"I'm quite disappointed, because winning here would have meant a lot to the team and me" - Danny Van Poppel admits after second place in Hamburg

In BEMER Cyclassics there was no stopping Mads Pedersen, who showed everything and everyone his heels in the final kilometer: the Dane from Lidl-Trek did not wait for the sprint and attacked towards the end. The sprint of the peloton was eventually won by Danny van Poppel. The Dutch BORA-hansgrohe rider reacts to his performance after the German one-day race.

"It was really a very tough race," says the 30-year-old sprinter. "Especially the climb of the Waseberg was tough. When we rode it for the second time, I asked the team if it wasn't already the last time," he refers to the fact that the 700-meter Waseberg climb had to be conquered three times.

According to Van Poppel, the 2023 edition was much more difficult than previous editions. "Fortunately I was still there at the end. At one point we suspected it was going to be a sprint. We played the team game well, especially Nils and Marco did a good job. We came close, but the strongest rider of the day won. So I'm quite disappointed, because winning here would have meant a lot to the team and me."