. A very emotional victory for me too. Winning in Hamburg is a big thing. We weren’t the favourites, we didn’t have a sprinter with us. That’s why we had to make the race difficult,” said the German champion.
This time the decision was not made in a mass sprint, which was mainly due to van Aert. The three-time Tour stage winner and winner of the green jersey had shown his class on the third crossing of the 15 percent steep and 800 meter long Waseberg. As with his poisonous attacks on the Tour, the Belgian quickly made another selection of the field. There had already been a first with a heavy fall a good 30 kilometers before the finish, when several riders fell. This also thrown back sprint star and European champion Fabio Jakobsen.
The Bora team, the only German WorldTour racing team in the field, played a good role even without a real sprinter. Haller and Patrick Konrad clung to van Aert’s rear wheel and cleverly played their cards in the final. Politt didn’t have the legs to go with the last climb.
Buchmann starts on Germany Tour
After all, it was a good warm-up for Politt for the Deutschland Tour, which starts on Wednesday and which he won last year. There he should also meet his German compatriot Emanuel Buchmann, who after his illness-related failure at the Vuelta should now start in the domestic race.
“He prepared himself well for the Vuelta with altitude training. If it works somehow and he’s healthy, we would like to use it for the Germany Tour,” said sports director Rolf Aldag of the German Press Agency.