The Hamburg classic, which should now be called the Bemer Cyclassics, takes place this Sunday with an impressive field of sprinters. Much more impressive than that of the Vuelta, by the way.
Jakobsen, the very recent European champion, Philipsen and Groenewegen, who shared the sprint victories in the last Tour de France, are notably present. Just like Arnaud Démare who for his part had dominated the Giro sprints. Caleb Ewan, Phil Bauhaus, Alexander Kristoff and Alberto Dainese come to densify the line-up which can also count on the presence of… Wout van Aert.
The green jersey of the last Tour de France is back in Germany. “After the Tour and the criteriums, I was able to take a little rest. Especially since I was a little sick during this period. There, I’m coming out of two good weeks of training and I see this race as the start of my preparation for the world championship in Australia.”
Indeed, Van Aert will compete in four classics before the World Cup, which takes place in five weeks: the Bretagne Classic and the GPs of Quebec and Montreal will follow the Hamburg classic. “I might compete in the sprint today but we also have a good card to play with Christophe Laporte, who showed in the Tour of Denmark that he is in good shape. I don’t think today’s race is enough selective for me”, explained Van Aert at the start, to our colleagues from Laatste Nieuws. The same refrain is likely to come up often in the coming weeks: the Belgian’s only real goal for the end of the season is the rainbow jersey.
