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.
The time trial world champion covered the 2.6km route in a winning time of 2 minutes and 56 seconds, beating runner up Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) by two seconds and defending champion Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) by three seconds in Weimar.
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.
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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.
Kirsten Frattini has been the Editor of Cyclingnews since December 2025, overseeing editorial operations and output across the brand and delivering quality, engaging content.
She manages global budgets, racing & events, production scheduling, and contributor commissions, collaborating across content sections and teams in the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia to ensure audience and subscription growth across the brand.
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.
