Preview BEMER Cyclassics Hamburg 2024 | Will European Championship men aim for question mark or exclamation mark?!

The classic race is just under two hundred kilometers long and is traditionally a feast for the fastest riders, although the Waseberg can sometimes cut off some sprinters' pace. This ratio makes this race so interesting for European Championship participants this year, as we will face a similar course in Belgian Limburg.

Last year, Mads Pedersen won on behalf of Lidl-Trek after a truly great race. In the BORA-hansgrohe jersey, Danny van Poppel, who won the previous year with Marco Haller, was left behind in second place.

2023 Mads Pedersen
2022 Marco Haller
2021 Not ridden
20 Not ridden
2019 Elia Viviani
2018 Elia Viviani
2017 Elia Viviani
2016 Caleb Ewan
2015 André Greipel
2014 Alexander Kristoff

The course in Hamburg has been similar for years: there are some hills to overcome, but the most plausible scenario is still a sprint. Traditionally, a few men try in the final stage, but avoiding the big group often proves more difficult in practice than in theory.

We start in Hamburg, the city that attached this race to a more significant recreational cycling event to encourage locals to take their bikes. From there, it heads north from the port city until we turn around to the town of Wrist and ride in the opposite direction back to Hamburg. In the last section, the road runs parallel to the Elbe River, the artery of the North German region.

Then we enter the city circuit in the port city, which includes the climb of Wasenberg (some kilometers long, at about seven percent average). Here, we traditionally see some pokes, but in the end, it generally comes together again for a royal sprint in the city center, on Mönckebergstraße. After the final ascent of the Waseberg, it is still some seventeen kilometers of cycling until the finish.

Climbs
141.5 km: Waseberg (0.9 km a 7.7%)
181.0 km: Waseberg (1 km a 6.9%)
189.0 km: Waseberg (0.9 km a 7.7%)

Weather
The riders will narrowly escape the rain in northern Germany, with temperatures around 28 degrees Celsius. The wind blows from the west, putting it at the back in the finale. That is a welcome bonus for the men on hand with attacking intentions.

Title defender Mads Pedersen is not here on behalf of Lidl-Trek, but they are not short of a top favorite at the German-American formation. Jonathan Milan, winner of several Deutschland and Renewi Tour stages, will start as the team's leader. Milan is supported by an impressive team that includes Edward Theuns, Simone Consonni, and Alex Kirsch.

In the Renewi Tour, he was beaten once by Jasper Philipsen. The Belgian from Alpecin-Deceuninck is also a good contender, but gaining confidence in the European Championship will also be essential for him. That is perhaps even more the case for Tim Merlier of Soudal Quick-Step, who dropped out after a crash in the multi-day WorldTour race.

That was also the case for Olav Kooij of Visma | Lease a Bike, who appears on the provisional start list for this BEMER Cyclassics Hamburg. The Dutch formation normally also brings along Christophe Laporte, who in Germany—for now—says goodbye to his European champion's jersey.

Arnaud De Lie of Lotto-Dstny is another rider who showed he is in good shape on a more challenging course. With Maxim Van Gils also at the start, that team will benefit from a more difficult race. They can also play into the hands of other strong sprinters like Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty).

Other than that, there are a lot of fast men with question marks at the start. Young talents like Tobias Lund Andresen (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ) are in good shape. Still, with the likes of Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla), Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X), Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Dainese (Tudor) and three-time winner Elia Viviani (INEOS), things seem to be just a bit more complicated.

So, who can we expect to see on the offensive at Waseberg? Axel Zingle (Cofidis) and Alex Aranburu (Movistar), for example, but there are others like that: Renewi Tour winner Tim Wellens we should think capable of doing so, but also Matteo Trentin (Tudor), Ben Healy (EF) and Maximilian Schachmann (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) won't want to wait.

Top favorites:Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Outsiders: Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny), Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)

Eurosport is expected to switch on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. for the German one-day WorldTour-level race, but not via TV. So you'll have to switch out to HBO Max or Discovery+. The finish is scheduled around 4 p.m. in Port City.