Rund um den Henninger-Turm

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Rund um den Henninger-Turm
Race details
The Henninger-Turm (Tower) building in Frankfurt am Main.
Date	May 1
Region	Frankfurt, Germany
English name	Lap of the Henninger Tower
Local name(s)	Rund um den Henninger-Turm (German)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI Europe Tour
Type	Single-day
History
First edition	1962
Editions	46 (as of 2008)
First winner	Armand Desmet
Most wins	Erik Zabel (3 wins)
Most recent	Karsten Kroon

Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) leads team mate Marcus Zberg into the final sprint of the 2005 race. Eventual winner Erik Zabel (in pink) is hidden in fourth place.

The Rund um den Henninger-Turm (sometimes called the Frankfurt Grand Prix in English) is a semi classic cycling race which is based around the German city of Frankfurt am Main with the start and finish line on Darmstädter Landstraße outside the Henninger-Turm (Tower), a huge grain silo belonging to the Henninger brewery who are the financial backers of the event. The race takes place on a complicated route in the Taunus mountains west of the city with around 1500m (5,000 feet) of vertical climbing. The climbs of the Ruppershain, Feldberg and Mammolshain have been regular features since the race's inception; the Mammolshain has a very severe 26% gradient and is climbed twice in the race. The race concludes with three laps of 4.5 kilometres in the centre of Frankfurt.

[edit] History

The race which was organised for many years by the brothers Hermann and Erwin Moos, began in 1962 with the Henninger brewery as main sponsors to primarily draw publicity for the newly built Henninger Tower which was opened in 1961. The event did not receive classic status until 1967 when Paris-Brussels was forced off the calendar due to traffic problems and the UCI decided that the Frankfurt event could replace it.

The race had a British winner in 1966 when Barry Hoban rode solo to the finish, holding the chasing pack at one minute for the final 50 kilometres, Eddy Merckx also won alone in 1971 for his only victory. Five riders have won the race twice: Australian Phil Anderson (1984 and 1985), Dutchman Karsten Kroon (2004 and 2008) and the Belgians Ludo Peeters (1982 and 1983), Georges Pintens (1969, 1973) and Jean-Marie Wampers (1986, 1989). However the record for most victories goes to German sprinter-roadman Erik Zabel with victories in 1999, 2002 and 2005.

Although a classic race, the Rund um den Henninger-Turm was only part of the UCI Road World Cup for one year, 1995, with the HEW Cyclassic in Hamburg later getting the vote for the German leg of the series. The event is also not part of the new UCI ProTour which replaced the World Cup in 2005. Observers have often said that the fact that the race is always held on May 1st which ensures that it is often on a midweek date has counted against the Rund organisers. UCI president Hein Verbruggen has hinted however that the Rund um den Henninger Turm could possibly be integrated in the UCI ProTour at some time in the near future and race organisers have said they are prepared to switch the race to the first weekend in May to accommodate the ProTour.

In November 2007, the race organiser Bernd Moos announced that the title sponsor Henninger Bräu AG will stop backing the race after the 2008 edition. He said that after 46 years of sponsoring the race Henninger had decided to pull out because of economic conditions. He expressed thanks to the brewery for their long commitment to the race and said he was now looking for a new title sponsor.^[1]