Tour of Germany 2021 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

August 27, 2021

Tour of Germany 2021 – Stage 2 – Sangerhausen – Ilmenau : 180,6 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. 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.

Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) won stage two of the Deutschland Tour in a bunch sprint.

After being put in an ideal position as his teammate Sven Erik Bystrom led the peloton around the last corner, Kristoff initially looked as though he was going to be outsprinted by Phil Bauhaus when the Bahrain Victorious flew past him. But he managed to get into Bauhaus’ slipstream, and overtake him at the line.

Stage 1 winner Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) was third and held onto the overall race lead.

Amid rainy weather and undulating terrain that made life difficult for the pure sprinters, this was the kind of stage that the veteran Kristoff has always thrived in, and he made the most of the circumstances to claim his first win of the season, and his first since triumphing in Nice at the beginning of last year’s Tour de France.

“I like to race in Germany,” said Kristoff at the finish. “I have a lot of my wins in this country. I won a stage here last time [in 2019], and had good memories from that.

“Today it was good conditions for me. In Nice [where he won the Tour de France stage last year] it was conditions like this with the rain, so I usually race quite well in these conditions, even if I don’t really enjoy it. After the race when you’ve won, then you enjoy it, so I’m very happy now.

“I’ve been waiting a long time [to win]. I did not have a good season this year. I was close at the Arctic [Race of Norway] and at the Tour of Norway, so to get the win now finally was a nice feeling.”

Bystrom played a huge role in the victory, setting such a fast pace around the corner that he, Kristoff, Bauhaus and Ackermann opened up a gap over the rest of the peloton.

“It was really technical,” said Kristoff of the finish. “I knew I needed to be in the top five in the last corners in the last kilometre. I got in a good position and then Bystram was with me, and he led out the sprint, so I actually started off first, and Bauhaus came around me quite fast. But I managed to get his wheel, and he kind of faded over the flat drag into the finish line, and I managed to just get around him again.

“I was really happy to see that I managed to push my bike in front. It was really close, I was not 100% sure if I took it, but I saw the pictures later.”

How it unfolded

Although not as windy as yesterday to begin with, the weather for the second stage of the Tour of Germany was not pleasant, with rain making for wet roads.

Several riders went down during the day as a result, including big names like Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Ben O’Conor (Ag2r Citroen) and Andre Greipel (Israel-StartUp Nation), and three riders were hurt badly enough to have to abandon: Rick Zabel (Israel Start-Up Nation), Nathan Brown (Rally Cycling) and Jan Hugger (Lotto-Kern Haus).

Being out ahead in the break was safer than in the congested peloton, and five riders successfully did so at the start of the stage: Marc Soler (Movistar), Louis Vervaeke (Alpecin-Fenix), Francisco Galavan (Equipo Kern Pharma), Jannis Peter (Rad-Net Rose Team) and Kyle Murphy (Rally Cycling).

Soler was the headline name in the group and, given the terrain, the most surprising. His intention for the day were hard to fathom for a man who might be a GC contender, especially when he contested and won the intermediate sprint halfway into the stage, despite there being no bonus seconds available.

Murphy’s priority was the mountains classification, and he took the maximum points ahead of Vervaeke and Peter on the first climb of the day, the Kyffhäuser.

Bora-Hansgrohe kept the break on a leash, not giving them any real hope of being able to stay clear to the finish.

An increase in pace from P&S Metalltechnik as the wind picked up saw the gap come down to under one minute at about 50km from the finish, and also managed to cause a split in the peloton and drop several riders out of the peloton, including, surprisingly, national star Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

With the break now in danger of being caught early, Vervaeke broke clear from the other four. Those four were imminently caught 44km from the finish, after which P&S Metalltechnik instigated the next part of their unusual plan, with Immenuel Stark attacking the peloton.

Vervaeke was still the best part of half a minute up the road, meaning Stark faced some challenge to bridge across by himself, and Stark was unable to reduce the deficit.

With P&S Metalltechnik no longer working at the front, the peloton eased up, and Vervaeke’s lead was allowed to grow back up to nearly two minutes, with Stark left in-between in no-man’s land.

Stark was eventually caught 25km from the finish after the peloton upped the pace again through Bahrain-Victorious. Vervaecke nevertheless still had a lead in excess of one minute by the top of the last categorised climb of the day, the Unterpörlitz, although Murphy managed to break out of the peloton to take second-place, meaning the two are now level at the top of the King of the Mountains.

Vervaeke’s lead was down to 50 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line for the first time, to begin two laps of the finishing circuit.

Accelerations were made in the peloton on an uncategorised but difficult drag at the beginning of the circuit, including one from Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious), but the peloton remained together.

This action reduced Vervaeke’s lead to just a handful of seconds, and the catch was made 7.5 km from the finish, just as the bell was rung for the beginning of the last lap.

Bahrain-Victorious’ continued to set a fierce pace the second time on the uphill drag through Hermann Pernsteiner and Marco Haller. Once again there were multiple attacks, with Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X) and Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) threatening to go clear, but neither succeeded.

Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) managed to take the 3 bonus seconds on offer at the top of the rise, and managed to gain a small gap over the rest of the peloton along with Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious).

This pair dangled just a few bike-lengths ahead of the peloton for several kilometres, but were eventually brought back just before the final kilometre.

Bahrain Victorious then concentrated on leading out Bauhaus for his sprint, but it was UAE Team Emirates who took control of the peloton at just the right time to set Kristoff up for victory.

Results :
1 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 4:24:12
2 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
3 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Jannik Steimle (Ger) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:02
5 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
6 Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
7 Jonas Koch (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
8 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team
9 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
10 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
11 John Degenkolb (Ger) German National Team
12 Clément Berthet (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
13 Anders Skaarseth (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
14 Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain Victorious
15 Joshua Huppertz (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
16 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep
17 Tom Lindner (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
18 Nils Politt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
19 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious
20 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
21 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
22 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
23 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
24 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
25 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
26 Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spa) Movistar Team
27 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) German National Team
28 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
29 Fabio Van Den Bossche (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
30 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
31 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
32 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team
33 Marius Mayrhofer (Ger) Team DSM
34 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
35 Ben Tulett (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
36 Ruben Apers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
37 Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
38 Marco Canola (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo
39 Jens Reynders (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
40 Marcel Meisen (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix
41 Niklas Märkl (Ger) Team DSM
42 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
43 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious
44 Justin Wolf (Ger) Bike Aid 0:00:37
45 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-up Nation
46 David van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:41
47 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling 0:00:53
48 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
49 Michiel Stockman (Bel) Team SKS Sauerland NRW 0:00:58
50 Eirik Lunder (Nor) Gazprom-RusVelo
51 Maxime Jarnet (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
52 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
53 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation 0:01:06
54 Jakob Geßner (Ger) German National Team
55 Pirmin Benz (Ger) German National Team
56 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Rally Cycling 0:01:20
57 Johannes Hodapp (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
58 Julian Lino (Fra) Bike Aid
59 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team 0:01:23
60 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Israel Start-up Nation 0:01:43
61 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:02:14
62 Michel Aschenbrenner (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik 0:02:32
63 Roman Duckert (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
64 Marco Brenner (Ger) Team DSM
65 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:03:18
66 Henri Uhlig (Ger) German National Team
67 Sander De Pestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
68 Stephen Bassett (USA) Rally Cycling
69 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain Victorious 0:03:20
70 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
71 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
72 Max Kanter (Ger) Team DSM
73 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team
74 Kim Alexander Heiduk (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
75 Johannes Adamietz (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
76 Abram Stockman (Bel) Team SKS Sauerland NRW 0:03:49
77 Christian Maximilian Koch (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
78 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:36
79 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix 0:05:49
80 Alex Richardson (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
81 Dominik Röber (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
82 Fredrik Dversnes (Nor) Gazprom-RusVelo
83 Syver Wærsted (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
84 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling
85 Tobias Nolde (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik 0:05:52
86 Danny van der Tuuk (Ned) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:06:05
87 Francisco Galvan Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:06:51
88 Sven Thurau (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon 0:07:59
89 Alex Colman (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
90 Jan-Marc Temmen (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
91 Ben King (USA) Rally Cycling
92 Pierre-Pascal Keup (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
93 Bert De Backer (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
94 Immanuel Stark (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik 0:08:04
95 Jannis Peter (Ger) German National Team
96 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
97 Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team 0:08:07
98 Pierre Rolland (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
99 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
100 Valentin Retailleau (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
101 Jordi Lopez Caravaca (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
102 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
103 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
104 Felix Groß (Ger) UAE Team Emirates
105 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
106 Jon Knolle (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
107 Marti Marquez Roman (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
108 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
109 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
110 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
111 Robert Jägeler (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
112 Michel Gießelmann (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW 0:09:02
113 Julius Johansen (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team 0:09:33
114 Chris Froome (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation
115 Lucas Carstensen (Ger) Bike Aid 0:11:08
116 Nikodemus Holler (Ger) Bike Aid
117 Mario Spengler (Swi) Team Lotto-Kern Haus 0:12:53
118 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team DSM
119 Florian Stork (Ger) Team DSM
120 Azzedine Lagab (Alg) Bike Aid
121 Frederik Raßmann (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
122 Henning Bommel (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon 0:15:17
123 Dominik Bauer (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon 0:15:56
124 Dawit Yemane (Eri) Bike Aid 0:19:19
DNF Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
DNF Petr Rikunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
DNF Alexander Evans (Aus) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Nathan Brown (USA) Rally Cycling
DNF Jan Hugger (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
DNS Dries De Pooter (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 8:30:59
2 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:02
3 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:04
4 Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:11
5 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:13
6 Joshua Huppertz (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
7 Nils Politt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:14
8 Jannik Steimle (Ger) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:16
9 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
10 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
11 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
12 Jonas Koch (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
13 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team
14 Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
15 Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spa) Movistar Team
16 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
17 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
18 Anders Skaarseth (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
19 Marco Canola (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo
20 Jens Reynders (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
21 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) German National Team
22 Niklas Märkl (Ger) Team DSM
23 Ruben Apers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
24 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
25 Tom Lindner (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
26 Fabio Van Den Bossche (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
27 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
28 Clément Berthet (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
29 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep
30 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team
31 Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
32 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
33 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious
34 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious
35 Marius Mayrhofer (Ger) Team DSM
36 Marcel Meisen (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix
37 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
38 John Degenkolb (Ger) German National Team
39 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
40 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
41 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
42 Ben Tulett (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
43 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:46
44 Justin Wolf (Ger) Bike Aid 0:00:49
45 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:51
46 David van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:55
47 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:01:07
48 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling
49 Eirik Lunder (Nor) Gazprom-RusVelo 0:01:12
50 Michiel Stockman (Bel) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
51 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
52 Maxime Jarnet (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
53 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation 0:01:20
54 Jakob Geßner (Ger) German National Team
55 Pirmin Benz (Ger) German National Team
56 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Rally Cycling 0:01:34
57 Johannes Hodapp (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
58 Julian Lino (Fra) Bike Aid
59 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team 0:01:37
60 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Israel Start-up Nation 0:01:57
61 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:02:28
62 Michel Aschenbrenner (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik 0:02:46
63 Roman Duckert (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
64 Marco Brenner (Ger) Team DSM
65 Sander De Pestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:03:32
66 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
67 Stephen Bassett (USA) Rally Cycling
68 Henri Uhlig (Ger) German National Team
69 Kim Alexander Heiduk (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus 0:03:34
70 Max Kanter (Ger) Team DSM
71 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
72 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
73 Johannes Adamietz (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW
74 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team
75 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
76 Abram Stockman (Bel) Team SKS Sauerland NRW 0:04:03
77 Christian Maximilian Koch (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
78 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:50
79 Fredrik Dversnes (Nor) Gazprom-RusVelo 0:06:03
80 Alex Richardson (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
81 Dominik Röber (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
82 Syver Wærsted (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
83 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling
84 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix
85 Tobias Nolde (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik 0:06:06
86 Danny van der Tuuk (Ned) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:06:19
87 Francisco Galvan Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:07:05
88 Jan-Marc Temmen (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon 0:08:13
89 Sven Thurau (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
90 Ben King (USA) Rally Cycling
91 Bert De Backer (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
92 Alex Colman (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
93 Pierre-Pascal Keup (Ger) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
94 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo 0:08:18
95 Immanuel Stark (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik
96 Jannis Peter (Ger) German National Team
97 Jon Knolle (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW 0:08:20
98 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:08:21
99 Jordi Lopez Caravaca (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
100 Valentin Retailleau (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
101 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
102 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
103 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
104 Pierre Rolland (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
105 Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team
106 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
107 Marti Marquez Roman (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
108 Felix Groß (Ger) UAE Team Emirates
109 Julius Johansen (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team 0:09:47
110 Chris Froome (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation
111 Robert Jägeler (Ger) P & S Metalltechnik 0:10:47
112 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:51
113 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
114 Lucas Carstensen (Ger) Bike Aid 0:11:22
115 Azzedine Lagab (Alg) Bike Aid 0:13:07
116 Martin Salmon (Ger) Team DSM
117 Florian Stork (Ger) Team DSM
118 Mario Spengler (Swi) Team Lotto-Kern Haus
119 Frederik Raßmann (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon
120 Michel Gießelmann (Ger) Team SKS Sauerland NRW 0:13:10
121 Henning Bommel (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon 0:15:31
122 Dominik Bauer (Ger) Team Dauner-Akkon 0:16:10
123 Dawit Yemane (Eri) Bike Aid 0:19:33
124 Nikodemus Holler (Ger) Bike Aid 0:23:15