Deutschland Tour: Giulio Pellizzari wins queen stage as Isaac del Toro retakes control of race lead

Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) continued his strong August form by winning the queen stage of the Deutschland Tour, beating close friend off the bike, Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), to the line in Bad Dürkheim as the Mexican re-took the overall lead on stage 3.

Del Toro attacked away from the peloton with 33km to go on the steepest climb of seven categorised ascents along the 170km route, the Rotsteig, where race leader Louis Barré (Visma-Lease a Bike) was unable to follow, but Pellizzari managed to bridge across.

They rode the final 30km together after dropping lone early attacker Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) on the Annaberg, before arriving at the finish line where the Italian rode to the stage win and Del Toro back into the blue leader's jersey.

Barré's team tried but failed to bring him back to the two leaders, and even several solo bursts couldn't see him limit the damage to less than the 49 seconds he shipped at the line. With one stage remaining on Sunday, Del Toro will start with a 52-second buffer over the Frenchman, which, if he successfully defends, will bring him his fourth stage race victory of the season.

"Today is a super day. Yesterday we were super happy with Magagnotti's win, so today we wanted to do it again, and it was the perfect day to do it," said Pellizzari after the stage,

"We were in the perfect position when Isaac went. I just took my tempo and then in the end I came back. We had good collaboration – he was going for GC and I was going for the stage – we tried to do our best, and we are just super happy," he added, with both 22-year-old rising stars living in San Marino.

"We are super good friends, me and Isaac, of course, and during the race we have a good battle. I always say we are friends 1cm before the finish line; from there we are friends, so I'm super happy now he is leading in GC. Tomorrow is still one day; we will try with Alessio [Magagnotti], but today it's a perfect day for me, Isaac, and all San Marino."

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