Eschborn-Frankfurt

Eschborn-Frankfurt is a men's WorldTour one-day bike race held on May 1 in Germany. First run in 1962, it goes from Eschborn through the Taunus hills to a finish in central Frankfurt, covering about 200 to 210 kilometers with around 3,000 meters of climbing.

Eschborn-Frankfurt is a WorldTour one-day race held on May 1, from Eschborn through the Taunus hills to Frankfurt. It began in 1962 as Rund um den Henninger Turm. Sprinters who survived the climbs won it for years, Alexander Kristoff four times in a row, until a harder route in 2023 gave attackers more room.

Rund um den Henninger Turm: a race for a brewery tower

The Henninger tower in the Sachsenhausen district of Frankfurt was built from 1959 to 1961 as a grain silo 120 meters high, with two revolving restaurants at the top. The brothers Hermann and Erwin Moos had the idea of a race to promote the brewery, and the first Rund um den Henninger Turm was held on May 13, 1962. Armand Desmet won it alone after 255 kilometers and seven hours and two minutes of racing, 3 minutes 20 seconds ahead of Huub Zilverberg. Since 1964 the race has been held on May 1, a public holiday in Germany.

Hans Junkermann became the first German winner in 1963 by beating Rudi Altig in a sprint, and Altig won in 1970. On the morning of that 1970 race a snowplow had to be found for the Feldberg. Eddy Merckx won alone in 1971, 21 seconds ahead of his teammate Jos De Schoenmaecker. Georges Pintens, in 1969 and 1973, was the first rider to win twice. Ludo Peeters won in 1982 and 1983, and Phil Anderson, the first winner from outside Europe, in 1984 and 1985.

Why the Henninger Turm race became Eschborn-Frankfurt

The brewery ended its sponsorship after 46 years, and the last race under the Henninger name was the 2008 edition, won by Karsten Kroon. From 2009 the cities of Eschborn and Frankfurt carried the event, with the start in Eschborn and the finish still in Frankfurt. Fabian Wegmann won the first two editions under the new arrangement. The organizing company has belonged to A.S.O. since 2017, the year the race joined the WorldTour.

Feldberg and Mammolshain: the Taunus climbs

The climbs are in the Taunus, the range of hills northwest of Frankfurt. The Feldberg is the long one, and the Mammolshainer Stich is the steep one, with a maximum gradient of 26 percent. In 2024 the riders climbed the Feldberg twice, by roads of 11 kilometers at 5 percent and 8 kilometers at 6 percent, and Mammolshain three times, 2.4 kilometers at 7.7 percent. The last Mammolshain ascent came 36 kilometers from the finish that year. The race ends with laps of a circuit in the center of Frankfurt and a finish in front of the Alte Oper, the old opera house.

Erik Zabel’s three wins and Alexander Kristoff’s record four

Erik Zabel won in 1999, 2002 and 2005, each time in a bunch sprint. Kristoff won in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018, four editions in a row because the 2015 race was canceled, and no one in the history of the race has won more often. “I think I can be so competitive in this race because we usually reach the sprint after a very intense event,” he said before the 2019 edition. He finished third that day, behind Pascal Ackermann and John Degenkolb.

His third win, in 2017, came on a cold, wet day on which Peter Sagan, André Greipel and Marcel Kittel all abandoned. Kristoff was dropped on the last climb, and his Katusha-Alpecin teammates brought him back just before the finishing laps. Rick Zabel, Erik’s son, then led him out so well that the two of them opened a gap of several bike lengths. Kristoff came past before the line, and Zabel held second place ahead of Degenkolb.

The 2023 route change and Søren Kragh Andersen’s win

For 2023 the organizers lengthened the race by 18.8 kilometers to 203.8 and added a second ascent of the Feldberg, which brought the climbing to 3,000 meters. That second ascent left a front group of about 30, and the teams of the sprinters behind closed the gap with 52 kilometers to go. On the third and last ascent of Mammolshain Marc Hirschi accelerated, and nine riders went with him. The ten still had 30 seconds on the finishing circuit in Frankfurt.

Georg Zimmermann attacked with two kilometers to go, and Hirschi brought him back. Søren Kragh Andersen took the front after the last corner and won ahead of Patrick Konrad and Alessandro Fedeli. His Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jasper Philipsen, the winner in 2021, did not finish.

Van Gils and Matthews win from reduced groups

Maxim Van Gils won in 2024 from a group of 28. His Lotto-Dstny team and UAE Team Emirates had ridden hard on the climbs to drop sprinters such as Caleb Ewan, Sam Bennett and Kristoff.

Michael Matthews had been third in 2011 and second in 2018. In 2025 his Jayco-AlUla team helped split the field on the Feldberg, which left Philipsen behind, and kept the pace high so that the dropped riders could not come back. About 30 riders reached the finish together, and Matthews beat Magnus Cort and Jon Barrenetxea. He and Anderson, both Australians, are still the only winners from outside Europe.

Georg Zimmermann’s home win in 2026

The 2026 route had 211 kilometers and 3,300 meters of climbing. Tim Wellens was left alone in front on the last ascent of Mammolshain, a group of chasers soon reached him, and twelve riders rode the last 35 kilometers to Frankfurt together. The peloton closed in on the finishing straight but could not catch them.

Zimmermann, in the national champion’s jersey, started his sprint with 300 meters to go and beat Tom Pidcock and Ben Tulett. Three years earlier he had been the rider whose late attack was chased down in Kragh Andersen’s winning group. “This is the biggest win of my career,” he said at the finish. He was the eleventh German winner of the race and the first since Ackermann in 2019.

This is a race that looks like a sprinter's day on paper but rarely stays that simple. The Taunus climbs and repeated changes of rhythm do enough damage to expose weak teams before the finale through Frankfurt. What remains is usually a reduced sprint or a late move from riders who survived the hills better than expected. The winner's list includes pure sprinters, breakaway survivors, and riders who timed a late move perfectly, which tells you most of what you need to know about its character.