Great start of the season #TourDownUnder🙌 🥈🥉 Two podiums with Biniam Girmay, 12th overall with Georg Zimmermann and brilliant teamwork all week.
"This is my best start to the season since I turned pro" - Georg Zimmermann more than satisfied with his performance at Tour Down Under
CyclingSunday, 21 January 2024 at 14:00
Georg Zimmermann of Intermarche - Wanty finished the last stage of the Tour Down Under in 18th place, just ahead of his compatriot Ben Zwiehoff from BORA - hansgrohe. Zimmermann thus finished the Tour Down Under in a good 12th place in the overall classification, in a week that started with a breakaway right from day one.
"This is my best start to the season since I turned pro," Zimmermann told RSN after the race. "It was my goal from the start to finish here at the front." Zimmermann had already shown on the first stage that he hadn't come to Australia to just cycle along in a distant second place. He was already able to gain three seconds time bonus within a breakaway group in which he was involved and was therefore briefly in fifth place in the overall classification.
Even the fact that he ultimately lost time on the two difficult stages with Willunga Hill and Mount Lofty did not dampen his mood. "A few guys were definitely stronger than me, but the season is still young," he says succinctly. "We did well as a team and achieved our first successes."
Next up for Georg Zimmermann are the Surf Coast Classic and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, both also in Australia. The Belgian team were close to taking a victory with Biniam Girmay, but an unbeatable Sam Welsford was in the way of the Eritrean who will be a big favourite for the upcoming one-day race.
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Article written by Dirk Linnemann.
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024