Tour de France: Geschke praises the German tour squad

Halfway through the Tour de France, professional cyclist Simon Geschke draws a satisfied interim conclusion of the German mini squad. “Second and third on the tour are not bad results,” said the 37-year-old of the German Press Agency. “With seven starters from a German perspective, it will definitely be difficult to win a stage,” he noted.

The successes so far: On Tuesday, mountain specialist Zimmermann came second and narrowly failed to win the day after a strenuous heat stage. Sprinter Phil Bauhaus finished third behind strong winner Jasper Philipsen on Wednesday. The Bocholter had already taken second place on the third stage and third place a day later. “We may have been a bit spoiled in recent years with Marcel Kittel and André Greipel, who have won three, four stages or even more every year,” said Geschke.

Geschke’s tour: He doesn’t give himself a good interim report. “Personally, of course, I can’t draw a good conclusion because I more or less only rode along and did my helping hand.” So far, the man from Freiburg, who wants to end his career next year, has not managed to get past a 62nd place in the stage. “Maybe that will change a bit, we’ll see,” he added. Last year he surprisingly wore the mountain jersey for nine days.

The next stage: On the twelfth stage this Thursday, breakaways should have good cards. The greatest hopes for a good placement are on climber Zimmermann. The 25-year-old showed how good breakaways are for him when he missed the day’s win. The section starts off rather bumpy in Roanne, before becoming much more demanding in the second part. Two climbs of the second category have to be mastered on the last 50 of a total of 168.8 kilometers.