Five days after his seventh place in the GP de La Marseillaise, Georg Zimmermann took his second top ten of the season on French soil this Friday, in a selective third stage of the Etoile de Bessèges (2.1, 2-6/02). The peloton was confronted with a hilly parcours in the heart of the national park Cévennes, containing four categorized climbs and several other hills. On of them was the Col du Trélis with the top 10 kilometer before the finish.
The last escapees of the early breakaway of seven riders were caught on the final climb, just before the GC leaders started their battle. Georg Zimmermann was one of the twenty riders forming the new leading group after the final climb. Three riders took advantage of the downhill to distinguish themselves and take the victory in Bessèges. 15 seconds after winner Thomas (Cofidis), the German rider sprinted to tenth place.
« We can say that I was pretty lucky when I crashed in the opening stage, because the incident happened at a speed of 60 kph and I didn’t sustain any serious injuries. My shoulder was painful yesterday, but it went better today. I managed to take my second top ten of the year, I can build on these performances in the next weeks. Tomorrow will be a new opportunity to show myself in another hilly stage with a challenging final climb. I remember the Mont Bouquet quite well as it was also a stage finish when I participated two years ago. »
