Eschborn–Frankfurt, previously Rund um den Henninger Turm Frankfurt, is an annual semi classic cycling race in Germany, starting in

Eschborn Eschborn () is a town in the Main-Taunus district, Hesse, Germany. It is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and has a population of 21,488 (2018). Eschborn is home to numerous corporations due to its proximity to Frankfurt and relatively ...

and finishing in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

. The event, sometimes referred to as the Frankfurt Grand Prix, is held annually on 1 May, national Labour Day in Germany. As from 2017, Eschborn–Frankfurt is part of the

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an ann ...

, the highest-rated professional men's road races, making it the second German World Tour event, together with the

Hamburg Cyclassics The Hamburg Cyclassics (currently known as the Bemer Cyclassics for sponsorship purposes) is an annual one-day professional and amateur cycling race in and around Hamburg, Germany. Although the route varies, its distance is always around 250 ...

in August. The event is organised by ASO.

History

The event was first held on 1 May, 1962, as ''Rund um den Henninger Turm Frankfurt'', starting and finishing in Frankfurt's city centre. Brothers Hermann and Erwin Moos sought to promote the Henninger Tower, a grain silo belonging to the

Henninger Brewery {{more footnotes, date=March 2013 Henninger Brewery was a notable brewery in Frankfurt, Germany. The Henninger brewery in Frankfurt traces its roots to 1655 in Eberhard Stein's brew house. In 1873 Heinrich Christian Henninger, who came from Erlan ...

, which opened in 1961. Henninger served as main sponsor of the cycling event from the inaugural race until 2008. Rund um den Henninger Turm received a status upgrade in 1967 when

Paris–Brussels The Brussels Cycling Classic (known until June 2013 as Paris–Brussels) is a semi classic European bicycle race, one of the oldest races on the international calendar. History Paris–Brussels was first run on 12 August 1893 as an amateur eve ...

, organised in late April, was removed from the calendar due to traffic problems and the event became the pre-eminent one-day cycling race in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

The race's first winner was Belgian

Armand Desmet Armand Desmet (23 January 1931 – 17 November 2012) nieuwsblad.be
Details of death ...

in 1962.

Barry Hoban Barry Hoban (born 5 February 1940) is a former English professional cyclist who rode during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He formerly held the record for the most stage wins in the Tour de France by a British rider, winning eight between 1967 ...

became the first British winner in 1966 after a 50 km solo ride to the finish, holding the chasing pack at one minute. Legendary cyclist

Eddy Merckx Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (, ; born 17 June 1945), better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling. His victorie ...

won the race solo in 1971. Sprinter

Erik Zabel Erik Zabel (; born 7 July 1970) is a German former professional road bicycle racer who raced most of his career with Telekom. With 152 professional wins and 211 wins in his career, he is considered by some to be one of the greatest German cycl ...

held the record for most victories in the race with three (1999, 2002 and 2005) until

Alexander Kristoff Alexander Kristoff (born 5 July 1987) is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships in 2007 and 2011. His biggest victories have been the 2014 Milan ...

in 2018 added a fourth victory to his 2014, 2016 and 2017 wins, and therefore becoming sole record-holder. Seven further riders have won twice. In 1995, ''Rund um den Henninger Turm'' was part of the

UCI Road World Cup The UCI Road World Cup was a season-long road cycling competition held from 1989 until 2004 and comprising ten one-day events. History The competition was inaugurated in 1989, and replaced the Super Prestige Pernod International. In the first ...

, cycling's season-long competition of the most important one-day races in the 1990s. The fixed date of the event however, every 1 May, was considered unfavourable as it was often midweek, and it was replaced with the newly created

HEW Cyclassics The Hamburg Cyclassics (currently known as the Bemer Cyclassics for sponsorship purposes) is an annual one-day professional and amateur cycling race in and around Hamburg, Germany. Although the route varies, its distance is always around 250 ...

in Hamburg as the German leg of the series. In 2008, organiser Bernd Moos stated Henninger would withdraw its sponsorship of the race. Henninger discontinued its funding after 46 years because of economic conditions.Official website.
Announces withdrawal of Henninger Bräu AG as main sponsors. The event continued in 2009 as the ''Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop'', named after its city sponsors, Frankfurt and the neighboring town of

, which also became the start location of the race.(New) official website.
Announces new name and main sponsors. (in German) The iconic Henninger Tower was demolished in 2013. The 2015 event was cancelled on the eve of the race due to a suspected terrorist plot; the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In 2017, Eschborn–Frankfurt was included in the

, cycling's highest rated professional events, and organisation was taken on by ASO, which also organises cycling's flagships, the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

and

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the ' Monuments' or classics of th ...

Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn Frankfurt- 2011

Route

The race passes through the Taunus Hills west of Frankfurt, along a winding and hilly course with around 1500m (5,000 feet) of climbing. The climbs of the Feldberg, Ruppershain and Mammolshain are some of the regular features. The Mammolshain has a maximal

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gr ...

of 26% and is climbed twice in the race. The race ends with three laps of 4,5 km in the centre of Frankfurt, covering a total distance of around over . Until 2008 the start and finish of the race was on Hainer Weg and later Darmstädter Landstraße, in front of the Henninger Tower. Since the event's restyling in 2009, the race starts in

, west of

– the finish was at the housing development Riedberg. Since 2010, the finish is in front of the

Alte Oper Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a concert hall in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It is located in the inner city, Innenstadt, within the banking district Bankenviertel. Today's Alte Oper was built in 1880 as the city's opera house, which was destr ...

''(Old Opera)'', Frankfurt's concert hall and former opera house in the city centre.

Race winners

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eschborn-Frankfurt - Rund um den Finanzplatz UCI World Tour races Cycle races in Germany

Rund um den Henninger-Turm Rund is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Cathleen Rund (born 1977), German swimmer * Hanno Rund (1925–1993), German mathematician * Thorsten Rund Thorsten Rund (born 25 February 1976 in Lübben) is a German former profes ...

Sports competitions in Frankfurt Recurring sporting events established in 1962 1962 establishments in West Germany UCI Europe Tour races UCI Road World Cup races Taunus Super Prestige Pernod races Inline speed skating competitions