Paul Magnier denies Isaac Del Toro at the line as Mexican seals Deutschland Tour overall victory

The final stage of the Lidl Deutschland Tour was won by Paul Magnier Paul Magnier on IDL Procycling on Sunday. Isaac Del Toro looked set to put the finishing touch on an excellent week, only to be caught just before the line. After some excellent work from Soudal Quick-Step, the Frenchman powered to the stage victory in the sprint. Del Toro, however, still secured the overall Deutschland Tour title.

After a thrilling show on Day 1, it was Del Toro who took control of the race on Saturday’s Stage 3. The Mexican finished second behind Giulio Pellizzari of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, but with previous leader Louis Barré of Visma | Lease a Bike being dropped, Del Toro was able to take over the race lead. That left him with the task of defending the jersey on Sunday, with a tricky finishing circuit still standing between him and overall victory.

It took around 12 kilometers of the final stage before anyone managed to establish a meaningful gap over the peloton. Eventually, four German riders made their way to the front: Ian Kings of Visma | Lease a Bike, Miguel Heidemann of REMBE | rad-net, Ben Felix Jochum of Lotto Kern-Haus and Lennart Voege of Storck-MRW Bau.

They did not remain alone for long, as Dutchman Ko Molenaar of Picnic PostNL and Germany’s Dominik Röber managed to bridge across. The six leaders remained together through the middle part of the stage, but the breakaway was quickly reduced as the race approached its decisive phase. The reason was the finishing circuit, which included three ascents of the Jägerhaus climb, measuring 2.1 kilometers at an average gradient of 6.1 percent.

Röber, Voege and Molenaar were among the first riders to lose contact at the front. That left Kings, Heidemann and Jochum to cross the finish line together for the first time. By then, the peloton had reduced the gap to a little over one minute, with around 40 kilometers of racing still remaining.

On the second ascent of the Jägerhaus, race leader Del Toro briefly showed himself near the front, although the Mexican was unable to make a decisive move at that point. As a result, the three remaining escapees saw the reduced peloton close to within around 30 seconds. Everything appeared set to be decided on the final ascent of the Jägerhaus.

That was where everyone had been expecting an explosive acceleration from Del Toro, and it did not take long to arrive. The Mexican attacked and immediately discovered that nobody could hold his wheel. Barré managed to stay relatively close for a while, but the French Visma | Lease a Bike rider eventually had to concede that Del Toro was simply too strong. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG star appeared to be riding solo towards another stage victory, but a sizeable group came back together behind him.

It was Del Toro against a large chasing group with less than two kilometers remaining. Soudal Quick-Step organized the pursuit superbly, and the Mexican was finally caught inside the final 100 meters. Magnier then finished off his team’s work by winning the sprint, while Del Toro could console himself with the bigger prize: overall victory in the 2026 Lidl Deutschland Tour.

1. Paul Magnier