The Hamburg Cyclassic will take place on Sunday, August 17, on the 207.4 km course from Buxtehude to Hamburg.

There will be no particular altimetric difficulties along the route, with the most challenging section between km 168 and km 195 with several steep climbs to tackle, including the Waseberg twice (900 metres at 9.1%).

With the outgoing winner Kooij absent, the favorite sprinter will be Milan, with Lidl-Trek completely at his service. The most aggressive contenders in the sprint will be Magnier , Meeus , and Groves . Also cited as likely to have a fast finish are Andresen, Molano, De Lie, Girmay, and Bauhaus.

If the race were to surprisingly prove tougher than expected, perhaps with attacks from the UAE men (Christen, Del Toro or McNulty), we would undoubtedly mention Narvaez , our own Ballerini and Trentin, Laurance, Mohoric and, finally, Van Aert who will replace Kooij.