Bretagne Classic / Deutschland Tour (finale)

Rubén (12th), courageous Sütterlin close Tour of Germany on high note; José Joaquín ends as top Movistar Team performer in rainy, demanding Plouay grand prix.

Aside from their efforts in the 2018 Vuelta a España, Sunday’s action also saw the Movistar Team making big efforts at the Deutschland Tour (UCI 2.1) and the Bretagne Classic (UCI WorldTour).

Over at the hilly showdown in the Tour of Germany, 207km starting at Lorsch and finishing with a demanding loop into Stuttgart, three of the riders directed by José Luis Jaimerena stayed into the front split after the big selection into the climbs: Rubén Fernández, Jorge Arcas and Jasha Sütterlin. A specially notorious performance came yet again from the ‘Bull of Freiburg’, briefly on the attack after the first of two Herdweg ascents with Jan Bakelants (ALM). In turn, Rubén kept the Blues well present at the sprint with a 12th spot. Nils Politt (TKA) took his maiden pro victory as Matej Mohoric (TBM) completed a ‘back-to-back’ of GC victories following his BinckBank Tour success. Fernández was 14th overall.

Even harder was the day for all riders at the former Grand Prix de Plouay (257km), under soaking rain for most of the course and featuring race-winning attacks with no less than 70km from the end. A trio with Oliver Naesen (ALM, 1st), Michael Valgren (AST, 2nd) and Tim Wellens (LTS, 3rd) came home with nearly one minute and a half over the main peloton, where the Movistar Team had Soler, Valls and Barbero covering José Joaquín Rojas, eventually in 21st place (Results).