Cyclist Nils Politt loses valuable seconds in the fight for his second triumph at the Deutschland Tour. He hasn’t completely written off the overall victory yet.
In the light rain that started in Merzig, Nils Politt gasped for air on the team bus. A few minutes earlier, the German time trial champion suffered a minor setback in the fight for overall victory at the 38th Deutschland Tour.
When the Belgian professional cyclist Ilan van Wilder won the day, Politt reached the day’s finish on Thursday after 179 kilometers, ten seconds behind, in 23rd place.
“I wouldn’t say that the train has left the station. Of course we lost valuable seconds today, but now we have to make sure we make a good plan for the coming days,” said Politt, who is happy to celebrate his second win the home tour after 2021 after the end of the season from the Bora-hansgrohe racing team to his new employer UAE Team Emirates.
Proud van Wilder in red
For the time being, however, van Wilder is in the red jersey. “I think we can be very proud. I’ve read a lot of criticism about our team lately, so I’m all the happier,” said the young Belgian after his first professional win. On the last climb on the circuit in Merzig, which has to be driven twice, the 23-year-old was able to pull away with Austrian Felix Großschartner and Frenchman Pavel Sivakov. The order also crossed the finish line. Politt could not follow the start either. “I quickly noticed that the pace was too fast for me and I took it easy,” said Politt.
Van Wilder thus replaced his British teammate and prologue winner Ethan Vernon at the top of the overall standings. The best German on Thursday was Nikias Arndt, ten seconds behind in ninth place. Before the second stage, which leads over 201.3 kilometers from Kassel in northern Hesse to Winterberg in the Sauerland on Friday, Politt is in sixth place, 19 seconds behind.
Pedersen with a big deficit
Ex-world champion Mads Pedersen, on the other hand, has no chance of overall victory. The Dane, who finished second the day before, this year’s stage winner at the Tour de France and last Sunday’s winner of the Hamburg Cyclassics, had to give up a climb about 50 kilometers before the finish line and finished almost 15 minutes behind.
On Friday we have to climb another 3,300 meters in altitude, which gives Politt and Co. another chance to gain valuable seconds. Both the third and the final fourth stage on Sunday in Bremen, where the tour ends after a total of 732 kilometers, should be a matter for the sprinters.
The Norwegian veteran Alexander Kristoff is no longer among the fast men. The four-time Tour de France stage winner drove into a fence in the prologue shortly before the end of the 2.3 kilometers and then complained of pain in his arm and shoulder. The 36-year-old did not compete in the first stage.
Germany tour website
Source: Stern
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