Cycling Germany Tour: Mühlberger wins rain stage
Gregor Mühlberger prevailed on the second stage of the Deutschland Tour. photo
© Swen Pförtner/dpa
The Austrian Gregor Mühlberger wins the second stage of the Deutschland Tour. In the rainy Sauerland, the German professionals around Nils Politt and Gregor Zimmermann missed out on the podium.
Nils Politt enjoyed a few moments in the dry at the finish. Completely soaked, the German professional cyclist reached the finish line on the second stage of the Deutschland Tour and, like compatriot Georg Zimmermann, narrowly missed out on the podium in a water fight.
“The finish was extremely tough, especially the last kilometers up here were pretty tough. The rain didn’t exactly play into our hands either,” said Politt on ZDF. On the 201.3 kilometers to Winterberg in Sauerland, Politt finished the stage in seventh place, Zimmermann was eighth.
The Austrian Gregor Mühlberger won with a narrow lead of ten seconds in front of his Spanish teammate Alex Aranburu and the American Kevin Vermaerke. Politt and Zimmermann also crossed the finish line ten seconds behind Mühlberger.
The Austrian had already won a stage of the Alpine Tour this year. “It’s been a very good year for me personally,” he said. The end of the stage in Winterberg was not planned. Actually, his team put everything on Aranburu. Thanks to his positioning, Mühlberger then got the green light over the team radio to try to win the day.
Van Wilder defends red jersey
After his first professional win the day before, Belgian Ilan Van Wilder defended the overall leader’s red jersey with a lead of eleven seconds over Austrian Felix Großschartner.
Heavy rain accompanied the most demanding tour stage, which started in Kassel, Hesse. Via the towns of Brilon and Meschede, the route climbed up to the mountain classification in the village of Altastenberg at an altitude of 766 metres. Despite the challenging weather conditions, there were no serious falls. “It wasn’t that hard. The roads were very good, not too slippery,” said Mühlberger, the day’s winner.
Shortly after the start, Dutchman Oscar Riesebeek and young German driver Julian Borresch pulled away as a breakaway group and in some cases gained a lead of more than eight minutes. Riesenbeek then pulled away about 58 kilometers from the finish and distanced the 21-year-old, who had kept up well.
On the ascent to Altastenberg, however, Riesenbeek lost time and was caught about 22 kilometers from the finish. Mühlberger and German professional Florian Stork attacked about 16 kilometers from the finish line. While Stork fell behind, Mühlberger stayed in front.
Politt is now seventh overall
Nils Politt, who won the Deutschland Tour in 2021, started the race in sixth place overall before the second stage, 19 seconds behind leader van Wilder. The distance was “in the range,” said the Cologne ZDF before the start. After the wet stage, Politt slipped down to seventh place.
On Saturday, the pros will switch from the Sauerland to the Ruhr area. 173.8 undulating kilometers between Arnsberg and Essen are on the program. Then a preliminary decision could already be made. The tour ends on Sunday after a final stage from Hanover to Bremen.
dpa
#Subjects
