Zberg wins Frankfurt cycling Grand Prix
The Swiss cyclist, Marcus Zberg, has won the Frankfurt Grand Prix, ending a series of home victories for the Germans. Zberg came in ahead of the Italian, Davide Rebellin, and the Belgian, Kurt van de Wouwer.
Zberg completed the 206.1 kilometre race with a sprint finish in a time of five hours, five minutes and 34 seconds.
It’s only the third time a Swiss cyclist has won the event. But it’s the second time a member of the Zberg family has taken the title. Marcus’s brother, Beat, was champion in 1996.
Zberg was one of the 10 front-runners in the final 72km of the race, but he clinched his victory by overtaking the leader Rebellin 66km before the finishline.
After the race he said he had felt really strong during the day’s racing and had wanted to win the race outright.
Zberg sped to victory ahead of the Olympic champion, Jan Ullrich, who failed to even book a place on the medal podium.
The result was a disappointment for the host country with Udo Bölts trailing in with the best German performance in seventh place.
Before the Zberg brothers’ victories, the last Swiss to win the Frankfurt Grand Prix was Thomas Wegmüller in 1990.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.