Tour of Germany 2021 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

August 26, 2021

Tour of Germany 2021 – Stage 1 – Dunkerque – Iwuy : 197,1 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. The race was picked up by ASO in 2018 however and since then we’ve seen two revitalised editions of the Deutschland Tour. With the new races following a four-day format, rather than the old nine-day format, the battle for the general classification rages throughout, making for one thrilling and action-packed race. The new four-day format is very different to the older editions and does away with the time-trial in favour of four Classic-esque stages. Each stage is like a one-day race, with the most consistent finisher across the four taking the overall title.

Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) continued to mine a rich vein of form, taking out a hectic bunch sprint on the opening stage of the Deutschland Tour. Led out to perfection by teammate Rüdiger Selig, Ackermann held off the Bahrain Victorious duo of Phil Bauhaus and Marco Haller.

A crash with two kilometres to go disrupted the build-up to the sprint, with Deceuninck-QuickStep losing Mark Cavendish in the chaos. The Belgian team nonetheless led deep into the final kilometre before being overtaken by Selig and Ackermann ahead of the last turn.

Ackermann also won the opening stage of his home tour in 2019 when the race was last held, and now takes the race leader’s jersey into the 180.6km stage 2 from Sangerhausen to Ilmenau with four seconds on Bauhaus and six on Haller.

The opening stage started out with rain, heading from Germany’s Baltic coast in Stralsund for a mostly flat 191km stage to Schwerin.

Six riders attacked from the gun, with five German riders keen to put on a show in their home tour. Henri Uhlig (German National Team), Justin Wolf (Bike Aid), Joshua Huppertz (Team Lotto-Kern Haus), Robert Jägeler (P & S Metalltechnik) and Jon Knolle (Team SKS Sauerland NRW) were joined by Belgian Alex Colman (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).

The breakaway built up a lead of 2:30 with Deceuninck-QuickStep controlling the gap for Tour de France green jersey winner Cavendish. Unfortunately, the Manxman was involved in a crash but rejoined just after the intermediate sprint in Rostock after 78.5km of racing. Wolf won the sprint ahead of Jägeler and Uhlig as the breakaway kept rolling.

Ahead of the only classified climb in Rubow, Jägeler launched an attack to claim the first mountains jersey, taking the sprint ahead of Huppertz and Colman with 40km to go. The surge jettisoned Uhlig, leaving five riders to battle to stay ahead of the peloton, which lagged just over a minute behind.

Bahrain Victorious, UAE Team Emirates, Bora-Hansgrohe and Israel Start-Up Nation came forward in the bunch to help whittle down the gap with 27km to go and the surge had an immediate impact on the breakaway’s advantage. Five kilometres later, the five leaders had only a dozen seconds and what had been a glimmer of hope was entirely dashed by the WorldTour teams.

There was still one more intermediate sprint in Schwerin, and Knolle attacked to take the points but was overtaken by Huppertz. Wolf managed to scramble across and, taking advantage of a brief lull by the peloton, the trio pulled the gap open to 35 seconds.

The peloton got organised and, with 10km to go, Uno-X, Bahrain Victorious, and the German National Team for John Degenkolb took over the chase and began whittling away at the gap. Knoll, Huppertz and Wolf survived until 5km to go just ahead of the time bonus sprint. Huppertz leapt away to take the prime ahead of Wolf and Knolle, who were soon reeled in by the Uno-X led bunch.

Huppertz finally succumbed to the chase by Deceuninck-Quickstep with 3.6km to go and the sprint was on. Uno-X powered to the fore in the final 2km but a big crash disrupted the build-up, with UAE Team Emirates, Alpecin-Fenix and Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux all losing riders to the tarmac. Cavendish was left behind in the melee but Quickstep continued to lead into the final kilometre.

Bora-Hansgrohe took over for Ackermann into the final turn and he just had enough to hold off the Bahrain Victorious riders.

Results :
1 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 4:07:01
2 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
3 Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain Victorious
4 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5 Jannik Steimle (Ger) Deceuninck-QuickStep
6 David van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix
7 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
8 Jens Reynders (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
9 Marco Canola (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo
10 Kim Alexander Heiduk (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
11 Niklas Märkl (Ger) Team DSM
12 Jonas Koch (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
13 Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spa) Movistar Team
14 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
15 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
16 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team
17 Ruben Apers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
18 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
19 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
20 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
21 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
22 Nils Politt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
23 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
24 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Rally Cycling
25 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) German National Team
26 Sander De Pestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
27 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
28 Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
29 Max Kanter (Ger) Team DSM
30 Michel Aschenbrenner (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
31 Anders Skaarseth (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
32 Fabio Van Den Bossche (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
33 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation
34 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
35 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
36 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
37 Eirik Lunder (Nor) Gazprom-RusVelo
38 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
39 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
40 Tom Lindner (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
41 Michiel Stockman (Bel) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
42 Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
43 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team
44 Jan-Marc Temmen (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
45 Abram Stockman (Bel) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
46 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
47 Johannes Hodapp (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
48 Roman Duckert (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
49 Jordi Lopez Caravaca (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
50 Francisco Galvan Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
51 Lucas Carstensen (Ger) Bike Aid
52 Sven Thurau (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
53 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-up Nation
54 Julian Lino (Fra) Bike Aid
55 Christian Maximilian Koch (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
56 Valentin Retailleau (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
57 Clément Berthet (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
58 Petr Rikunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
59 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep
60 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
61 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
62 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
63 Fredrik Dversnes (Nor) Gazprom-RusVelo
64 Marco Brenner (Ger) Team DSM
65 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
66 Bert De Backer (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
67 Julius Johansen (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
68 Ben King (USA) Rally Cycling
69 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
70 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious
71 Danny van der Tuuk (Ned) Equipo Kern Pharma
72 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
73 Alex Colman (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
74 Maxime Jarnet (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
75 Pierre Rolland (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
76 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
77 Marcel Meisen (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix
78 Alex Richardson (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
79 Jon Knolle (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
80 Justin Wolf (Ger) Bike Aid
81 Syver Wærsted (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
82 Dominik Röber (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
83 Marius Mayrhofer (Ger) Team DSM
84 Tobias Nolde (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
85 Azzedine Lagab (Alg) Bike Aid
86 Henning Bommel (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
87 Stephen Bassett (USA) Rally Cycling
88 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious
89 Dawit Yemane (Eri) Bike Aid
90 Immanuel Stark (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
91 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
92 Pierre-Pascal Keup (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
93 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
94 Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team
95 Johannes Adamietz (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
96 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Israel Start-up Nation
97 Jan Hugger (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
98 Jakob Geßner (Ger) German National Team
99 Joshua Huppertz (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
100 Dominik Bauer (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
101 Pirmin Benz (Ger) German National Team
102 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team DSM
103 Florian Stork (Ger) Team DSM
104 Henri Uhlig (Ger) German National Team
105 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
106 Frederik Raßmann (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
107 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling
108 Chris Froome (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation
109 Mario Spengler (Swi) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
110 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling
111 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team
112 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
113 Nathan Brown (USA) Rally Cycling
114 Marti Marquez Roman (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
115 Robert Jägeler (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik 0:02:26
116 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix
117 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:30
118 John Degenkolb (Ger) German National Team
119 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:30
120 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
121 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
122 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
123 Ben Tulett (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
124 Michel Gießelmann (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW 0:03:54
125 Jannis Peter (Ger) German National Team
126 Dries De Pooter (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
127 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
128 Felix Groß (Ger) UAE Team Emirates
129 Alexander Evans (Aus) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:06:48
130 Nikodemus Holler (Ger) Bike Aid 0:11:53
DNS Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 4:06:51
2 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:04
3 Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:06
4 Joshua Huppertz (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus 0:00:07
5 Justin Wolf (Ger) Bike Aid 0:00:08
6 Jon Knolle (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW 0:00:09
7 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:10
8 Jannik Steimle (Ger) Deceuninck-QuickStep
9 David van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix
10 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
11 Jens Reynders (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
12 Marco Canola (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo
13 Kim Alexander Heiduk (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
14 Niklas Märkl (Ger) Team DSM
15 Jonas Koch (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
16 Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spa) Movistar Team
17 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
18 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
19 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team
20 Ruben Apers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
21 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
22 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
23 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
24 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
25 Nils Politt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
26 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
27 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Rally Cycling
28 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) German National Team
29 Sander De Pestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
30 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
31 Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
32 Max Kanter (Ger) Team DSM
33 Michel Aschenbrenner (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
34 Anders Skaarseth (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
35 Fabio Van Den Bossche (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
36 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation
37 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
38 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
39 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
40 Eirik Lunder (Nor) Gazprom-RusVelo
41 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
42 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
43 Tom Lindner (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
44 Michiel Stockman (Bel) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
45 Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
46 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team
47 Jan-Marc Temmen (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
48 Abram Stockman (Bel) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
49 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
50 Johannes Hodapp (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
51 Roman Duckert (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
52 Jordi Lopez Caravaca (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
53 Francisco Galvan Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
54 Lucas Carstensen (Ger) Bike Aid
55 Sven Thurau (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
56 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-up Nation
57 Julian Lino (Fra) Bike Aid
58 Christian Maximilian Koch (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
59 Valentin Retailleau (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
60 Clément Berthet (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
61 Petr Rikunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
62 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep
63 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
64 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
65 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
66 Fredrik Dversnes (Nor) Gazprom-RusVelo
67 Marco Brenner (Ger) Team DSM
68 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
69 Bert De Backer (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
70 Julius Johansen (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
71 Ben King (USA) Rally Cycling
72 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
73 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious
74 Danny van der Tuuk (Ned) Equipo Kern Pharma
75 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
76 Alex Colman (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
77 Maxime Jarnet (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
78 Pierre Rolland (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
79 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
80 Marcel Meisen (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix
81 Alex Richardson (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
82 Syver Wærsted (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
83 Dominik Röber (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
84 Marius Mayrhofer (Ger) Team DSM
85 Tobias Nolde (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
86 Azzedine Lagab (Alg) Bike Aid
87 Henning Bommel (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
88 Stephen Bassett (USA) Rally Cycling
89 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious
90 Dawit Yemane (Eri) Bike Aid
91 Immanuel Stark (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
92 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
93 Pierre-Pascal Keup (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
94 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
95 Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team
96 Johannes Adamietz (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
97 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Israel Start-up Nation
98 Jan Hugger (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
99 Jakob Geßner (Ger) German National Team
100 Dominik Bauer (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
101 Pirmin Benz (Ger) German National Team
102 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team DSM
103 Florian Stork (Ger) Team DSM
104 Henri Uhlig (Ger) German National Team
105 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
106 Frederik Raßmann (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
107 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling
108 Chris Froome (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation
109 Mario Spengler (Swi) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
110 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling
111 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team
112 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
113 Nathan Brown (USA) Rally Cycling
114 Marti Marquez Roman (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
115 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix
116 John Degenkolb (Ger) German National Team
117 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
118 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
119 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
120 Ben Tulett (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
121 Jannis Peter (Ger) German National Team
122 Dries De Pooter (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
123 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
124 Felix Groß (Ger) UAE Team Emirates
125 Robert Jägeler (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik 0:02:36
126 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:40
127 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
128 Michel Gießelmann (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW 0:04:04
129 Alexander Evans (Aus) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:06:58
130 Nikodemus Holler (Ger) Bike Aid 0:12:03