Germany tour
Este Mihkels wins in Essen – van Wilder remains in red
Was able to celebrate the day’s victory in Essen: Madis Mihkels. photo
© Fabian Strauch/dpa
After the penultimate stage of the Deutschland Tour, the Belgian Ilan van Wilder is about to win the overall tour. The German pros around sprinter Phil Bauhaus fail again on the podium.
Phil Bauhaus has the first home win at this year’s Germany tour just missed. The 29-year-old, who caused a sensation at the Tour de France with three podium finishes, sprinted across the finish line in Essen in fourth place on the third stage.
Madis Mihkels from Estonia, teammate of Augsburg’s Georg Zimmermann, surprisingly won after 173.8 kilometers ahead of Dutchman Danny van Poppel and Belgian Quinten Hermans. The Belgian Ilan van Wilder remains in the red jersey without losing time and is therefore close to the Tour victory on Sunday.
Van Wilder stays in red
In the overall standings, the Belgian is eleven seconds ahead of Austrian Felix Großschartner. Nils Politt is 22 seconds behind in eighth place. “Now it’s time to go full throttle tomorrow and at least get on the podium,” Politt told ARD. “It was a super difficult stage for us sprinters,” added Bauhaus, adding: “In the end I was good. I think my speed was the best of all, but in the end I was fourth.”
The 23-year-old van Wilder had won the first stage, in the second he finished fifth and on Saturday he did not lose any time compared to the day before. For van Wilder, the Tour victory would be the biggest career success so far.
The pros started in Arnsberg and rode the ups and downs of the Sauerland via Wuppertal to the Ruhr metropolis of Essen. But first there was a minute’s silence in Arnsberg for the dead young Belgian driver Tijl De Decker, who was involved in a serious training accident in his home country of Belgium and later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
Three-man escape group
Almost 20 kilometers after the start, three riders – including the German professional Juri Hollmann – launched an attack and meanwhile drove with a lead of two minutes at the front. They also defended their lead over the 2.1 kilometer long ramp to the Langenberg transmitter, which had an average gradient of 6.6 percent. However, 71 kilometers from the finish, they were caught up by the peloton.
The final of the stage in Essen promised a mass sprint. Pascal Ackermann and Phil Bauhaus were among the most promising candidates for a day win from a German perspective. “I think this is a route that suits me perfectly. I definitely want to win today,” Ackermann told ARD before the start. The 29-year-old is moving from the UAE team around superstar Tadej Pogacar to the Israel – Premier Tech team for the new season.
The field remained closed for a long time before 29-year-old Frenchman Anthony Turgis attacked with 30km to go but was caught ten from the finish. Shortly afterwards there was another fall in which the Spaniard Pello Bilbao, teammate from Bauhaus, was involved and was thrown back.
The final stage of the five-day tour is on the program on Sunday. From Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, the drivers have to master mostly flat 175.6 kilometers to Bremen.
Germany tour website