Peloton break at executioner

A German race, and therefore German attackers. From the start, seven men rode away, including five home riders. Of course, they were given little space by the sprinter teams: Visma | Lease a Bike and Intermarché took responsibility and kept the seven in sight. Halfway through, the gap was only 2 minutes, and after that it only decreased further. The Agathaberg was the judge of the race, at about 54 kilometers from the finish. Not long, but steep, and there Tudor accelerated under the leadership of Marco Haller. It split the peloton, and suddenly there were only 40 riders left at the front.

Among them were Brennan and Girmay, but also names like Amaury Capiot (Arkéa) and Hugo Hofstetter (Israel - Premier Tech). The pace was increased considerably there, and the escapees were therefore wasted. The second peloton followed at a minute behind the leading group. There were many men from Tudor, Red Bull and Picnic, but they left the work to the small BIKE AID. It was clear that their sprinters were simply focused.

Small peloton and little control in the final

Haller also pushed on the penultimate climb, but there he was overshadowed by Politt. The German pulled at full force, but Brennan was there like a shot. In third position he slipped along, but everything came together again. The small peloton was difficult to control, but Intermarché-Wanty still had Jonas Rutsch who did the dirty work for his leader. On the Bensberg, the last climb, it was war again. There Valentin Retailleau (TotalEnergies) attacked, but again everything came together.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe took control for Meeus, but the small number of helpers made it difficult. There were a few attacks, but the teams of Meeus and Brennan managed to restore calm. An attack by Ole Theiler, who rides for the tiny REMBE | Rad-net, seemed hopeless. But the sprinter teams left the work to the training team of Visma | Lease a Bike, and the youngsters had a damn hard time. With the help of Intermarché, the German was caught anyway.

So it became a sprint in Cologne Lotto brought Milan Menten into position, but Girmay was also brought in. Meeus chose the wheel of the Eritrean, but Brennan was behind him again. It became a duel between Girmay and Brennan, which was won by the 19-year-old Brit. It is his seventh victory of the season.