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August 24, 2022
Deutschland Tour 2022 – Prologue ITT – Weimar – Weimar : 2,6 km
The Deutschland Tour is one of the oldest stage-races in the world –
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August 24, 2022
Deutschland Tour 2022 – Prologue ITT – Weimar – Weimar : 2,6 km
The Deutschland Tour is one of the oldest stage-races in the world – starting its life back in 1911 – but it has really struggled to establish itself on the racing calendar, experiencing several long hiatuses throughout the 20th and early 21st century. This year the race will feature five stages, with a 2.7km-long prologue kicking off proceedings before a series of hilly stages fall over the following days. Like in previous years, these hilly stages will be ridden like one-day races with the most consistent finisher across them all taking the overall title.
Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) won the prologue at the Deutschland Tour and with it he earned the first leader’s jersey of the five-day race.
The time trial world champion covered the 2.6km route in a winning time of 2 minutes and 56 seconds, beating runner up Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) by two seconds and defending champion Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) by three seconds in Weimar.
Ganna will lead the overall classification into the first road stage with two seconds ahead of Mollema and three ahead of Politt, as the peloton tackle a 171km race from Weimar into Meiningen.
Henri Uhlig (Alpecin-Deceuninck Development) set the first benchmark of the day at 3:07:02 that set the tone for a time trial that would see 50+ km/h. He would eventually finish 28th as faster riders moved onto the circuit.
Greg van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën), Kim Heiduk and Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers), Mick van Dijke (Jumbo-Visma) all spent time in the hot seat as the speeds quickened to the 51km/h threshold.
Mollema was the first rider to crack the three-minute barrier with a time of 2:58, at 52.3km/h, but his time didn’t hold as Ganna stormed through the finish line two seconds faster and at 53.1km/h in a time of 2:56.
Yves Lampaert (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) was the next in but could only manage a time fast enough for fifth place behind van Dijke on the day.
Politt was the next over the line, and while the defending overall champion clocked speeds of 52.2km/h, he was three seconds slower than Ganna, but it was enough to hold onto third place.
Results :