Tour of Germany 2018 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

August 23, 2018

Tour of Germany 2018 – Stage 1 – Koblenz – Bonn : 154 km

The Deutschland Tour (English: Tour of Germany and sometimes Deutschland-Rundfahrt in German) is the most important multi-stage road bicycle race in Germany. Initially the race was held in May/June, but from 2005 until 2008 it was moved to August as part of the UCI ProTour. On October 16, 2008 the organizers announced that the 2009 edition would be cancelled, following the doping cases that were revealed in the sport of cycling. Marketing chiefs said they were unable to finance the nine-day race due to a lack of interested sponsors after the latest revelations of cyclists testing positive for the blood-booster CERA. The race has not been held since, but a revival for 2017 was announced on 8 March 2016. In 2018, the A.S.O. revived the Deutschland Tour and included a 4-stage-race into a cycling festival. From 23 August to 26 August 2018, the Deutschland Tour will take place in the South-Western region of Germany.

The Deutschland Tour returned on Thursday after a 10-year absence, and Colombian Alvaro Hodeg (Quick-Step Floors) denied the prospect of a home winner for the first stage of the new era as he pipped German champion Pascal Ackerman (Bora-Hansgrohe) in a tight bunch sprint in Bonn.

In-form Ackermann had a perfect lead-out in the long final straight and appeared to be on his way to a fifth victory of the summer, but Hodeg, who started his sprint in fourth place, came roaring up on the right-hand side to snatch it by a tyre’s width.

Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) finished third, with Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data) fourth. Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) finished sixth, while fellow German sprint star Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) did not figure, continuing his miserable 2018 campaign.

Hodeg leads the race overall going into Friday’s stage 2.

How it unfolded

The opening day of racing at the revived Deutschland Tour took the riders 157km from Koblenz to Bonn and, with just one categorised climb on the menu, it was always likely to come down to a bunch sprint – perhaps the only one of the four-day race.

A six-man breakaway went up the road in the early kilometres, containing Jorge Arcas (Movistar), Kevin Van Melsen (Wanty Groupe Gobert), Benoit Jarrier (Fortuneo-Samsic), Jens Reynders (Leopard Pro Cycling), Sven Reutter (Heizomat – Rad Net), and Dorian Lübbers (Lotto – Kern Haus).

They built up a lead of around 2:30 but never more, as Bora, Lotto Soudal, and Quick-Step marshalled the peloton. Reutter won both intermediate sprints, the first coming 25km from the start and the second 50km from the finish, while Jarrier took the KOM points at the sole climb 40km from the line.

As introduced to the Tour de France this year, there is a bonus sprint in the finale offering times bonuses of three, two, and one seconds for the first three, and here it was Reynders who took it from Arcas and Van Melsen. By that point, with less than 20km to go, the break was down to just three riders, Ruetter and Lubbers being the first to go, while Jarrier fell away soon after the climb.

With the gap to the trio just 30 seconds, Oscar Riesebeek (Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij) attacked from bunch with Juri Hollmann (Heizomat Rad-Net) and, after Arcas was briefly dropped, made it up to form a group of five. They were caught with 13.5km to go as Sky came to the front.

After a few kilometres Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas, their nominal leader, hit the front, and it turned out he was paving the way for an attack from fellow Welshman Luke Rowe, who opened a small gap but was caught in the town centre with just over 5km to go.

Bora then came to the front and took control. They came through a nasty 180-degree roundabout turn well positioned, sweeping up an opportunistic attack from another Heizomat rider, and kept pole position through to the final few hundred metres, Ackermann tucked in behind lead-out man Rudiger Selig. The German opened up and could almost taste victory, but Hodeg came storming up to trade another blow in that intriguing late-summer sprint rivalry.

Results :
1 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 3:35:08
2 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Trek-Segafredo)
4 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
5 Alexander Krieger (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling
6 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
7 Aaron Grosser (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
8 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
9 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
10 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
11 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
12 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
13 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
14 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
15 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
16 Nick van der Lijke (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
17 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
18 John Mandrysch (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ | Akkon
19 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
20 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Development Team Sunweb
21 Jasha Sutterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
22 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
23 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
24 Robbert de Greef (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
25 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
26 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
26 Cees Bol (Ned) SEG Racing Academy
28 Warren Barguil (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
29 Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
30 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ l Akkon
31 Joshua Huppertz (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
32 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
33 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
34 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
35 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
36 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
37 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team
38 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
39 Christopher Heider (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ | Akkon
40 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
41 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
42 Simon Laib (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ l Akkon
43 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
44 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Lokosphinx
45 Romain Le Roux (Fra) Team Fortuneo-Samsic
46 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
47 Lennard Kamna (Ger) Team Sunweb
48 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
49 Brice Feillu (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
50 Nuno Matos (Por) Movistar Team
51 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
52 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
53 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
54 Szymon Rekita (Pol) Leopard Pro Cycling
55 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
56 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
57 Jeremy Maison (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
58 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
59 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
60 Nathan Earle (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
61 Freddy Ovett (Aus) Australian Cycling Academy-Ride Sunshine Coast
62 Fabian Schormair (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
63 Jan Hugger (Ger) Team Lotto – Kern Haus
64 Etienne van Empel (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
65 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
66 Jens Reynders (Bel) Leopard Pro Cycling
67 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
68 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
69 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
70 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling
71 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
72 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
73 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
74 Tobias Knaup (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
75 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
76 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
77 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors
78 Patrick Haller (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
79 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
80 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
81 Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
82 Mario Spengler (Swi) Leopard Pro Cycling
83 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
84 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
85 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
86 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
87 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
88 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
89 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
90 Jan Brockhoff (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling
91 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
92 Louis Leinau (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
93 Gaëtan Pons (Luz) Leopard Pro Cycling
94 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
95 Frederik Dombrowski (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ | Akkon
96 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
97 Florian Nowak (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
98 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
99 Felix Intra (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
100 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
101 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
102 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
103 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
104 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling
105 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
106 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
107 Joann Leinau (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
108 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
109 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
110 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:24
111 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:26
112 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:00:29
113 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:32
114 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:01:13
115 Pascal Treubel (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:01:18
116 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:03:19
117 Julian Braun (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ | Akkon 0:03:20
118 Sven Reutter (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
119 Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
120 Amael Moinard (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
121 Johannes Hodapp (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany 0:04:09
122 Leon Rohde (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
123 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:05:27
124 Maxim Pirard (Bel) Bahrain-Merida
125 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
126 Brad Huff (USA) Rally Cycling 0:05:39
127 Per Christian Münstermann 0:05:54
128 Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) Quick-Step Floors
129 Dorian Lübbers (Ger) Team Lotto – Kern Haus
130 Tobias Nolde (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:15:42
DNF Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 3:34:58
2 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
3 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Trek-Segafredo) 0:00:06
4 Jens Reynders (Bel) Leopard Pro Cycling 0:00:07
5 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:08
6 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:00:09
7 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:00:10
8 Alexander Krieger (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling
9 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
10 Aaron Grosser (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
11 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
12 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
13 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
14 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
15 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
16 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
17 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
18 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
19 Nick van der Lijke (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
20 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
21 John Mandrysch (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ | Akkon
22 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
23 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Development Team Sunweb
24 Jasha Sutterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
25 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
26 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
27 Robbert de Greef (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
28 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
29 Cees Bol (Ned) SEG Racing Academy
30 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
31 Warren Barguil (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
32 Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
33 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ l Akkon
34 Joshua Huppertz (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
35 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
36 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
37 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
38 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
39 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
40 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team
41 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
42 Christopher Heider (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ | Akkon
43 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
44 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
45 Simon Laib (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ l Akkon
46 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
47 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Lokosphinx
48 Romain Le Roux (Fra) Team Fortuneo-Samsic
49 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
50 Lennard Kamna (Ger) Team Sunweb
51 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
52 Brice Feillu (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
53 Nuno Matos (Por) Movistar Team
54 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
55 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
56 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
57 Szymon Rekita (Pol) Leopard Pro Cycling
58 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
59 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
60 Jeremy Maison (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
61 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
62 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
63 Nathan Earle (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
64 Freddy Ovett (Aus) Australian Cycling Academy-Ride Sunshine Coast
65 Fabian Schormair (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
66 Jan Hugger (Ger) Team Lotto – Kern Haus
67 Etienne van Empel (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
68 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
69 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
70 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
71 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
72 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling
73 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
74 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
75 Tobias Knaup (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
76 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
77 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
78 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors
79 Patrick Haller (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
80 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
81 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
82 Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
83 Mario Spengler (Swi) Leopard Pro Cycling
84 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
85 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
86 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
87 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
88 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
89 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
90 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
91 Jan Brockhoff (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling
92 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
93 Louis Leinau (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
94 Gaëtan Pons (Lux) Leopard Pro Cycling
95 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
96 Frederik Dombrowski (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ | Akkon
97 Florian Nowak (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
98 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
99 Felix Intra (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
100 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
101 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
102 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
103 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
104 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling
105 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
106 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
107 Joann Leinau (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
108 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
109 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
110 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:34
111 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:36
112 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:00:39
113 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:42
114 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:01:23
115 Pascal Treubel (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:01:28
116 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:03:29
117 Julian Braun (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ | Akkon 0:03:30
118 Sven Reutter (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
119 Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
120 Amael Moinard (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
121 Johannes Hodapp (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany 0:04:19
122 Leon Rohde (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
123 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:05:37
124 Maxim Pirard (Bel) Bahrain-Merida
125 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
126 Brad Huff (USA) Rally Cycling 0:05:49
127 Per Christian Münstermann (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany 0:06:04
128 Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) Quick-Step Floors
129 Dorian Lübbers (Ger) Team Lotto – Kern Haus
130 Tobias Nolde (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:15:52