Cycling: Álvaro Hodeg won the first stage of the Deutschland Tour 2018. In the mass sprint in Bonn, the Colombian was able to come out on top of Germany's Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) and Italy's Niccolò Bonifazio (Bahrain Merida). This makes the 21-year-old the first wearer of the red jersey.
6 breakaways open the Deutschland Tour 2018
After nine years of abstinence, the Deutschland Tour is finally rolling again. The starting gun was fired at the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz this afternoon. After 157,0 kilometers, the peloton arrived at their destination in Bonn. Before the former capital was reached and the winner and thus also the first wearer of the red leader's jersey could be chosen, a tough race had to be mastered. Among the six escapees were with Dorian Lübbers (Lotto core house) and Sven Reutter (Heizomat rad-net.de) also two Germans. The leading group was completed by Jorge Arcas (movistar), Kevin Van Melsen (Wanty Groupe Gobert), Benoit Jarrier (Fortuneo-Samsic) and Jens Reynders (Leopard). In the main field, the teams Bora-hansgrohe, Lotto Soudal and Quick-Step Floors were responsible for the speed work in order not to let the breakaways go far and to enable a mass sprint.
Benoit Jarrier conquers the first mountain jersey of the new Germany Tour
Since the peloton - mainly due to the strong German sprinters - naturally had a great interest in a mass sprint, the attempt by the escapees was hopeless. After all, the peloton left the interim rankings to the fugitives. So could the Frenchman in scorn Benoit Jarrier the mountain rating Kevin Van Melsen and Jens Reynders secure, with which he will go down in history as the first wearer of the mountain jersey. The German grabbed the two sprint classifications Sven Reutter, which can certainly be described as a success for the small German team Heizomat rad-net.de. Before catching up with the leading group, caught up Jens Reynders nor the bonus sprint. After that, there were unsuccessful attacks Luke Rowe (Sky) and Patrick Haller (Heizomat rad-net.de) before the mass sprint in Bonn was prepared, because the last fugitive could also be caught by the oncoming pack.
Pascal Ackermann was too early in the wind - Álvaro Hodeg dusted off
In the last few kilometers, the Bora-hansgrohe and Lotto Soudal teams pulled themselves together at the front of the field. The German master Pascal Ackermann the sprint could be approached perfectly. But the 23-year-old was tempted to put his nose into the wind too early. It was almost enough. Only in the last few meters did he shoot out of his slipstream Alvaro Hodeg (Quick-Step Floors) over. The Colombian - riding his first pro season - wasn't immediately aware of his fourth win of the season. finished second Pascal Ackermann before the Italian Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain Merida). In general, the German stars can be satisfied with the result of the first stage of the Deutschland Tour. With Alexander Krieger (Leopard), André Greipel (Lotto Soudal), Aaron Grosser (Sauerland NRW p/b SKS GERMANY) and Rick Zabel (Katusha-Alpecin) in 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th place, together with Pascal Ackermann, five German professionals ended up in the top 9.
🇨🇴@alvaro_hodeg of 🇧🇪@quickstepteam wins stage 1 of 🇩🇪@YourTour #GermanyTour #yourtour (📹@pasiociclismo) pic.twitter.com/oTo50FiNGE
— World Cycling Stats (@wcstats) August 23, 2018
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