Milram put in a dominating performance in last year’s Grand Prix in Frankfurt, the traditional race that takes place on May1. Fabian Wegmann won the race, with teammate Christian Knees also landing on the podium in third.
The chances for a repeat victory from Wegmann have been hampered by a broken collarbone, but his return to racing in the Ardennes Classics didn’t turn out too badly. A 25th in the Amstel Gold Race was followed by a 17th place finish in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. “Only in Fleche Wallone I fell off the bike again, but it wasn’t as bad as I initially had feared,” Wegmann said during a pre-race press conference in Frankfurt, Germany.
He has had his fair share of crashes since 2009. “The season beginning was good, I recovered well from the crash in the Dauphine last year. I had good legs with respect to the classics.” Then came Tirreno-Adriatico, where he was well placed before a crash forced him to abandon. “It went very very well – I was eighth in the overall.”
The crash put him on the operating table a day later. “The crash you can’t change. I was lucky as the rehab was very quick and after five days I was back on a stationary bike. After another five days I went back out on the road.”
He hopes to carry his good form on to the race on Saturday, openly revealing the tactics. “It is no secret that we don’t have a sprinter. If a big group comes to the finish then we won’t have a chance against the fast guys. So we have to make it a tough race, like we did last year.”
Wegmann added that unfortunately the race was flat. “We have to make the difference in the hilly Taunus area.” In mock surprise, Rolf Aldag, director at the HTC Columbia team with sprinter Andre Greipel, did not agree with the suggested tactics. “I thought we would just go out for a spin through the Taunus and then sprint it out in the end,” he said with as big grin on his face.
Wegmann is familiar with both the loop in the hilly area as well as with the new finish, right in the downtown Frankfurt area. “I know the inner city very well as my wife lived here for half a year. The old opera [where the finish is -ed.] I know very well.” He admitted that he hasn’t been there to see an event yet. “I have only been to the cafe,” he said with a smile.
After a good week of training he is feeling ready. “This is one of my favorite races, so I would love to defend my title.”