Eschborn-Frankfurt: Georg Zimmermann beats Tom Pidcock as thrilling sprint sees breakaway narrowly hold off charging peloton

The 63rd Eschborn-Frankfurt, Germany’s biggest one-day race, took the peloton on familiar, if longer and tougher, route compared to the 2025 edition.

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The 211km race from Eschborn to Frankfurt featured 3,400 metres of elevation spread across nine climbs, including three ascents of the Burgweg (500m at 11%), two of the Feldberg (3.5km at 7.7%), and three of the Mammolshain (2.3km at 8.3%), two of which lay in the final 50km of the race.

Attacks flew in the early kilometres of the race, with TotalEnergies duo Thomas Gachinard and Samuel Leroux the first riders to jump clear after 12km of racing.

The pairing would be joined in short order by Jonas Rutsch (Lotto-Intermarché) and Matyáš Kopecký (Unibet Rose Rockets), with Alvaras Mikutis (Tudor) later bridging the gap to make it five up front.

That was the breakaway of the day sorted, with the quintet heading on to the first climb of the day, Sandplacken (8.1km at 4.5%) as Ineos Grenadiers, Uno-X Mobility and Pinarello-Q36.5 led the peloton behind.

The day’s early breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)

The group raced ahead to a lead of seven minutes as Rutsch led the race over the opening climb. He’d do the same over the following ascents of the Burgweg, Feldberg, and Bergweg to take nine mountain points and build a commanding advantage in that secondary competition.

The German wasn’t done there, either, resuming his KOM push after a stint in the valley. Once again, he led over the Mammolshain-Feldberg-Bergweg trio to push his total to 19 points and secure victory in the mountain classification.

At that point, with 90km left to run, the break’s lead had evaporated, with just 1:30 remaining. Mikutis was left behind as the remaining quartet continued out front, while back in the peloton, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) launched an attack.

The Belgian took Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) and Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Premier Tech) with him, the trio chasing down the break on the valley road leading to the Mammolshain duo of climbs.

At 66km from the finish, Wellens and co. made the catch, making it seven riders out front with a 1:10 lead. Wellens didn’t stand still for long, though, attacking once again with 60km to go and taking Verstrynge with him.

The remains of the break were brought back before the Mammolshain, but the two Belgians fought on, holding 40 seconds as they raced up the hill. Wellens and Verstrynge got over the top together, but Wellens left his companion on the descent to ride on solo.

The Belgian champion raced into the last 40km alone, with the final ascent of Mammolshain and a long, flat run to the line ahead, while the peloton lay 50 seconds behind.

That gap was reduced on the way up as Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) pushed on at the front of the peloton. The Briton broke clear on the climb, taking Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) with him.

Tulett and Visma set the pace in the bunch (Image credit: Getty Images)

Wellens was caught before the top, ending his hopes of a long-range win, while new leaders Tulett and Baudin were joined by a host of other major names to form a strong 12-man group for the final run-in.

Baudin’s teammate Michael Valgren was up there, as were the Lotto-Intermarché duo of Simone Gualdi and Georg Zimmermann. Joining them were Tom Pidcock, Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Natnael Tesfatsion (Movistar), Florian Stork (Tudor), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla), Adrià Pericas (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious).

The group, working together well as the race hit Frankfurt, held a 30-second lead over the reduced chasing peloton, which was led by a mix of teams, including Soudal-QuickStep, Ineos, NSN, and Uno-X Mobility. That lead lasted onto the local finishing lap, with 25 seconds the gap as the leaders crossed the finish line at 6km to go.

20 seconds remained as the riders passed the 3km mark, and, despite shedding seconds more on the final run to the line, the breakaway men just about managed to hang on to contest the win among themselves.

Even at the 500-metre mark, it wasn’t clear whether the leaders would survive to the finish, but they held off the peloton in the dying metres to lock out the first 11 placings.

Zimmermann led them home, racing from the rear of the group to the front as he found the gap to move up within sight of the line. The German celebrated a hard-fought breakaway win, the fifth victory of his career and the first home win since Pascal Ackermann’s in 2019.