Adam Yates, the 30-year-old professional cyclist from Manchester who lives and trains in Andorra, has won the Tour of Germany. Superior and hassle-free. With an easy victory on the third stage on Saturday up to Freiburg’s local mountain, the Schauinsland, he got the decisive seconds. On Sunday he started the 187-kilometer final stage from Schiltach to Stuttgart half a minute ahead of the Spaniard Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and had to cede the stage win to Bilbao, but easily defended his lead in the overall standings.
Excellent third place in the Stuttgart sprint was 24-year-old Augsburger Georg Zimmermann (Team Intermarché-Wanty), who ended the tour as the best German in fourth place overall. “I’m super happy with the result,” said Zimmermann. “For me, the Tour de France was a good training camp for the Deutschland Tour. After a break to rest, I wanted to make an honest attempt to do a good Tour of Germany.” Successful attempt.
Young Thuringian wins mountain classification
Jakob Gessner wore the blue jersey of the climber with the best points in the small tour with a prologue and four stages to Stuttgart. The only 22-year-old Thuringian drives for the Continental Team Lotto-Kern Haus. So it was fitting that the much more financially strong German World Tour team Bora-hansgrohe announced on Sunday that from next year it would be working with Lotto-Kern Haus (and Team Tirol KTM) as a “cooperation and development partner”. will work together. Both teams should retain their organizational independence.
The fact that two young German drivers and not the established forces of Bora-hansgrohe drove to the fore on the Deutschland Tour can be seen as a surprise – and as a disgrace for the German flagship racing team on its home tour. Two quite big names only promised good results at the beginning. Emanuel Buchmann, fourth in the Tour de France in 2019, seemed to be able to ride for victory after not starting the Tour of Spain – the reason was a urinary tract infection. But he was just as disappointing as the German champion Nils Politt, who only showed an acceptable performance in third place in the 2.6-kilometer mini-prologue. In the end, Bora-hansgrohe sports director Ralph Denk didn’t want to talk about it for long: his team’s performance was “disappointing,” he said.
Geske disappointed
The same applies to Simon Geschke from Team Cofidis, who drove for the German national team this time and had worn the jersey with the best points in the mountains classification for nine days at the Tour of France in July. On Saturday, on the third stage, he found a stage made for him. Geschke lives in Freiburg, from there the stage led up to the Schauinsland. An approximately twelve-kilometer climb with an average incline of more than six percent, which Geschke knows from dozens of training rides. It was to be his big day. But neither he nor Buchmann could even begin to convince – in a tour with a prologue and four stages, which is internationally at most second division and took place this year in the shadow of the Tour of Spain.
Geschke finished thirtieth at Schauinsland, more than three minutes behind the winner. Buchmann was also unable to keep up with the pace on the final climb and was only 18th, 2:07 minutes behind. “Things went pretty well right up to the final climb,” he said. “Then the legs closed. We imagined it differently, but we can’t change it now.” While Buchmann, who has been plagued by injuries and falls since his big tour appearance in 2019, is looking for his form and determination, could refer to the after-effects of his infection, Geschke found in the efforts during the Tour de France an explanation for his disappointing performance.
Safely secured the overall ranking of the Deutschland Tour: Brit Adam Yates
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Image: dpa
A rider like Adam Yates, who finished tenth overall in the Tour de France, didn’t need to make similar excuses. Yates was the dominating driver, who controlled the events at all times and got serious on Saturday’s drive up to the Schauinsland.
