The Norwegian Alexander Kristoff has won the second stage of the Deutschland Tour. Best German driver was Max Kanter.
Kristoff, 35, won on Friday (08/26/2022) after 200.7 kilometers from Meiningen in Thuringia to Marburg in Hesse in the sprint of a large group ahead of French champion Florian Sénéchal and Alberto Bettiol (Italy).
“I’ve been left behind in the steep hills several times, but my team has always brought me back”said Kristoff the ZDF. “In the end I’m very happy to have won.”
In general, Kristoff and the Deutschland Tour – he particularly enjoys riding here. He had already won two stages in Germany last year, and in 2019 he was one of the day winners.
Bettiol takes over overall management
Bettiol, third on the day, took over the red jersey of the overall leader from his Italian compatriot Filippo Ganna. Bettiol leads in the overall standings ahead of day’s winner Kristoff and Ganna.
Kanter best German again
Max Kanter finished fifth behind 2016 Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) as the best German. Georg Zimmermann took tenth place.
After a complicated stage with many shorter climbs and frequent crosswinds, Emanuel Buchmann finished 30th with the first group. “It’s okay, I didn’t feel bad”Buchmann told ZDF.
Defending champion Nils Politt, who was third at the start in Weimar, lost a good three minutes and a lot of strength in 64th place. A good 40 kilometers from the finish, the Bora-hansgrohe team got caught “a bit behind, we had to close the gap again”Politt said: “I left a few grains there.”
For Geschke it’s up the Heimberg
The Germany Tour leads over five race days until Sunday (28.08.2022) over around 700 km with 11,000 meters in altitude from Weimar to Stuttgart, a highlight is the mountain finish at Schauinsland near Freiburg on Saturday.
The focus there will be on Simon Geschke, who has lived and trained in Freiburg for many years. Born in Berlin, he wore the mountain jersey for nine days at this year’s Tour de France – longer than any German before. Climbing specialist Emanuel Buchmann can also have hopes.