João Almeida and Mark Cavendish lead the line for the Wolfpack at the 35th edition of the race.
The Deutschland Tour is back, this time taking the peloton on a journey from Stralsund to Nürnberg, over four days that will start off by bringing the sprinters to the fore and conclude with the GC men in the spotlight, who will get to go all-in in their quest for the red jersey on a short but intense stage 4 peppered with about a dozen climbs and some 2000 vertical meters.
First Portuguese in history to win the Tour de Pologne, where he built his dominant GC victory on the back of two stage victories and a solid ITT ride, João Almeida will look to get another good result in the overall standings, although the parcours of the event set to take place between 26-29 August isn’t that heavily tilted towards the puncheurs like it was the case in the past.
Mark Cavendish, who at the Tour de France wrote history by equalling Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 stage wins, is back at the Deutschland Tour, which he will race for just the second time in his career. Joining him and Almeida on Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s roster for this week’s four-day race will be Shane Archbold, French Champion Rémi Cavagna, Yves Lampaert and Jannik Steimle, who recently extended his contract with the Wolfpack.
“The Deutschland Tour is a well organised race and we are delighted to be back at the start. We have a solid team that can adapt to the various scenarios and terrains: from crosswinds and bunch sprints to the up-and-down roads that will decide the overall winner. With Mark, who can count on a strong lead-out, we will target the flat stages, while João and Rémi have shown some very good legs in Poland and can try something also here”, said sports director Brian Holm.
Yves Lampaert