Deutschland Tour 2024: Hat-trick! Milan sprints to victory again on stage 3

He's done it again - Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) has struck again with a stage win. After winning the prologue and stage 1, the Italian has now also won stage 3 of the Deutschland Tour 2024 over 211.1 kilometres from Schwäbisch Gmünd to Villingen-Schwenningen. The success of the top sprinter also continues the winning streak of his team Lidl-Trek: the US cycling team has won every stage of the tour so far.

Kanter finishes a strong second

Behind the outstanding Jonathan Milan, Cottbus-born Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan Team) took a strong second place in the bunch sprint, confirming his good form at the Deutschland Tour. Kanter cleverly positioned himself behind Milan in the sprint and utilised his slipstream. Shortly before the finish line, Kanter broke away but was ultimately unable to overtake Milan. He snatched a respectable second place behind the sprint dominator. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's Jordi Meeus finished third. Another German also made it into the top ten: Niklas Märkl (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) finished sixth.

Deutschland-Tour 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 3

1. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 5:17:57
2. Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:00
3. Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
4. Matevz Govekar (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
5. Luke Lamperti (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:00
6. Niklas Märkl (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:00
7. Tibor del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
8. Orluis Aular (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) +0:00
9. Nicolo Buratti (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
10. Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00

>> The results of the Deutschland Tour 2024

The current standings in the overall standings

1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 8:45:11
2. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +0:12
3. Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:19
4. Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:21
5. Archie Ryan (EF Education EasyPost) +0:21
6. Stefan Bissegger (EF Education EasyPost) +0:21
7. Luke Lamperti (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:22
8. Fabio Christen (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) +0:24
9. Gil Gelders (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:24
10. Sean Flynn (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:26

How the 3rd stage of the Tour of Germany 2024 went

After the start of the race, five riders broke away from the peloton. Jörgen Nordhagen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty), Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) and Dawit Yemane (BIKE AID) made their escape and quickly gained a good cushion from the peloton.

Four runaways try their luck

After 120 kilometres, Yemane had to drop back as the pace in the leading group was too high for the Eritrean. The four breakaway riders had more than five minutes to spare, while Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek then pushed the pace in the peloton and tried to provoke a bunch sprint. At the front of the peloton, the Norwegian Nordhagen was particularly committed, winning all of the day's mountain classifications and wearing the mountain jersey on stage 4.

Buitrago with a lot of courage

On a steep climb about 62 kilometres before the finish, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) launched an attack and tore a hole in the peloton, which he put on alert. For a long time, the Colombian was caught between the peloton and the front of the field. It was not until 37 kilometres into the race that he was able to catch up with the leaders. At this point, the lead of the five-man leading group was 1:30 minutes.

With 15 kilometres to go, Buitrago launched an attack that only Vercher was able to follow. The remaining breakaway riders were caught a little later by the ever-closer peloton. When Gil Gelders (Soudal - Quick Step), Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-EasyPost) and Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek) attacked out of the peloton shortly afterwards and quickly caught up with the leading duo, the advantage of the now five escapees was already less than 30 seconds with 12 kilometres to go.

Runaways remain unsuccessful

Then the time had come: 10 kilometres before the finish, the hard-fighting breakaway around Buitrago was dropped. Although individual riders tried once again to beat the sprinters' teams, the peloton parried all of the speed increases. In the end, it came down to a final sprint in which Jonathan Milan won ahead of Max Kanter and Jordi Meeus.