Tour of Germany 2018 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

August 24, 2018

Tour of Germany 2018 – Stage 2 – Bonn – Trier : 201 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.

Max Schachmann gave Quick-Step Floors their second victory in two days at the Deutschland Tour, beating Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) in a sprint to the line. Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), who had instigated the race-winning attack, rolled across the line for third place.

With victory, Schachmann took the overall race lead off the hands of his teammate Alvaro Hodeg, who had been dropped during an aggressive finale. Mohoric now sits in second place at four seconds with Dumoulin in third on the same time as the Slovenian.

Schachmann latched onto an attack from Dumoulin at the top of the final climb of the day, after multiple attacks from the general classification riders on the ascent. The gap was never that big, but the two worked together to build a small buffer between themselves and the chasing pack. Behind them, several riders could be seen attempting to bridge the gap as they wound their way through the finish town of Trier.

Mohoric finally made contact as they reached the flamme rouge, while Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) took advantage of the tactical games they were playing to join them with just a few hundred metres to go. Politt decided not to hang about, attacking almost as soon as he’d made the juncture, but it proved much too early and he was overhauled as Schachmann and Mohoric went head to head. In the end, it was the home rider who had just enough to take victory by less than a wheel’s length.

“It’s so amazing the feeling. I really marked this race on my calendar. It’s hard because you only have four days, and three chances for me. I’m so happy to win the stage today,” said Schachmann. “Nils Politt came from the back, he kind of surprised us a bit. I knew that he would be a fast man but he went a little bit early. I went into his slipstream and used his speed. I then Mohoric on my right side and I had to accelerate even more. I’m just happy that it was enough.”

On following Dumoulin’s attack, Schachmann said, “I tried at first but then I knew that I couldn’t do it from the front so I dropped myself a little bit down the group. I saw Tom going and I knew that I couldn’t hesitate so I immediately launched my sprint to try and chase him down. We were able to make it to the finish line with some good team work.

“Of course [the GC] is the goal. We have two more hard stages coming up so it won’t be an easy challenge. I think I’m here with a strong team and I really hope to defend this jersey.”

How it happened

After a straight-forward opening sprint stage, day two of the renewed Deutschland Tour would be a different prospect with a hilly 196km offering from Bonn to Trier. A status quo was quickly established with a four-man move of Etienne van Empel (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij), Gaetan Pons (Leopard Pro Cycling), Patrick Haller (Heizomat Rad-Net.de), and John Mandrysch (Team Dauner D&DQ l Akkon) getting away in the opening 10 kilometres.

Quick-Step Floors, with their leader Hodeg, took control on the front of the peloton and allowed the leaders to gain an advantage of close to five minutes before they began reeling things in. With the first two of four classified climbs done and dusted with 50 kilometres remaining, the gap to the escapees had dropped to under a minute.

As the lead continued to fall, and with many of the big sprinters still within the group, the peloton sensed an opportunity break the race up. Katusha-Alpecin kicked things off, sparking a flurry of moves that saw Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Dumoulin attempt to go clear.

Bardet and Dumoulin were not able to distance the bunch but several riders were. Thursday’s second place finisher Pascal Ackermann was one, jumping clear with a number of his Bora-Hansgrohe teammates, plus Mohoric, bouyed by his recent victory at the BinckBank Tour.

As Ackermann lost his teammates, he and Mohoric gained further companions with Dmitrii Strakhov (Katusha-Alpecin), Jasha Sutterlin (Movistar), Emerson Oronte (Rally), Scott Davies (Dimension Data) and Jeremy Maison (Fortuneo-Samsic) joining them. The group got over the penultimate climb and got the bell at the finish line, but they would be brought back by the group led by AG2R La Mondiale with 12 kilometres to go.

Though the attack didn’t succeed, it had done some damage with the group having shed some serious numbers, including the race leader Hodeg. Greipel had hung in but he would not be able to hold on over the final ascent, with attacks coming off the front as soon as the reduced bunch hit the climb.

Team Sky put in an initial move with Geraint Thomas before Sebastian Henao took it up. It marked another string of attacks with Bardet having another dig close to the top of the climb. Damiano Caruso struck out to take the points and three bonus seconds at the top of the ascent with Dumoulin and then Bardet taking two and one seconds respectively.

Over the top, Dumoulin used his time trial power to pull out a gap on the ever-reducing group of favourites with just over six kilometres to go, taking Max Schachmann with him. Despite his early efforts, Mohoric had held onto the group of favourites and put in a mighty effort to track down the two leaders as they passed under the flamme rouge. As the three played cat and mouse games, Politt caught them and quickly made his own bid for the line. He didn’t have enough to drive all the way to the line and Schachmann stormed past to take yet another win for Quick-Step.

Results :
1 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 4:50:36
2 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
4 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
5 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:00:08
6 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
7 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:00:10
8 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:12
9 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
10 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
11 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
12 Nick van der Lijke (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
13 Warren Barguil (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
14 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
15 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
16 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
17 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
18 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
19 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
21 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
22 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:32
23 Szymon Rekita (Pol) Leopard Pro Cycling
24 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
25 Jasha SŸtterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
26 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
27 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
28 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
29 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
30 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
31 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
32 Jeremy Maison (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
33 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
34 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
35 Lennard Kamna (Ger) Team Sunweb
36 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
37 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
38 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
39 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
40 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
41 Nathan Earle (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:41
42 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:13
43 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
44 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:02:00
45 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:09
46 Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij 0:02:40
47 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
48 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:03:15
49 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
50 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling 0:03:19
51 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling
52 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors 0:03:34
53 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
54 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:44
55 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
56 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:24
57 Jan Hugger (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus 0:04:28
58 Florian Nowak (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
59 Patrick Haller (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
60 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
61 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
62 Frederik Dombrowski (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
63 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy
64 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
65 Alexander Krieger (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling
66 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
67 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal
68 Freddy Ovett (Aus) BMC Racing Team
69 Louis Leinau (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
70 Robbert de Greef (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
71 Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
72 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
73 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team
74 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
75 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
76 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
77 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
78 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:34
79 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:07:12
80 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:08:38
81 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
82 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb
83 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal
84 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
85 Brice Feillu (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
86 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
87 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
88 Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) Quick-Step Floors
89 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
90 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
91 Tobias Knaup (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
92 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
93 Joshua Huppertz (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus 0:10:41
94 Jan Brockhoff (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling
95 Romain Le Roux (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
96 Joann Leinau (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
97 Felix Intra (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
98 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
99 Gaëtan Pons (Lux) Leopard Pro Cycling 0:14:04
100 Julian Braun (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
101 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
102 Mario Spengler (Swi) Leopard Pro Cycling
103 Fabian Schormair (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
104 Aaron Grosser (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
105 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
106 Jens Reynders (Bel) Leopard Pro Cycling
107 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
108 Etienne van Empel (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
109 Tobias Nolde (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
110 Dorian Lubbers (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
111 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors
112 Per Christian Munstermann (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
113 Johannes Hodapp (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
114 Nuno Matos (Por) Movistar Team
115 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
116 Pascal Treubel (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
117 Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
118 Leon Rohde (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:19:31
119 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
120 Christopher Heider (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
121 Sven Reutter (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
122 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
123 John Mandrysch (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
124 Simon Laib (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
125 Brad Huff (USA) Rally Cycling
126 Maxim Pirard (Bel) Bahrain-Merida
127 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNS Amael Moinard (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 8:25:34
2 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:04
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
4 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:10
5 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:00:18
6 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
7 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:19
8 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:00:20
9 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:21
10 Nick van der Lijke (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij 0:00:22
11 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
12 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Warren Barguil (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
14 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
15 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
16 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
17 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
19 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
20 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
21 Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
22 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:40
23 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling 0:00:42
24 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
25 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
26 Jasha SŸtterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
27 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
28 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
29 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
30 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
31 Szymon Rekita (Pol) Leopard Pro Cycling
32 Lennard Kamna (Ger) Team Sunweb
33 Jeremy Maison (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
34 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
35 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
36 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
37 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
38 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
39 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
40 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
41 Nathan Earle (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:51
42 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:17
43 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:23
44 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:02:10
45 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:19
46 Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij 0:02:50
47 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
48 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:03:25
49 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
50 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling 0:03:29
51 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling
52 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:03:44
53 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors
54 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:54
55 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:26
56 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:34
57 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:04:37
58 Alexander Krieger (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling 0:04:38
59 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
60 Robbert de Greef (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
61 Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
62 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team
63 Jan Hugger (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
64 Freddy Ovett (Aus) BMC Racing Team
65 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
66 Patrick Haller (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
67 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
68 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
69 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
70 Florian Nowak (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
71 Frederik Dombrowski (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
72 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
73 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
74 Louis Leinau (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
75 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
76 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:44
77 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy 0:05:04
78 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:07:18
79 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:48
80 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb
81 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
82 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
83 Brice Feillu (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
84 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
85 Tobias Knaup (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
86 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
87 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
88 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
89 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
90 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:09:17
91 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:10:05
92 Joshua Huppertz (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus 0:10:51
93 Romain Le Roux (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
94 Jan Brockhoff (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling
95 Felix Intra (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
96 Joann Leinau (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
97 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
98 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:14:04
99 Jens Reynders (Bel) Leopard Pro Cycling 0:14:11
100 Aaron Grosser (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany 0:14:14
101 Nuno Matos (Por) Movistar Team
102 Fabian Schormair (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
103 Etienne van Empel (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
104 Mario Spengler (Swi) Leopard Pro Cycling
105 Gaëtan Pons (Lux) Leopard Pro Cycling
106 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
107 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
108 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:14:38
109 Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) Quick-Step Floors 0:14:42
110 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:15:27
111 Pascal Treubel (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:15:32
112 Julian Braun (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon 0:17:34
113 Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
114 Johannes Hodapp (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany 0:18:23
115 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:19:41
116 John Mandrysch (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
117 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
118 Christopher Heider (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
119 Simon Laib (Ger) Team Dauner D&DQ-Akkon
120 Dorian Lubbers (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus 0:20:08
121 Per Christian Munstermann (Ger) Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
122 Sven Reutter (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:23:01
123 Leon Rohde (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:23:50
124 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida 0:25:08
125 Maxim Pirard (Bel) Bahrain-Merida
126 Brad Huff (USA) Rally Cycling 0:25:20
127 Tobias Nolde (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:29:56