The Deutschland Tour 2024 is increasingly becoming Lidl-Trek's internal company championship. After Jonathan Milan's victories in the prologue and on stage 1, Mads Pedersen struck on stage 2 in Schwäbisch Gmünd on Friday. The 2019 Road World Champion won ahead of Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Archie Ryan (EF Education EasyPost).
Pedersen broke away from a large leading group on the final climb and sprinted for victory with Halland Johannessen and Ryan. Jonas Rutsch (EF Education EasyPost) was the best German to finish the day in seventh place. Pedersen thus took over the blue jersey from Milan in the overall standings.
Deutschland Tour 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 2
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 4:25:50
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +0:00
- Archie Ryan (EF Education EasyPost) +0:00
- Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:06
- Emilien Jeanniere (TotalEnergies) +0:06
- Orluis Aular (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) +0:06
- Jonas Rutsch (EF Education EasyPost) +0:06
- Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:06
- Tobias Müller (German national team) +0:06
- Sean Flynn (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:06
The overall standings
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 8:45:11
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +0:12
- Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:21
- Archie Ryan (EF Education EasyPost) +0:21
- Stefan Bissegger (EF Education EasyPost) +0:21
- Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:22
- Fabio Christen (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) +0:24
- Gil Gelders (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:24
- Luke Lamperti (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:24
- Orluis Aular (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) +0:26
How the 2nd stage of the Deutschland Tour 2024 went
The breakaway group that characterised the first part of the stage initially consisted of three riders: Dario Igor Belletta (Visma | Lease a Bike), Miguel Heidemann (German national team) and Dawit Yemane (Bike Aid). The trio did not get very far away, so that two riders, Mauro Brenner (Team Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank) and Bjoern Koerdt (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), were able to jump to the front around 80 kilometres before the finish. However, the five escapees did not gain much more than a two-minute lead.
Lidl-Trek initially controls the race
In the peloton, Lidl-Trek initially controlled the action. This changed on the climb to Lauterburg. The overall leader Jonathan Milan ran into problems there, while the breakaway riders were caught and a new group formed at the front with four riders: Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Jörgen Nordhagen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Archie Ryan (EF Education EasyPost). The quartet built up a maximum lead of 40 seconds. Many sprinters like Milan managed to catch up with the peloton again and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe took command. This had an effect. As the final circuit of stage 2 of the Deutschland Tour 2024 around Schwäbisch Gmünd began, the breakaways were caught.
Large leading group on the final circuit
This was immediately followed by a counter-attack by twelve men around Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty) and the former world champion Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). The group quickly built up a substantial lead over the peloton and grew again, so that there were now 25 riders at the front - with Zimmermann, Jonas Rutsch (EF Education EasyPost), Hannes Wilksch and Marco Brenner (both Tudor Pro Cycling Team) there were four Germans in total.
The peloton came back two kilometres before the finish. But only when the final climb began. That's where the decision was made. Archie Ryan attacked with Mads Pedersen and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility). Behind them, Marco Brenner led the first chasing group, but they quickly caught up. Pedersen, Ryan and Halland Johannessen then sprinted for the win. Pedersen had the fastest legs.
