Deutschland Tour, 2.Pro (August 24-28)

[Max Rockatansky]

Prologue: Weimar › Weimar (2.7km)

Stage 1: Weimar › Meiningen (171km)

Stage 2: Meiningen › Marburg (199km)

Stage 3: Freiburg › Schauinsland (150km)

Stage 4: Schiltach › Stuttgart (188km)

Teams
Bora: Buchmann, Großschartner, Haller, Konrad, Palzer, Politt
Lotto: Ewan, Kluge, RJvR, Holmes, Vanhoucke
B&B Hotels-KTM: Heideman, Lecrocq, Boileau, Chevalier, Jauregui, Schönberger
Intermarché-Wanty: Delacroix, Zimmermann, Bystrom, Peak, Kristoff, Huys
Alpecin-Deceuninck: Bayer, Uhlig, Ballerstedt, Thwaites, Krieger, Mareczko
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl: Knox, Vansevenant, Jakobsen, Sénéchal, Lampaert, van Tricht
UAE: Bennett, Bjerg, Covi, Formolo, Gaviria, Groß
Jumbo: Kooij, Leemreize, Foss, M.van Dijke, Boven, van der Sande
Movistar: Kanter, Hollmann, Pedrero, Sosa, Rodriguez, Rubio
Ineos: Bernal, De Plus, Ganna, Heiduk, Tulett, Yates
Deutschland: Benz, Rapp, Geschke, Peter, Kretschy, Teutenberg
Dauner Akkon: Duckert, Munton, Raßmann, Messerschmidt, Muller-Sciacca, Gehrke, Ury
DSM: Welsford, Denz, Stork, Bardet, Mayrhofer, Märkl
Ag2r: GvA, Bouchard, Berthet, L.Naesen, Calmejane, Schär
Lotto - Kern Haus: Huppertz, Tarlton, Hugger, Meisen, Geßner, Koch
Israel: Hollenstein, Goldstein, Piccoli, Berwick, Niy, Fuglsang
Trek: Mollema, Hellemose, Ghebreigzabhier, Pellaud, Gallopin, Skjelmose
Sauerland: Borresch, Münstermann, Stockmann, Adamietz, Stockmann, Knolle
Bahrain: Bilbao, Milan, Haussler, Zambanini, Bauhaus, Pernsteiner, Maciejuk
EF: Bettiol, Healy, Eiking, Rutsch, Guerreiro, Quinn

Previous Winners
2021: Nils Politt
2019: Jasper Stuyven
2018: Matej Mohoric
2008: Linus Gerdemann
2007: Jens Voigt
2006: Jens Voigt
2005: Levi Leipheimer
2004: Patrick Sinkewitz
2003: Michael Rogers
2002: Igor González de Galdeano
2001: Alexander Vinokourov
2000: David Plaza
1999: Jens Heppner
1982: Theo de Rooij
1981: Silvano Contini
1980: Gregor Braun
1979: Dietrich Thurau
1962: Peter Post
1961: Friedhelm Fischerkeller
1960: Ab Geldermans
1955: Rudi Theissen
1952: Isidore De Ryck
1951: Guido De Santini
1950: Roger Gyselinck
1949: Harry Saager
1948: Philipp Hilbert
1947: Erich Bautz
1939: Georg Umbenhauer
1938: Hermann Schild
1937: Otto Weckerling
1931: Eric Metze
1930: Hermann Buse
1927: Rudolf Wolke
1922: Adolf Huschke
1911: Hans Ludwig

Most stage wins:
Erik Zabel 13
Heinz Müller 9
Hermann Schild 9

 

[RedheadDane]

Sauerland: Borresch, Münstermann, Stockmann, Adamietz, Stockmann, Knolle

Why didn't you just write "Stockmann x2"?

 

[tobydawq]

Prologue: Weimar › Weimar (2.7km)

Stage 1: Weimar › Meiningen (171km)

Stage 2: Meiningen › Marburg (199km)

Stage 3: Freiburg › Schauinsland (150km)

Stage 4: Schiltach › Stuttgart (188km)

Teams
Bora: Buchmann, Großschartner, Haller, Konrad, Palzer, Politt
Lotto: Ewan, Kluge, RJvR, Holmes, Vanhoucke
B&B Hotels-KTM: Heideman, Lecrocq, Boileau, Chevalier, Jauregui, Schönberger
Intermarché-Wanty: Delacroix, Zimmermann, Bystrom, Peak, Kristoff, Huys
Alpecin-Deceuninck: Bayer, Uhlig, Ballerstedt, Thwaites, Krieger, Mareczko
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl: Knox, Vansevenant, Jakobsen, Sénéchal, Lampaert, van Tricht
UAE: Bennett, Bjerg, Covi, Formolo, Gaviria, Groß
Jumbo: Kooij, Leemreize, Foss, M.van Dijke, Boven, van der Sande
Movistar: Kanter, Hollmann, Pedrero, Sosa, Rodriguez, Rubio
Ineos: Bernal, De Plus, Ganna, Heiduk, Tulett, Yates
Deutschland: Benz, Rapp, Geschke, Peter, Kretschy, Teutenberg
Dauner Akkon: Duckert, Munton, Raßmann, Messerschmidt, Muller-Sciacca, Gehrke, Ury
DSM: Welsford, Denz, Stork, Bardet, Mayrhofer, Märkl
Ag2r: GvA, Bouchard, Berthet, L.Naesen, Calmejane, Schär
Lotto - Kern Haus: Huppertz, Tarlton, Hugger, Meisen, Geßner, Koch
Israel: Hollenstein, Goldstein, Piccoli, Berwick, Niy, Fuglsang
Trek: Mollema, Hellemose, Ghebreigzabhier, Pellaud, Gallopin, Skjelmose
Sauerland: Borresch, Münstermann, Stockmann, Adamietz, Stockmann, Knolle
Bahrain: Bilbao, Milan, Haussler, Zambanini, Bauhaus, Pernsteiner, Maciejuk
EF: Bettiol, Healy, Eiking, Rutsch, Guerreiro, Quinn

Previous Winners
2021: Nils Politt
2019: Jasper Stuyven
2018: Matej Mohoric
2008: Linus Gerdemann
2007: Jens Voigt
2006: Jens Voigt
2005: Levi Leipheimer
2004: Patrick Sinkewitz
2003: Michael Rogers
2002: Igor González de Galdeano
2001: Alexander Vinokourov
2000: David Plaza
1999: Jens Heppner
1982: Theo de Rooij
1981: Silvano Contini
1980: Gregor Braun
1979: Dietrich Thurau
1962: Peter Post
1961: Friedhelm Fischerkeller
1960: Ab Geldermans
1955: Rudi Theissen
1952: Isidore De Ryck
1951: Guido De Santini
1950: Roger Gyselinck
1949: Harry Saager
1948: Philipp Hilbert
1947: Erich Bautz
1939: Georg Umbenhauer
1938: Hermann Schild
1937: Otto Weckerling
1931: Eric Metze
1930: Hermann Buse
1927: Rudolf Wolke
1922: Adolf Huschke
1911: Hans Ludwig

Most stage wins:
Erik Zabel 13
Heinz Müller 9
Hermann Schild 9

This seems like a much more interesting race than usual.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

This seems like a much more interesting race than usual.

Yeah, it's a really good route this year, shame it's at the same time as the Vuelta. Would've been the perfect post-Tour stage race instead of Pologne.

 

[steffr222]

This seems like a much more interesting race than usual.

Yeah, and a race with completely new dynamics because of the MTF. Schauinsland isn’t hard at all but will still be more than enough to shake up GC

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Why didn't you just write "Stockmann x2"?

Because he isn't cloning the riders.

The prologue is pointless, but the route is otherwise fine and could produce some exciting racing.

Skjelmose could rack up some more top 10s here.

 

[RedheadDane]

Because he isn't cloning the riders.

It's not cloning when talking about twins! Though, I guess you could argue that twins are some sort of naturally occurring genetic clones.

 

[Valv.Piti]

What a nice ride indeed. This race has a great history, and it should be a matter of time before it expands, maybe to 7 stages, and becomes WT. You can do lots of fancy stuff with the calendar and the stages, its obvious to everyone that the climbers really lack some big races post-Tour, so I hope they go in that direction.

Im surprised Ullrich hasn't won this event, but then again, as far as I know, the race only moved post its post Tour location much later so Ullrich of course didn't stand a chance winning races that weren't held before he dropped those precious kgs every year.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Im surprised Ullrich hasn't won this event, but then again, as far as I know, the race only moved post its post Tour location much later so Ullrich of course didn't stand a chance winning races that weren't held before he dropped those precious kgs every year.

In 1999 ,when it came back with the Ulle-Zabel-Telekom-Hypetrain, it was held in late May/early June. A bit as a prep race for the Tour, while the Giro was in its final phase.

Jan crashed hard that year and missed the Tour.

In 2000 he was - of course - overweight and lost 15 minutes over the Kandel climb. That year also was not the best for Telekom, because David Plaza "stole" the title from Klödi and Bölts in the time trial. Which was too long (35k) compared to the rest of the route.

In 2001 Jan did the Giro.

In 2002 he was suffering from a knee injury and missed the race.

A year later Jan came back with Bianchi. He got his first good result and finished 5th. But again failed the high expectations of his country, when ONCE destroyed the race on the Feldberg climb. They took the places 1,2,3,4 and 6 (young Contador) that day. However they lost the GC to Mick Rogers, thanks to a 40k itt. Ulle got second that day.

In 2004 the critics went even harder on Jan, who finished the race seventh, but did not stand a chance on the climbs against young Sinkewitz and others. This was also the first year for the race to start with the Austria climbing nonsense.

In 2005 Jan won his first and only stage. Of course a time trial. The race moved post Tour de France and took place in August. And Jan did really well. He was only beaten by Leipheimer, who dominated the race for Gerolsteiner. Levy was very strong on the Rettenbachferner climb in Sölden. A climb which doesn't suit Jan at all.

Unfortunately, if you look through the history of the race, you will find only a few stages, that were really interesting and challenging. For many years, you simply rode from one city to another. This logically ended in a sprint. Even in the 30ies, 60ies and 80ies.

The Ullrich years were often characterized by routes that were easy. A long time trial, lots of sprints for Zabel and maybe a little Black Forest (Kandel, Feldberg) and once Fichtelgebirge.

Instead of making the race more attractive and taking advantage of the many German (especially East German) low mountain ranges, from 2005 onwards they used the very German tactic: Higher, Faster, Further. They wanted to have a mini Tour de France in August. For this purpose, the state of Tyrol was secured as the main sponsor. A complete dependency was established, and suddenly the Rettenbachferner, which is over 2,800 meters high, was there. Or even the Kühtai on the approach. Please don't get me wrong. These are great climbs. But it's as if the final weekend of the Tour de France was being raced in the Dolomites.

Since 2018, the organizers have been smarter. They keep the race small and primarily try to do stages that are well suited for rider types like Politt, Schachmann, Kämna (who both seem to be burned out atm) or Mohoric. Perhaps they were even too timid at the beginning because there were hardly any opportunities for distances. They've probably changed that now with the prologue and an easy mountain finish.

That also gives me hope that the race won't turn into a second Tour of Bavaria. A race in the most mountainous German state, that has had only one mountain stage in more than 20 years.

For the future I also hope that one dares more to use cobblestones (Brandenburg, Rügen, Schleswig-Holstein). And at the same time make more of the opportunities, that are offered in the Mittelgebirge. Around Dortmund, for example, you could easily design a stage somewhere between Amstel and Liège. The Nürburgring has a great tradition in cycling. Three world championships have been held here. The Berchtesgaden Alps offer some roads, that could easily rival the Italian and Spanish muritos. And that's just a small part of the possibilities. A small side note: in 1952, they actually dared to do a mountain time trial. From Bad Reichenhall to the Obersalzberg.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Vast improvement in the race. The TT is short and the stage in the former east should offer enough that it's not just win the MTF win the race - and as this is a pretty easy MTF in a Unipuerto stage, the gaps created by it shouldn't be big enough to render the last stage moot either.

Bonus points if the Freiburg start is at the university.

 

[Earns1985]

Really like the stage designs and also looking forward to the future of this event. As mentioned before there is a lack of racing opportunity for GC riders in august and september apart from the vuelta. The Deutschland Tour can fill this gap.

For this year Buchmann will be pretty motivated to win this, Kämna and Schachmann will not be here with "health problems", which is a pitty.

Just for information the start point of stage 3 to the finish point of stage 2 have a distance of 3 hours and 38 minutes by car. Heard that the teams will make half of the distance friday night and the second part of the distance saturday morning..

 

[Mayomaniac]

What a nice ride indeed. This race has a great history, and it should be a matter of time before it expands, maybe to 7 stages, and becomes WT. You can do lots of fancy stuff with the calendar and the stages, its obvious to everyone that the climbers really lack some big races post-Tour, so I hope they go in that direction.

Im surprised Ullrich hasn't won this event, but then again, as far as I know, the race only moved post its post Tour location much later so Ullrich of course didn't stand a chance winning races that weren't held before he dropped those precious kgs every year.

On the other hand we got Jens performing like Portugese CT riders in the Volta....

I really like multiple stages, nice to see that they are using the nasty Amöneburg murito and I've played around with the idea of a hilly WC circuit around Marburg before.
The MTF isn't too hard, but that's actually a good thing in the context of this route. It means that the hilly stages will be raced properly.

 

[Lequack]

Did they really make a 2.7km prologue?

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Did they really make a 2.7km prologue?

Yes. Yes they did. Though I feel like it'll be the only stage Jakobsen will have a chance it.

Bauhaus is a apparently a non starter due to a covid positive and some symptoms

Also how come this isn't stickied when it starts this evening?

 

[RedheadDane]

Oi! @Red Rick! Get to work.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

A really short prologue is bad enough, but having time trials on road bikes is even worse.

Van Avermaet was leading until Kim Heiduk just set the new best time.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yates, NBT.

Bit silly to have an intermediate on such a short prologue.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

What happened to Kooij?

 

[Faserr]

What happened to Kooij?

He crashed hard in the corner after the split. He had a big hole in his butt which was spraying blood...

 

[RedheadDane]

He crashed hard in the corner after the split. He had a big hole in his butt which was spraying blood...

That is giving me some very disturbing mental images.
Please don't post actual images.

 

[Faserr]

Yes. No need to watch it...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

That is giving me some very disturbing mental images.
Please don't post actual images.

I've just watched them and instantly regretted that decision.

 

[RedheadDane]

M. Van Dijke NBT.

Didn't last long. Mollema NBT.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Mollema NBT.

 

[RedheadDane]

No rules for how long shoe covers can be?