From a sporting point of view, the Deutschland Tour is of limited importance - but for the German riders and teams it is an important stage to present themselves to their home fans.
The fans were packed along the route of the Tour of Germany - a new cycling euphoria seems to be growing in the country after the Tour de France. Florian Lipowitz had to sign a particularly large number of autographs. He found this increasingly difficult because he left the road at the exit of a bend on the second stage and crashed into an electricity box.
Although he couldn't use all his fingers the next day when signing, he somehow managed to get through it. The Tour of Germany was an exhibition race for him - his third place in the Tour de France brought him unusual attention. In view of the route profile, however, it was clear beforehand that he would not play a role in the sport. He worked as a helper for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe and used the tour to build up his form after a cold.
Tour of Germany as a boost for the form curve
This was also the motto of two other German riders: Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty) was building up his form after his heavy crash at the Tour de France. John Degenkolb (Team Picnic PostNL) was back in the race for the first time since his crash at the Tour of Flanders. In April, Degenkolb suffered several fractures in his wrist, forearm, elbow and collarbone. "That was the worst time of my career," he said, describing the rehab phase.
How it went on the German tour
The Deutschland Tour wanted to keep the tension high right up to the finale with a third stage full of metres of climbing - a plan that didn't work out. The Norwegian Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) had already ridden into the overall leader's jersey in the prologue in Essen and was able to defend his lead from the second stage onwards. In the end, the 25-year-old also secured the jerseys of the best young rider and sprinter. The German riders played no role in the battle for success. As usual, Nils Politt put himself at the service of the team, while sprinter Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) was unable to finish the tour after a crash on the final stage. The German Miguel Heidemann from the team (Rembe | Rad-Net) rode in the mountains jersey for a long time - but had to hand it over to Enzo Leijnse (Team Picnic PostNL) on the last stage. Even though the Tour of Germany is not part of the World Tour, it received a lot of attention. The organisers are considering holding the tour over more stages next year.
Overall ranking Deutschland-Tour 2025
1st Søren Wærenskjold (NOR, Uno X-Mobility)
2nd Jhonatan Narváez (ECU, UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
3. Riley Sheehan (USA, Israel-Premier Tech)
Kristian Bauer
Editor
