Ganna wins prologue and takes first leader's jersey at Deutschland Tour

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Mollema second, Politt third in Weimar

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WEIMAR GERMANY AUGUST 24 Filippo Ganna of Italy and Team INEOS Grenadiers sprints during the 37th Deutschland Tour 2022 Prologue a 26km individual time trial from Weimar to Weimar DeineTour on August 24 2022 in Weimar Germany Photo by Stuart FranklinGetty Images
Filippo Ganna wins prologue at the Deutschland Tour(Image credit: Getty Images)

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) won the prologue at the Deutschland Tour and with it he earned the first leader's jersey of the five-day race. 

Ganna will lead the overall classification into the first road stage with two seconds ahead of Mollema and three ahead of Politt, as the peloton tackle a 171km race from Weimar into Meiningen.

Henri Uhlig (Alpecin-Deceuninck Development) set the first benchmark of the day at 3:07:02 that set the tone for a time trial that would see 50+ km/h. He would eventually finish 28th as faster riders moved onto the circuit.

Greg van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën), Kim Heiduk and Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers), Mick van Dijke (Jumbo-Visma) all spent time in the hot seat as the speeds quickened to the 51km/h threshold.

Mollema was the first rider to crack the three-minute barrier with a time of 2:58, at 52.3km/h, but his time didn't hold as Ganna stormed through the finish line two seconds faster and at 53.1km/h in a time of 2:56.

Yves Lampaert (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) was the next in but could only manage a time fast enough for fifth place behind van Dijke on the day. 

Politt was the next over the line, and while the defending overall champion clocked speeds of 52.2km/h, he was three seconds slower than Ganna, but it was enough to hold onto third place.

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Kirsten Frattini
Kirsten Frattini
Deputy Editor

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.

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