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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