Cycling: The victory at the German season finale in the Münsterland Giro goes to neighboring Belgium in the form of Tom Boonen. In the mass sprint he won after strong preparatory work by Tony Martin ahead of his Belgian compatriot Roy Jans (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Nikias Arndt from Giant-Alpecin.
The route led 180km from Ibbenbühren to Münster, where three laps over a technically demanding course awaited. The conditions could hardly have been better under the bright autumn sun - the first attacks started right after the starting gun and after almost 20km a quintet pulled away at the front: Florian Nowak (Team Stuttgart), Daniel Westmattelmann (Team Kuota-Lotto), William Robert ( LKT Brandenburg), Fabian Schormair (Team Heizomat) and Mike Terpstra (Roompot) formed the breakaway group of the day.
In this constellation, the field and the breakaway rolled right into Münster. In the field, Etixx-Quick-Step, Lotto-Soudal and Giant-Alpecin set the pace. Slowly but steadily they increased the pace and thus the pressure on the top quintet. After a long period of stagnation, the lead quickly dwindled and the breakaways only had a half-minute lead when they entered the first of three final laps.
Shortly thereafter, it was time to flee – the group broke up and was swallowed up by the field. That's when Tony Martin took over. He was constantly attacking at the front, keeping the pace so extremely high because the teams around Giant-Alpecin, Lotto-Soudal and LottoNL-Jumbo were busy neutralizing the German's attacks. For a short time it also looked as if Martin could start one of his notorious solo rides, but in the end the gap wasn't big enough.
As in the previous year, there was a mass sprint in the final, which Martin's teammate Tom Boonen clearly won. The technically demanding circuit with cobblestones and many changes of direction clearly gave the Belgian classic car specialist a lot of pleasure. The best German was Nikias Arndt in third place. Marcel Kittel also gave his final performance in Giant-Alpecin clothing, but got off his bike on the last lap through Munster and was unable to finish the race.
[easy table th=“0″]1.,Tom Boonen,Etixx-QuickStep,04:10:23
2.,Roy Jans,Wany-Groupe Gobert,
3.,Nikias Arndt,Giant Alpecin,
4., André Looij, Roompot,
5.,Marcel Sieberg,Lotto-Soudal,
6th, Boris Vallee, Lotto Soudal,
7th,Sep Vanmarcke,LottoNL-Jumbo,
8.,Pascal Ackermann,rad-net Rose,
9th,Amaury Capiot,Topsport Vlaanderen,
10., Chirstian Della Stella, CCC
[/easy table]
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