Interim assessment on the first rest day: How is the Tour going for the German riders?
TOUR Online
· 10.07.2023
German riders at the Tour de France: Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious)
He is one of the winners of the first nine days of the Tour. Not many would have had the debutant on their radar for top places in the sprint finishes. However, in the first test of strength between the fast riders on the third stage to Bayonne, Bauhaus immediately took second place behind Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) - just a few centimetres short of victory. One day later, he confirmed his good form with third place in Nogaro. In Bordeaux on stage 7, however, he lacked a clear line in the last few hundred metres and his sprint never fully developed - he finished seventh. And in the uphill sprint on stage 8 in Limoges, he was already left behind on the hilly terrain.
Nevertheless, Bauhaus has proven that he can hold his own in positional battles at the Tour de France and sprint for victory on good days - more than was expected beforehand. This is also demonstrated by the fact that his team, which primarily pursues classification ambitions, has repeatedly provided Bauhaus with support for the sprints in the form of Nikias Arndt, Fred Wright and Matej Mohoric. The next chance for the sprinters will be on the 11th stage to Moulins. After that, Bauhaus will have to fight his way through a whole series of mountain stages.
German riders at the Tour de France: Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe)
The German champion has been designated as Jai Hindley's most important helper for this Tour - and has performed this task outstandingly so far. Buchmann had his big performances in the Pyrenees. On stage 5 to Laruns, he and Hindley made it into the large breakaway group, in which Buchmann did a lot of work and was one of the decisive protagonists of the day right up to the finish: When Hindley rode to the stage win, Buchmann consistently stayed on his rear wheel in the chasing group around Jonas Vingegaard.
He finished the stage in fourth place himself, which also pushed him up to fourth place in the overall classification. The following day, however, Buchmann had to sacrifice his good position on the next stage in the Pyrenees - although he did not manage to defend yellow, Buchmann once again provided valuable services as the last man alongside Hindley. On the first rest day, he is in 13th place overall, 9:09 minutes behind the leader. In the many mountain stages of the second half of the Tour, Buchmann is likely to continue to primarily serve as a helper in the high mountains - but there may also be opportunities for him in breakaway groups.
German riders at the Tour de France: Nikias Arndt (Bahrain-Victorious)
Arndt has not attracted much attention in the first nine days of the Tour. However, this is also due to his job: he is more or less the foreman for Phil Bauhaus, putting him in a good position for the final kilometre. And since Bauhaus has achieved good results so far with a second and a third place, Arndt's work can't have been that bad. Arndt, who is now back at the Tour de France after a two-year break, primarily takes on the role of "road captain" in the team - especially with a view to the classification riders Mikel Landa, Jack Haig and Pello Bilbao in the flat and medium-difficulty stages.
In the run-up to the Tour, the 31-year-old also focussed on his own chances in breakaway groups. It remains to be seen to what extent he will be able to do so given the internal competition in the team from Matej Mohoric and Fred Wright. However, Arndt proved that he can win stages from breakaway groups with his stage win at the Vuelta a Espana in 2019.
German riders at the Tour de France: John Degenkolb (Team DSM-Firmenich)
In his ninth Tour de France, Degenkolb, like Arndt, is the "road captain" in Sam Weslford's sprint train. However, Degenkolb is unlikely to be satisfied with his results in the sprint stages so far - Welsford has never finished in the top 10, while the best team result is fifth place for Nils Eekhoff in the uphill sprint in Limonges. On the first two sprint stages in Bayonne and Nogaro, the team failed to put Welsford in a good position.
In Nogaro, Degenkolb even took the blame for the mistake when Weslford ran out of space at a roundabout and had to take the longer route round to the left - the sprint train was gone. After all, there are still two or three potential sprint stages left before Paris to improve the poor results so far. It remains to be seen whether Degenkolb will take his own chances in breakaway groups in this Tour de France. It is also possible that he will put himself fully at the service of the team.
German riders at the Tour de France: Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Politt proved his good form shortly before the Tour by winning the time trial at the German Championships. On the first nine stages, Politt's tasks so far have included protecting classification rider Jai Hindley in the peloton and keeping Jordi Meeus out of the wind in the sprint preparation. Politt also proved his value to the team on stage 5, when Hindley and Emanuel Buchmann broke away in the escape group at the start of the Pyrenees stage - and Politt and his team-mates did valuable disruptive work in the chase.
In the end, Hindley took the stage win and wore the yellow jersey for one day. In the second half of the Tour, Politt is likely to continue to focus on helper duties. But there could also be opportunities of his own. The 10th stage to Issoire would be a stage for Politt, who already won a stage at the 2021 Tour de France in Nimes with a late attack from an escape group.
German riders at the Tour de France: Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty)
In the run-up to the Tour de France 2023, Zimmermann was considered one of the most promising German riders for a Tour stage win, after all, he recently took a stage win as a breakaway rider in the Criterium du Dauphine preparatory race. And the 25-year-old almost started this Tour with a coup: On the first stage, Zimmermann battled for the mountain jersey in the decisive mountain classification, but ended up in second place behind Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost). "That was really annoying. I would have had the mountain jersey in my legs. It went badly," said Zimmermann afterwards.
The rider from Augsburg has also had no luck with breakaway groups so far: on stage 5 through the Pyrenees, he took part in a few attacks, but ultimately missed the jump into the large group around Jai Hindley and Emanuel Buchmann. For Zimmermann, however, the second half of the Tour still offers numerous medium-difficulty stages where he can show himself - for example the 10th stage to Issoire or the 12th stage to Belleville-en-Beaujolais.
German riders at the Tour de France: Simon Geschke (Team Cofidis)
The preparation for the Tour de France 2023 was not optimal for Geschke due to coronavirus in the spring and a lack of results in the run-up. And so far, the 37-year-old has had a relatively unremarkable Tour of France. On the Pyrenees stages, he was mainly assigned as a helper for Guillaume Martin, on stage 9 to the Puy de Dome Geschke then tried to get into the escape group - but missed the post breakaway, found himself alone in the chase for a short time and then let himself be caught again.
However, the attack may have been a sign that Geschke is now increasingly fighting for breakaway groups in the second half of the Tour. The terrain with some hilly and very mountainous stages should at least favour him. However, after Geschke wore the jersey for nine days last year, the mountain classification should no longer be an issue this time. So far, the Berlin-born rider has not collected any points in the mountain classification.
