Watch the 2022 Eschborn-Frankfurt on this Sunday, with the full race on SBS On Demand from 2000 AEST, with SBS VICELAND coverage starting from 2300 AEST.
It’s a race normally won in a bunch sprint, with the last six races taken out by a fast man in the final dash to the line.
The Route
Despite the recent record of the race, the course in the past few years isn’t an easy one. From the start in Eschborn, it first goes to downtown Frankfurt for the first crossing of the finish line, before heading into the Taunus mountains.
Over the 184 kilometres of the route, riders have to tackle a total of 3,200 vertical gain over ascents of the Feldberg (11km at 4.8%), Ruppertshainer (1.3km at 8.6%), Billtalhöhe (2.6km at 6.2%) and four attempts of the Mammolshain (2.3km at 8.3%). The fourth summiting of the Mammolshain is the final climb of the day’s racing, 40 kilometres from the finish, with an entirely flat run to the line.
The hilly profile of the 2022 Eschborn-Frankfurt route Source: Supplied
Contenders
The entire podium of last year's 60th edition of the race will meet again.
2021 winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) already sprinted to three wins this season and will go for the title again with full confidence. Likewise, local hero John Degenkolb (Team DSM) and four-time winner Alexander Kristoff (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) want to get the trophy back.
Kristoff has been in good form this year, taking out another one-day sprinter’s race, Scheldeprijs, not in a sprint, but with a solo attack in tough conditions. However it may be that Eritrean Biniam Girmay is the leader of the Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux squad after his Gent-Wevelgem win earlier this year.
John Degenkolb will be joined by several German colleagues in his new team DSM. With Nico Denz, he can rely on experienced classic quality, Niklas Märkl supports the local hero as a young, fast rider.
The only German WorldTour team, BORA-hansgrohe, is counting on the sprinter squad around Danny van Poppel and Sam Bennett, with Tour de France stage-winner, Nils Politt likely a strong domestique for the sprint, but the Tour of Germany winner is also the team's strongest option if its an aggressive race in the Taunus.
2019 winner Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates), on the other hand, will be all in on a sprint in Frankfurt. Teammate Fernando Gaviria will make his comeback on May 1 after breaking his collarbone during the opening weekend of the classics season, and won’t be likely to be the leader, so the big German will be the team’s leader.
With Rick Zabel and former European champion Giacomo Nizzolo (both Israel - Premier Tech) or Hugo Hofstetter (Team Arkéa - Samsic), other sprinters will enter the fight for important WorldTour points.
Lotto Soudal are yet to name their squad for the race, meaning that it’s as yet uncertain whether Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan will be at the startline, with his Giro d’Italia preparation continuing ahead of the Italian Grand Tour.
Watch the 2022 Eschborn-Frankfurt on this Sunday, with the full race on SBS On Demand from 2000 AEST, with SBS VICELAND coverage starting from 2300 AEST.
