Deutschland Tour 2021 started today by the Baltic Sea at the very north-east of Germany with typical weather for that region. The opening 191 km flat stage from Stralsund to Schwerin was challenging with rain and seaside winds.

The peloton controlled the gap of not more than 2’30” from a six-man breakaway. Team Bahrain Victorious riders were mainly at the front of the bunch and showed good teamwork.

By the entrance of Schwerin with 10 km to the finish, the peloton caught the breakaway and, the positioning at the front helped Bahrain Victorious riders avoid a crash with 3 km to go.

Marcel Sieberg and Marco Haller positioned Phil Bauhaus well for the bunch sprint. Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) launched his attack first and held out to the line, with Bauhaus and Haller settling for second and third, respectively.

Phil Bauhaus shared his thoughts immediately after the Deutschland Tour opener; “Now when my head is still hot, I’m pretty disappointed, no matter that it may look like a good result, two podium places, second and third. I am a bit sorry that after great teamwork from all our guys, in the end, we should’ve had better communication, maybe with Marco, we could’ve done better. I think that I had a great chance of winning the stage today. Let’s look forward, and tomorrow is another chance. We need to win”.

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