​Del Toro, aged 22 and winner of the young riders’ classification at the Tour de France, completed the short but challenging course – on which all 107 riders, in accordance with the regulations, started without time trial equipment – in 3 minutes and 8 seconds. This put him around two seconds ahead of Magnier, who in turn had a lead of a good three seconds over his team-mate Rex.

Behind them, the gaps narrowed significantly: the top 18 riders were separated by just ten seconds. Most of them benefited from the late start. Del Toro had started second from last, Rex fourth from last. They were able to ride on almost completely dry roads, whilst Magnier, who started relatively early, still had to power through a few puddles following the rainfall.

“He did a really good job,” said winner Del Toro, acknowledging Magnier’s performance. The professional, who is also just 22 years old, now has the chance to reclaim the overall lead – which Del Toro secured with his opening victory – on tomorrow’s stage.

Müller was the top German, ahead of Politt

“But I’m also happy with my race. I didn’t want to take too many risks on this course,” said Del Toro. “I’m still in great shape after the Tour. My legs feel good, and I’m recovering mentally as well. I’m here to win the tour.”

With his opening victory, he has at least laid the foundations for that. It was his tenth win of the season – the first he hasn’t celebrated at WorldTour level. Over the course of his career, the Mexican has also reached a significant milestone; in his third year as a professional, this is already his 30th victory.

The best German rider in Bad Orb was Tobias Müller (Unibet Rose Rockets), who finished tenth, seven seconds behind. Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) was a few tenths of a second further back and finished twelfth.

The second day of the Tour of Germany takes the peloton from the south of Hesse deep into Baden-Württemberg. After 215 kilometres – a route that is quite undulating, particularly in the final stretch – the day ends in Schwäbisch Hall.

Lidl Germany Tour 2026 – Prologue results

This is how the prologue of the 2026 Lidl Deutschland Tour went

Jakob Neumann (Team Storck – MRW Bau), a German Continental rider, kicked off the stage on the ramp. Riders set off at one-minute intervals. It had started to rain, but stopped again shortly afterwards. The roads remained damp in places, however.

It was Henri Uhlig (Alpecin – Premier Tech) who, as the tenth rider to start, clocked a strong opening time of 3 minutes 21 seconds. It took none other than Cyclassics winner Magnier to knock the German off the hot seat. The sprinter, who had started the race in 32nd place, was, however, an immediate ten seconds faster.

Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step), Mathias Vacek (Lidl – Trek) and Danny van Poppel (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), three well-known professionals initially moved in between Magnier and Uhlig – and as the race progressed, many more followed suit. Uhlig eventually finished 29th.

But only one rider managed to get past the Frenchman: having started the race second from last, Del Toro was able to knock Magnier off the top spot in what were now much better conditions – the roads had almost completely dried out. His team-mate Rex, who also started very late as the fourth-last rider, finished third, five seconds behind.