News

Jens Zemke previews Eschborn-Frankfurt

We ended our Spring classics campaign with a ninth place for Tom Pidcock in Liège but we move on quickly to Eschborn-Frankfurt, another World Tour one-day race. Jens Zemke did the race around 40 times so time for a preview.

29 April 2025

On the 1st of May it’s time for another World Tour race on the calendar for the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team. Matteo Badilatti, Sjoerd Bax, Gianluca Brambilla, Fabio Christen, David de la Cruz, Harm Vanhoucke and David González represent the team led by sports director Jens Zemke. He has special memories of this race.

“I have to start at the beginning,” he says. “This is the race that got me into cycling in the first place. It was Rundum Den Henninger Turm back then and it’s my home race. We always watched as a family and when I was ten years old I took part for the first time. I did every year until I ended my career as a pro at 35. Then I became a sports director and did another 15 editions. I have done this race on the 1st of May for forty years now.”

This race got me into cycling when I was ten years old.

Jens Zemke

The race did change from a pure sprinter’s race to a race with more meters of elevation and different race scenarios. The finish is in Frankfurt where large crowds come to watch on their day off.

“The formula of the race was the same for many years,” Jens explains. “A breakaway and then a sprint. This race is broadcasted from start to finish so it was a bit uneventful. They added in many more of the beautiful Taunus mountains and moved the last climb closer to the finish. Now you see more riders from the Ardennes Classics coming over or riders with the final prep before the Giro. It’s possible to win solo or with a small group. Someone like Fabio Christen has the sprint after a hard race like this.”

Zemke knows the race is a hard one with 13 World Tour teams lining up but he hopes for a good showing and a good result for the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.

“It will be hard to win in this field but as always we are doing our best. I wake up with goosebumps on May 1. I never managed to win it as a rider but as a DS we did win it three times. This is one of the biggest one-day sports events in Germany and I am confident I can bring my passion for Eschborn-Frankfurt across to our riders. It’s a special day.”