The final stage of the Deutschland Tour took the riders 182 kilometres from Annweiler am Trifels to Saarbrücken. Right at the start, a small group broke away from the peloton, including the Germans Max Walscheid (Team Jayco AlUla), Joshua Huppertz (Team Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank) and Oliver Mattheis (BIKE AID), and set off over the undulating stage profile. Only shortly before the end did the first riders have to break away, until finally Oliver Mattheis and Javier Romo (Team Movistar) were dropped by the peloton six kilometres before the finish.
Pedersen crowns perfect week for Lidl-Trek
The final kilometres were characterised by numerous attacks. Overall leader Mads Pedersen was always at the front and was able to counter the attacks of his rivals before he himself set off on the final sprint and crossed the finish line ahead of Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Luke Lamperti (Soudal - Quick Step). This made it a perfect week for his team Lidl-Trek, who won all five stages (including the prologue).
The best German was Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), who finished fifth and thus climbed to sixth place in the overall standings. The German Henri Uhlig (Alpecin - Deceuninck) also achieved a top-10 placing and crossed the finish line six seconds behind.
Deutschland Tour 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 4
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 4:23:42
- Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
- Luke Lamperti (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:00
- Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain - Victorious) +0:00
- Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +0:00
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +0:00
- Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:00
- Jørgen Nordhagen (Team Visma | Lease a Bike Development) +0:00
- Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) +0:00
- Henri Uhlig (Alpecin - Deceuninck) +0:06
The final overall ranking
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 18:26:39
- Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:22
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +0:23
- Luke Lamperti (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:26
- Archie Ryan (EF Education EasyPost) +0:38
- Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +0:39
- Jørgen Nordhagen (Team Visma | Lease a Bike Development) +0:40
- Fabio Christen (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) +0:41
- Gil Gelders (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:41
- Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:42
How the 4th stage of the Deutschland Tour 2024 went
The favourites of the day were Lidl-Trek teammates Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan, who had been battling it out for the stage wins up to this point. However, the start phase was dominated by the Germans Max Walscheid (Team Jayco AlUla) and Joshua Huppertz (Team Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank), who successfully launched their breakaway attempt shortly after the start of the race and built up a small lead over the peloton. After a few kilometres, Oliver Mattheis (BIKE AID) and Alberto Bruttomesso (Bahrain - Victorious) were able to catch up with the escapees. The four-man lead group built up a lead of several minutes over the peloton.
At the foot of the climb to the Kalmit, the leading group had a lead of almost 5 minutes, Oliver Mattheis was even first in the virtual overall standings - 31 seconds ahead of his compatriot Joshua Huppertz, who in turn won the mountain classification. After the tough climb, the peloton closed in again and was only one and a half minutes behind.
Jonathan Milan falls back
It was somewhat surprising that the three-time stage winner of this Deutschland Tour, Jonathan Milan, fell out of the peloton on the climb. However, he was soon able to catch up again and continue fighting for the stage win.
Spaniard Javier Romo (Movistar) took advantage of the peloton's chase to launch a breakaway and catch up with the leading group, which was able to increase its lead over the peloton again. Javier Romo's breakaway changed the virtual overall standings in favour of the Spaniard, who now led by a few seconds ahead of Oliver Mattheis. The question was whether the breakaway riders would be able to maintain their lead over the finish line on the undulating profile of the fourth stage.
Team Lidl-Trek tried to prevent a breakaway victory and set the pace in the peloton. However, the peloton was initially unable to really catch up and the gap levelled out at just over 4 minutes.
Lead of the runaways narrows
The first sprint classification of the day in Heltersberg went to Oliver Mattheis, who then positioned himself further back in the leading group, which was on its way to the second climb in Grossbundenbach. Here the peloton was able to make up another minute, but the last steep climb of the stage was already coming up in Ormesheim and it didn't look like the breakaway was going to lose any speed. In addition to Lidl-Trek, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Uno-X Mobility were now also setting the pace in the peloton.
This was noticeable. The gap to the leading group became smaller and smaller. Around 48 kilometres before the finish, the Italian Alberto Bruttomesso had to break away, meaning that only four riders at the front could hope to maintain their lead to the finish. However, things didn't really look good. In the peloton, several teams took turns leading the race and increased the pace. As a result, some riders had to let go and dropped back. Before the final climb, the peloton was no longer able to catch the leading group and remained 1:35 minutes behind with around 30 kilometres to go.
Showdown in Saarbrücken
It became increasingly restless in the peloton, several riders attacked and tried to catch up with the leaders, which also increased the overall pace and it was only a matter of time before the leading group was caught. Joshua Huppertz dropped back before the peloton could catch up again and was the first to be swallowed up by the peloton. The gap was just under a minute with 20 kilometres to go.
The second sprint classification 15 kilometres from the end then went to Max Walscheid ahead of Oliver Mattheis and Javier Romo. However, the winner had to break away shortly afterwards and was dropped by the peloton. Around 6 kilometres before the finish, Oliver Mattheis and Javier Romo also had to concede defeat.
Several attacks characterised the last 5 kilometres of the race and gave hope for an exciting outcome. Mads Perdersen was able to counter each of the attacks and pulled away at the right moment for the final sprint, which he won ahead of Danny van Poppel and Luke Lamperti. This ends a perfect week for Lidl-Trek and the Dane can celebrate his first overall victory in the Deutschland Tour.
Lukas Niebuhr
Working student
