The 20-year-old Norwegian Per Strand Hagenes from Team Jumbo-Visma surprised and won the Münsterland Giro.
Norwegian outsider Per Strand Hagenes is reeling from his win at the 18th. Münsterland-Giro apparently surprised himself. The 20-year-old from the Jumbo Visma team achieved success single-handedly on Tuesday (October 3rd, 2023) after an attack a good two kilometers from the finish, but simply continued driving after crossing the finish line.
Hagenes apparently miscounted on the finish lap
Apparently Hagenes believed he had to do one more lap and therefore refrained from celebrating.
Behind the youngster, after 194.2 kilometers, the Australian Kaden Groves and the Danish former world champion Mads Pedersen secured second and third place in the sprint of a smaller group, 17 seconds apart. The best German was Jonas Koch in tenth place.
The group of ten broke away from the field 73 kilometers from the finish, thus preventing the expected mass sprint.
Münsterland Giro often decided in a sprint
In recent years the race has often been decided in a sprint, with Marcel Kittel winning twice and André Greipel and John Degenkolb winning once each. The last German winner was Max Walscheid in 2018.
