Mads Pedersen claimed Lidl-Trek’s third straight stage win within the Deutschland Tour, out-pacing late escape companions Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) and Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) in Schwäbisch Gmünd.
Pedersen adopted teammate Jonathan Milan, winner of the prologue and stage 1, in victory. With the stage win and time bonus, Pedersen moved into the race lead, taking the jersey from Milan.
Pedersen leads the Deutschland Tour forward of Johannessen by 12 seconds, with Ineos’ Ethan Hayter third at 21 seconds.
Dario Igor Belletta (Visma-Lease a Bike), Dawit Yemane (BIKE AID) and Miguel Heidemann (Team Felt Felbermayr) made the early breakaway however may solely achieve two minutes on the sphere.
In the ultimate 80 kilometres, the hole had come down beneath one minute and Marco Brenner (Lotto Kern-Haus PSD) and Bjørn Koerdt (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) bridged throughout.
The breakaway dissolved on the Lauterburg, with Heidmann dropped first after which all the escapees caught with 44km to go.
Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost), Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Toms Skujinš (Lidl-Trek) made a counter-move however they too had been caught with 21km to go.
The peloton had cut up and solely 25 or so riders had been left to contest the finale.
Pedersen launched a searing assault within the remaining 2km, pulling Ryan and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) away however he held on to take Lidl-Trek’s third straight stage win.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
