Pascal Ackermann (r.) couldn’t get past the double stage winner Biniam Girmay (m.) in the previous mass sprints.
Foto: imago/Photo News
Done, dirty, but happy, Pascal Ackermann crossed the finish line on Sunday’s gravel stage. The thick layer of dust on his face spoke of his efforts. But the Palatine’s eyes beamed. “I had a lot of fun and had great legs,” he gushed. He kept track of the race for a long time, stayed with the favorites to win the overall classification and hoped that they would fight against each other to catch the day’s outliers for him. “It’s a shame that the group made it through in the end, otherwise today would have been our day,” said the German professional cyclist.
In fact, of the fastest men, only the two-time stage winner Biniam Girmay, world champion Mathieu van der Poel and the Australian Michael Matthews, who has already won the green jersey of the Tour de France, were further ahead. The fact that Ackermann’s form is good and that his dream of winning the stage is not completely unreasonable was shown by winning the sprint of the favorite group.
The blonde boy’s trend in his first Tour de France is clearly pointing upwards. After finishing 15th in the first mass sprint in Turin, he finished sixth, ninth and fourth. »I think you can see that things are getting better day by day. Now I hope that I can get through the rest day well and then we’ll continue. “I want to win my stage and I’m not giving up,” he said confidently on Monday.
Tom on tour
PHOTO: PRIVATE
Tom Mustroph, Cycling author and doping expert, has been following this sport worldwide for “nd” for more than 20 years.
The wishes of compatriot Phil Bauhaus are very similar. He also took fourth and sixth place in the first week of the tour. The collaboration with driver Nikias Arndt works, but Bauhaus has to make peace with the fact that the other sprinters have a similar top speed as him, if not a little faster. “That’s why everything has to be right in terms of positioning so that you don’t go out into the wind too early, but also not too late,” explained driver Arndt to “nd” the problem. The two of them are still working on it.
Of course, there is no general solution to the problem, because every stage finale is slightly different. Sometimes curves in the last kilometer pose the greatest difficulty, other times a climb or the wind play a role. If there is a headwind, for example, you should leave the protection of the vehicle in front as late as possible. Even if the home straight is uphill, waiting a little longer is often an advantage. But the others know that too. Not letting other riders interfere with you at the crucial moment of a mass sprint is therefore another skill. Bauhaus, which achieved one second and two third places on the tour last year, wants to confirm this in the following days. “I hope to get on the podium in the next sprint,” he said. It could happen this Tuesday, one day after his 30th birthday.
Pascal Ackermann is from the same 1994 vintage. Both came to cycling when German sprinters like Erik Zabel, Marcel Kittel and André Greipel were the measure of all things. In the meantime they have slipped into mediocrity. And there is little demand from the younger generations.
It’s similar in the tour and climbing business. There, the German participants can at best hope for success from breakaway groups. The most promising candidates here are Simon Geschke and Georg Zimmermann. The latter already told »nd« the flat stage this Tuesday as a possible breakaway destination. Geschke, on the other hand, should be more pleased about the following stage on Wednesday with five grades in the hilly landscape of Puy de Dome and Cantal.
Geschke knows how to achieve Tour stage victories. In 2015 he won one – the Berlin native’s greatest career success to date. Zimmermann was very close in 2023 with second place. So there is hope that this tour, which has so far been shaped by the Eritrean Biniam Girmay and the Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, will also have one or two German chapters of success.
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