The 21-year-old Belgian – best young rider of Okolo Slovenska two months ago – wasn’t far from the top ten.
One of the oldest stage races in the world, created just two years after the opening edition of the Giro d’Italia took place, the Deutschland Tour got underway Wednesday afternoon with a flat 2.9km prologue held on the streets of Schweinfurt, a Bavarian city whose first documentary mention took place at the end of the 8th century.
It was a short and fast effort for the riders, and two of our neo-pros came close to finishing in the top ten. Both Gil Gelders and Luke Lamperti put in a strong outing, concluding the day in around 3:22, just a couple of seconds behind Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), who took the win.
The small gaps made by the prologue means there’s a big chance of some important general classification changes on the first stage, which features a hard climb in the final 15 kilometers, perfect for those who want to attack and prevent the day from coming down to a bunch sprint in Heilbronn.
Photo credit: ©Christian Kaspar-Bartke / Getty Images
Gil Gelders 
