We are ready to take on one of the oldest races on the calendar.
Germany’s most important race – which our team has won on three occasions, a record this century – is back with its 38th edition, taking place between 21-25 August. A flat prologue in the center of Schweinfurt will set an initial pecking order before the peloton travels to Bavaria for a challenging finale, spiced up by the Jägerhaus climb, not far from Heilbronn, where the stage will conclude.
The puncheurs will be presented with another opportunity at the end of the second stage, where a short but demanding uphill finish awaits. Parts of the course used for the 1996 German Mountain Championships will feature on the penultimate day, but a reduced sprint isn’t out of the question on the longest stage of the week. Saarbrücken hosts the fourth stage, where a circuit featuring a small but steep ascent could bring some final changes to the general classification.
Soudal Quick-Step comes to the start of the Deutschland Tour with Gil Gelders, Antoine Huby, Luke Lamperti – who recently took his first victory in the team’s jersey at the Czech Tour, where for a day he also got to sport the leader’s jersey – Fausto Masnada, Pieter Serry and Jordi Warlop.
“We won here last year, we took many stages in recent seasons in Germany, so we have a lot of beautiful memories from the race. The parcours is a challenging one, but we come with the ambition of giving our best and fighting for a stage victory. Many of the riders on the team have had some solid outings recently, so we are quite confident in our chances this week”, said Soudal Quick-Step sports director Davide Bramati.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
