Walscheid wins Munsterland Giro

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Max Walscheid (Team Sunweb) won the Munsterland Giro, beating John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) in a reduced bunch sprint. Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) rounded out the podium with Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) in fourth.

The tight city-centre course made for a messy sprint and there appeared to be some miss-communication between defending champion Sam Bennett and his teammate Pascal Ackerman. Bora-Hansgrohe had controlled the bunch in the finale and looked the strongest team present, but the pair appeared to be sprinting against each other before Bennett sat up. The Irishman finished 11th while Ackerman claimed fifth.

There were no such issues for Walscheid who shot to the front of the group as the peloton rounded the penultimate curve. The 25-year-old German was a clear bike's length ahead of Degenkolb as he thumped the air in delight. The race was Walscheid's first since finishing the Vuelta a Espana last month and his first win since the penultimate stage of the Tour de Yorkshire in May.

A six-rider move marked the start of the day with Maxim Belkov (Katusha-Alpecin), Alexandr Kulikovskii (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Lucas Carstensen (Bike Aid), Pascal Treubel (Heizomat rad-net.de), Paul Taebling (LKT-Team Brandenburg), Robert Retschke (Lotto-Kern Haus) building up a lead of over three minutes. Their time out front did not last too long, and with just over 100 kilometres remaining they were caught after the peloton split in two in some crosswinds.

It was a severely diminished peloton that entered Munster inside the final 20 kilometres, with fewer than 30 riders remaining. Bennett and Ackermann made the further split during a frenetic flurry of action with Greipel, Degenkolb and Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) also making it into the select leading group.

As the group approached the finish line for the first time, Elmar Reinders (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) jumped clear. The Dutchman still had a small gap as he hit the line for the second time, but the group behind appeared well in control of the situation. With two potential contenders for victory, it was left to Bora-Hansgrohe to pull Reinders back. He was easily reeled in with four kilometres to go.

Not wanting to wait for a sprint finish, and perhaps taking note from Danny van Poppel at Binche-Chimay-Binche, Gaviria decided to have a go inside the final three kilometres. Bora-Hansgrohe were quick to react and brought the Colombian back, but they could not relax with Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) attacking immediately afterwards. He was eventually caught.

Trek-Segafredo guided the peloton under the flamme rouge. Walscheid was sitting in around fifth place in the bunch as the sprint wound up but he slipped into the front position by the time they rounded the second to last bend. Degenkolb remained firmly on his wheel but did not have the power to go around him.

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