Filippo Ganna is the first leader of this year’s Germany tour. The time trial world champion won the prologue in Weimar on Wednesday (08/24/2022).
After 2.6 kilometers, the Italian was two seconds faster than Bauke Mollema from the Netherlands. Third was defending champion Nils Politt, who needed 2.11 seconds more than Ganna.
Politt feels in good shape
Three minutes driving time with maximum load, “That was three minutes of punching in the face. It hurt.”, Politt said at the finish in the Sportschau interview. He is looking forward to the coming days, his form is good, says the man from Cologne.
As last year’s winner, Politt was the last driver to roll off the ramp with starting number one. “It was special to start the race with starting number one. I wanted to finish at the front and I succeeded.”
However, the Schauinsland is a size too big for him, according to Politt. The king’s stage starts on Saturday in Freiburg and ends on the city’s 1,200 meter local mountain.
Buchmann’s stages are yet to come
As expected, Emanuel Buchmann played no role in the fight for the day’s victory. The tour specialist lost 17 seconds, but is still one of the favorites for overall victory. “For my standards, that was quite good. It’s not my special discipline. I’m more interested in the mountain finish.”said Buchman.
Simon Geschke, who finished 91st, also looks at them. The 36-year-old fell the morning before the prologue and suffered abrasions on his left arm.
Bernal at the start after an injury
Former Tour winner Egan Bernal was 73rd at the same time as Buchmann. The 25-year-old uses the race to collect more racing kilometers. Bernal fell badly during training in January and broke more than 20 bones. Last week he completed the first race after the accident with the Tour of Denmark.
This year’s tour takes five days and 710 kilometers from Weimar to Stuttgart. The first stage will be driven on Thursday within Thuringia over 171.7 kilometers from Weimar to Meiningen.