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Mission accomplished: Ben Zwiehoff wins Tour de Romandie mountains jersey
Ben Zwiehoff was not only the first to wear the mountains jersey at the Tour de Romandie, but also the only one. He also confidently defended his light blue jersey on the last few days.
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The character of Ben Zwiehoff was evident at the moment of one of his greatest successes. "I'm proud that I was able to give something back to the team this week for all the support over the last few years," he said after winning the mountains jersey at the Tour de Romandie.
Normally, he is the one who helps his captains on the mountain, race after race, so that they can shine. But this time he shone himself. And in light blue. Although he considers his two second places in the overall rankings of the Tour of Turkey and the Czech Tour to be even more valuable. "But winning a jersey like that, standing on the podium every day and then being in the spotlight thanks to the breakaways was great fun!"
Attacks fended off, jersey confidently defended
Ben took the mountains jersey on stage 1 of the second day of the race - no points were awarded for this classification in the prologue - and didn't take it off again until the finale in Geneva. There was also another time trial on the programme. So on the final day it was all about finishing. The more or less relaxed 5th and final stage for the 31-year-old was very welcome after the exhausting days before.
Ben Zwiehoff wins the Tour de Romandie mountain jersey
© Getty Sport
Because on the four days in between, Ben was in the breakaway group of the day three times and thus covered a total of around 350 kilometres ahead of the peloton. Many of them uphill. "Yesterday on the penultimate stage, you could tell that some other riders were still eyeing the jersey. So it was all the more important that I made it back into the group despite the heated early stages and was ultimately able to secure the jersey with confidence," said the German.
'Confident' means in numbers: Ben took the mountain jersey with 87 points. His closest rival, Frenchman Julien Bernard, ended up with 35 points. "A big thank you to our team here in French-speaking Switzerland, who gave me really great support in my spontaneous mission for the mountain jersey," he was keen to say.
Ben Zwiehoff: "It's great that I was able to take my chance"
"Especially because the rest of the tour certainly didn't go as we had imagined," added the former mountain biker, who has been with the team since 2021. Although Aleksandr Vlasov was able to finish fifth in the final time trial, he could not ride to the front of the overall standings.
Ben Zwiehoff defends all attacks on his mountain jersey.
© Getty Sport
And so it was up to Ben to bring home something tangible from the week in Switzerland. "But I didn't feel any pressure, even though we helpers don't usually get the chance to ride for ourselves that often. All the better that I was able to make the most of mine. All in all, it was definitely a great end to the first phase of my very successful season so far." After one round trip in each month of the year so far, some rest and a serious build-up of form are now on the agenda.
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