Spring campaign ends in style

Work is keeping me from reporting extensively on my events of last weekend, but below are the results in a nutshell. The German Cycling Cup continues to be a theme, as I moved up to 3rd place in the overall ranking and retained the lead in my age category.

LOHMAR 11/05/08:
100 km: Rank 19

LEIPZIG/ZWENKAU 12/05/08:
130 km: Rank 30

German Cycling Cup

Newsflash: Leipzig! After all...

So I am doing the next German Cycling Cup race in Leipzig/Zwenkau next Monday after all. It is a 130 km long, flat and allegedly boring event but being fifth in the current standings (and first in my age category M1!) turns out to be a major push factor. Not to mention that I remember Leipzig to be a great city to spend some time in. I still need to make proper logistical arrangements, as I will be racing in Lohmar on Sunday, but my participation in Saxony is quasi certain.

Neuseen Classics

Henninger Turm: never better!

FRANKFURT - It may very well have been the final ever Rund um den Henninger Turm this year, and I am delighted I have managed to conclude this chapter of my cyclo career in style: 14th across the line after riding in front practically the entire race. Backed up by my 22nd spot in Goettingen, the result propelled me into 5th place of the German Cycling Cup. Should I amend my race programme now accordingly??

The weather people had been playing yo-yo the days prior to the Henninger: rain, no rain, rain in the morning, rain in the afternoon. Waking up at 6.15 a.m. has rarely been so exciting. Riding the Henninger in the wet is no joke, as many of us still recollect the apocalyptic edition of 2004. I crashed out myself back then, sliding away in a corner in the descent of Rupertshainer Berg. 

In fact, I've had mixed fortunes in my home event over the years. In the first and also wet edition of 2002, I got entangled in a mass crash as riders were slipping away on an oil spot. One year later I finished a solid 55th. After the tumble in 2004, I blew up dramatically at Eppstein in 2005  after sprinting to the front from a low starting block. I just made it into the top 175. Two years ago change of fortune with a 14th place - admittedly based on netto time, but at I came home with the first group. Finally last season, my work colleague Cyril crashed right in front of me in the penultimate corner so I had to settle for 46th. 

Temperatures were cool, but the roads were dry. After the traditionally hectic start of the race through Frankfurt-Hoechst, I moved up to the front of the peloton and saw several riders attacking on the way to the first steep climb of the day in Eppstein. About 10 riders took an advantage of 10-15 seconds. The climb is preceeded by a narrow stretch of kopfsteinplaster (still a highway compared to Flanders or Roubaix of course), which increases the pulse rate already to a high level. This means that if you have a bad day, the game ends on the climb. Luckily, that wasn't the case as I was among the first to cross the top alongside reputed climber Nino Ackermann (Team Lexxi) and Strassacker's Nico Wernicke, who was clearly in much better shape than in Goettingen. We bridged the gap to the breakaway group, but the pace was kept high on the succeeding stretch of false flat that leads to the next series of minor climbs. Alex Bauer, winner of last year's T-Mobile Cycling Tour, attacked but was reeled in as soon as the road went up a few percentages more. 

The rollercoaster ride through the Taunus continued at a high pace, and only some 25 riders managed to stick to the first group. The last major difficulty is Rupertshainer Berg, where one excellent climber put in a blistering attack. Six, seven guys tried to go along with me doing my utmost to grab the tail. In any case, I never climbed that Rupertshainer faster than last Thursday: I only briefly used the 23. What one can all suddenly do when under pressure!

We took the dive to Kelkheim at 75 km/h, but nevertheless some riders returned to us already during the descent. Before entering the village, Alex Bauer (again) and one Strassacker rider put in a bold move but we started the short kuitenbijter (calfbiter) in Kelkheim regrouped. I crossed the top in second place, knowing that from that point on until the finish it would just be flat for another 45km. Nino, myself and two, three other riders were keeping the pace up as we approached Frankfurt City. The passage through the Main Metropole is not without danger,and by now we had also caught up with large groups of slower riders from the 73km event. However, there was considerably more discipline this year compared to 2007 and - thank God - we didn't see a single skater on the entire course. 

After we passed the Darmstaedter Landstrasse and the Henninger Brewery, we caught a headwind on the way to the finish in Hoechst. As the two Lexxi's started using team tactics and some others began enterpreneuring, our pace decreased slightly and this allowed a group of about 30 riders to come back to us with 5 km to go to the finish. Sprinting is not my thing so I tried to retain my position at the front of the group, knowing that the final kilometre has several corners. The explosive types moved in but everything remained rather civilised and as we went to the line Tobias Bosch took the victory with myself finishing 14th. My teammates Holm, Ingo and Joerg were all in the group that came back towards the end and took 16th, 30th and 42nd spot. These great results  gave us enough points to grab third place in the team ranking!

Normally the Henninger means the end of my spring campaign, but this season I am adding another similar race to my schedule: the Lohmar Challenge on 11 May. I hope I can retain my current form for another week!

Website Henninger Turm - Velo Tour