Adam Yates wins overall title at 2022 Deutschland Tour

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Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) finished safely in the bunch sprint on stage 4 in Stuttgart and captured the overall title at the Deutschland Tour on Sunday.  

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), sitting second in the general classification, sprinted to the stage victory to secure his runner-up position in the GC. He edged Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-EasyPost) at the line who finished in second place. 

With bonus seconds from the final climb on the city circuit and the podium finish, Guerreiro moved into third overall, edging George Zimmermann (Intermarché - Wanty-Gobert) on both the stage and GC podium.

Yates scored his first-ever race victory at the four-day stage race, taking the red leader’s jersey on stage 3 using a solo attack with 6.4km to go en route to the victory atop Schauinsland. 

The three and a half finishing circuits in Stuttgart provided the decisive territory for the final spot on the podium. While Bilbao was able to protect his second place position, Mauri Vansevenant (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and Mattia Jensen (Trek-Segafredo) could not overcome their challenges to secure the final podium spot. Jensen would crash out of the race on the first of the three full city circuits and Vansevenant lost out on bonus seconds on the final climb and finish.

"Today was a super tough day, but the team rode amazingly. It was a super dangerous break, which we tried to control in the beginning, but everybody wanted to be in the break so we had to pull hard. The guys did an amazing job all the way to the finish, I didn’t really touch the wind until the final. I couldn’t be more happy or to have asked for any more," Yates said. 

Early in the race teammates Kim Heiduk and Laurens de Plus helped keep a large breakaway in check, and then on the finishing circuits Ben Tulett and Filippo Ganna took over to keep a breakaway group from getting away.

Without collecting further points for the mountain classification, Jakob Geßner (Lotto-Kern Haus) was able to defend his blue jersey. Zimmermann was able to take the white jersey of the best young rider due to the bonus seconds at the finish. With the stage win, Bilbao also took over the points classification title.

How it unfolded

Multiple attacks began from the start in Schiltach as the first KOM points at Schömberg attracted attention 13.3km from the drop of the flag, with Romain Bardet first over the crest. Headed to the second  climb at Berneck, a mass of 12 riders formed at the front and Bardet again took the top points on hand, inching his way into second place in the mountains classification, 10 points behind Jakob Geßner.

After passing over the category 2 Holzbronn, Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Soudal) taking three points, Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked and the front group dwindled to seven riders for the final 100km - Politt joined by Bardet, Matthew Holmes (Lotto Soudal), Barnabás Peák (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates), Clément Berthet (AG2R Citroën) and Mick van Dijke (Jumbo-Visma), with Berthet the best-placed rider in the GC at two minutes behind Adam Yates.

With 53km to go, the front group of WorldTour riders had a gap of 2:17 on the red jersey group and a solid 6:44 over the points classification leader Alexander Kristoff.

On the first of three full circuits, 31.2km to go, the breakaway held a slim 1:55 lead. From the peloton behind, riders from B&B Hotels-KTM and Ineos pushed the pace and grabbed back another 20 seconds on the first kilometre of the circuit. At the back of the peloton, Matias Jenson (Trek-Segafredo), placed fourth overall just 48 seconds behind Yates, crashed and could not continue to contest for a GC podium.

The Herdweg climb, 1.3km at a stiff 7.6% was next on the menu, the first of three ascents, the first two passes providing mountains points. Huge crowds lined the climb, cheering as Politt took the KOM points ahead of Bardet on the initial pass.

With 22km to go, the Ineos team worked at the front of the peloton to reduce the gap to just under one minute, Filippo Ganna pulling red jersey Adam Yates.

On the second ascent of Herdweg, Bardet set off to the front but was passed at the top by Van Dijke. The 22-year-old accelerated to the front of the race to ride alone for several kilometres until a few of his breakaway companions – Holmes, Bardet and Peák – regrouped with him on the circuit.

Descending back to Stuttgart for the final climb, the quartet had 36 seconds on the peloton. Peák accelerated to take the bell in a solo attack, but the foursome was soon back together for a last chance at victory. However, the peloton made the catch with 6.5km to go on the slopes of the Herdweg, EF Education-EasyPost leading the way for bonus points at the top.

Yates marked the move and finished second at the top behind Guerreiro who took three seconds. Mauri Vansevenant managed to crest the top in third place, and take a single second, which allowed him to hold third place overall by the slimmest of margins over the EF rider as they headed to the final bonus seconds at the finish line.

As the final kilometre began for a select group of a dozen riders, Bilbao latched himself on the rear wheel of Adam Yates, then timed his acceleration perfectly to sprint to the stage win.

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