Germany tour
Politt scores in St. Wendel – Vernon wins seconds hunt
Collected valuable seconds in the prologue: Nils Politt. photo
© Alexander Neis/Eibner-Pressefoto/dpa
At the start of the Deutschland Tour, Nils Politt just missed out on victory, but still scored. An industry star originally announced as a starter is missing.
Dive with a tiger leap like a mass sprint Nils Politt crossed the finish line in a battle for seconds in St. Wendel, Saarland.
In high summer temperatures, the German champion wanted to secure the best possible cushion for the rest of the home tour and a possible second overall victory in the 2.3-kilometer time trial at the start of the 38th Deutschland Tour. The professional cyclist from the Bora-hansgrohe team also managed to do this.
“I’m actually relatively satisfied. I haven’t lost much time to the competition. I look from day to day, tomorrow will be the first difficult stage,” said Politt after the chase for seconds.
Englishman wins seconds hunt
With a time of 2:26.910 minutes, the native of Cologne was ultimately stopped and ended up in fifth place. The 29-year-old was 3.34 seconds behind British winner Ethan Vernon. The Danish ex-world champion Mads Pedersen (+1.27) and the Dutchman Maikel Zijlaard (2.81) took second and third place. Jannik Steimle finished sixth with a time of 2:27.21 minutes as the second best German.
Vernon, who is actually a sprint specialist, will start Thursday’s first stage in the overall leader’s red jersey – although he is unlikely to play a major role in the battle for overall victory. However, Politt wants that in order to achieve his second overall victory after 2018. “We want to create the best possible starting position for the upcoming stages. I think it will be a close story this year,” said the 2021 Tour de France stage winner.
Froome not there
A few big names, whose participation had been announced by the organizers around 14 days before the start, did not find their way to Saarland. The British defending champion Adam Yates, third in this year’s Tour de France, will not compete, as will his compatriot Chris Froome, four-time winner of the Tour de France. Froome’s absence has no particular reason, as his team Israel – Premier Tech announced on the fringes of the start when asked by dpa.
On Thursday, the top of the overall classification could then get a new face. The 179 kilometers from St. Wendel to Merzig definitely have an appealing classic character. A constant up and down, sometimes with very steep ramps, characterizes the middle part of the stage in particular. For the finale in Merzig, a difficult target lap with a climb awaits, which some pros already know from 2018.
The Deutschland Tour, which was revived in 2018 after a ten-year break, comes to an end after a total of 732 kilometers on Sunday in Bremen. Winterberg and Essen are the destinations of the tour beforehand.