Buchmann wins German national road race

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Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Argon18) won the German national road race. The climber took off from a lead group in the final kilometers to deny the sprinters their chance. Niklas Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) was second with BMC’s Marcus Burghardt third.

The race was supposed to be a showdown of the top German sprinters, but in the end, John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) was 16th and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) 18th, with Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) abandoning.

It was the first pro win for the 22-year-old Buchmann, who is a first pro year. He will wear the national jersey in his grand tour debut at the upcoming Tour de France.

Various groups formed and fell apart in the early part of the race, which was eight laps of a rolling 26 km long circuit. As the fourth lap started, an eight-man group formed around Johannes Fröhlinger (Giant-Alpecin) and Andrea Stauff (MTN-Qhubeka). They took a two-minute gap into the next lap.

The Bora-Argon18 riders in the race then attacked, and a total of 13 riders, including John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), moved up to join the leaders. But this group was caught, shortly before the start of the fifth lap. At about the same time, Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) abandoned, continuing his run of bad form this season.

Again various groups formed and attacked, and on the penultimate lap, a large group of 21 riders formed, including defending champion Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal). With a 50 second gap to his rival, Degenkolb jumped and made his way up to the now-reduced lead group, dragging six other riders with him.

Twenty-three riders were in the group as they went into the final lap, with the field at 1:10. The first to attack in a solo effort was Linus Gerdemann (Cult Energy). He was caught, but joined the next group to go, which included Degenkolb. Greipel was showing some weakness by now, but holding on. The group splintered as it took the final climb of the day, but the gaps were not large.

A mass sprint was expected, with a duel between Degenkolb and Greipel. But with only a few kilometers remaining, Buchmann took off and soloed in to the finish, allowing the young climbing specialist to take one away from the renowned German sprinters.

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