Pello Bilbao put in a solid display on stage 3 of the Deutschland Tour in his quest for the overall, managing to place second and move up to second in GC. Pello continues to demonstrate his GC qualities this season, already securing third at the Tour of Pologne and UAE Tour, along with a 5th overall at the Giro d’Italia.

Today’s stage from Freiburg to Schauinsland contained three category one climbs, the final being 12km long with an average gradient of 6.5%. Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto) came first to the foot of the mountain, but the peloton was working in unison while there were some individual attacks. Adam Yates (Ineos) attacked with Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) and joined Vanhoucke in the lead with 8km to go. Pello Bilbao was the pulling force for the group of 10 riders, only to attack with 3.4 km to go and try to chase the sole leader out in front, Yates. Pello managed to take the 30-second gap down to 11 at one point, but Adam Yates proved too strong and won with 19 seconds to spare. Pello Bilbao was second, 9 seconds in front of the Vansevanand (Quickstep).

Pello Bilbao: “From the radio, they were telling me to be patient. Yates attacked early, and I saw there are still ten riders in the group, a few teams with two or three riders, so I expected more rhythm to try to go for the stage win, but finally, Yates did a good attack. At the bonus sprint, I decided to attack, and maybe that was too late. If I went behind Yates, maybe I would have the opportunity to go for the stage win. Anyway, I’m quite happy with the result.”

Enrico Poitschke: “The queen stage had a long final climb, and it was hard as we expected it. The goal was to support Pello with the whole team. The guys did a really good job, always being in the right position in the dangerous situation and especially in the final climb. We worked very well together and Pello was in the perfect position on the first climb, in the downhill Pernestainer supported him, and on the final climb, he started in the front. He saved a little bit in the beginning, and later in the race, he attacked, caught two bonus seconds, and finished 2nd on the stage as well as in general classification. He was only beaten by Yates, who was the strongest today. In general, we are happy with second place at the moment, and tomorrow the whole team will try to save this result. We will fight again, maybe for a stage win, and also try to win that race in general.”