Deutschland Tour (st. 2)

Spaniard (15th) top Blue on Friday into G2, twelve seconds from quartet led home by day's winner and GC leader Max Schachmann (QST).

Max Schachmann (QST) took Friday’s honours at a demanding, long stage two in the Deutschland-Tour -196km starting at Bonn and finishing with a circuit in Trier, the country’s oldest city-, the local rider leading a four-man breakaway cemented at the descent of the last of six decisive climbs, the Petrisberg bonus sprint.

Mohoric (TBM), Dumoulin (SUN) and Politt (TKA) joined the German into an elite group which all six Movistar Team riders fought hard to be part of. A flurry of attacks from the squad directed by José Luis Jaimerena -including a significant move from Jasha Sütterlin, caught into the last 10km– saw Dayer Quintana, Bico, Pedrero and Rubén Fernández going offensive for the Blue outfit, already into a long breakaway with Jorge Arcas on Thursday.

In the end, Fernández (15th) stayed into a second group before the top four, twelve seconds behind at the finish, while Pedrero, Sütterlin and Arcas completed the race into a third peloton, 32″ back. Rubén now sits 18th overall (+22″) before stage three on Saturday, featuring five short, steep climbs in the 177km between Trier and Merzig.

Picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net