"It has been a long time since I won" - Søren Kragh Andersen thrives amidst the chaos of Eschborn-Frankfurt

Whilst Eschborn-Frankfurt has traditionally been a race more suited for the sprinters, it was Soren Kragh Andersen who emerged victorious from a chaotic edition of the German one-day race.

“It was a tough race with a lot of climbing. More than I initially expected," the 28-year-old Alpecin-Deceuninck rider revealed in a post-race interview taken immediately after his victory. "I suffered a lot on the second pass of the Feldberg. However, I didn't give up and in the end, it went perfectly with three groups and I got ahead. This victory means a lot to me because it has been a long time since I won. So it's a very nice day."

As mentioned, traditionally a race for the sprinters, in this year's edition of Eschborn-Frankfurt it was not the case however as a 10-rider group rode clear featuring the likes of Kragh Andersen, Marc Hirschi and Patrick Konrad. With the main bunch unable to reel them back in, it came down to a sprint battle for the victory between the leaders.

"When I heard that we had a gap, I immediately knew: now I have to give everything and work well with the others. Because if they got us back, I wouldn't stand a chance with all the sprinters," the Danish rider explains. "I knew – that at this moment – ​​the rest of the race also had leg pain. I prefer to start sprinting early. In the Classics I won the sprint of the second or third group if I started it from the front. I just thought: if I start the sprint early, I have the best chance."