Nasty crashes disrupt final stage of the Deutschland Tour: Brennan too fast for Milan again, Waerenskjold overall winner

Unlike the Renewi Tour, where it remained exciting until the very last meters, the battle for the GC seemed to be decided in the penultimate stage. After the disqualification of Danny van Poppel, Søren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) won his second stage, his lead in the flat final stage seemed comfortable enough, even though the gap to Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) was only 10 seconds.

After a day with 2,700 meters of climbing, the final stage to Magdeburg had only 900 meters of climbing. Not really a day for the breakaway riders, as it turned out. However, there was a battle for the mountain jersey, as there was a small climb just after the start. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) had already gone off on his own, but behind him, Enzo Leijnse (Picnic PostNL) beat Vinzent Dorn to take the mountain jersey by a narrow margin.

The two contenders then kept their legs still, but McNulty pedaled on relentlessly. The American refused to be slowed down and rode the entire race in the lead on his own. It looked like it was going to be a pretty boring race. But the wind posed a significant danger: riders were suddenly pulled to the side, and there was a serious risk of echelon action. As a result, McNulty was caught 60 kilometers from the finish line.

Nevertheless, the wind continued to play a role in the race, where the average speed had increased considerably. The depleted peloton came under considerable pressure from attackers who saw their chance, but there were still enough riders left to catch up with the breakaway riders. Jonathan Milan still had quite a few domestiques with him, so Lidl-Trek took responsibility.

A crash by Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) in the last 5 kilometers meant that he was unable to sprint. Phil Bauhaus was also down and remained on the ground for a long time. It was then a thinned-out sprint, also because Danny van Poppel hit the asphalt hard. Wout van Aert delivered Brennan brilliantly, who was once again too fast for Milan and Waerenskjold, who took the overall victory.