Deutschland Tour: Gregor Mühlberger holds off reduced field to win rain-soaked stage 2 at Winterberg

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Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar Team) hung on to a slim solo lead to take a rain-soaked stage 2 victory at the Deutschland Tour on an uphill finish into Winterberg. 

It was 1-2 for Movistar as Alex Aranburu sprinted ahead of a reduced field for second place, with Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich) third on the day.

"We had it in mind to work for Alex because he is up in front for the GC. They went hard for the bonus second, and then I tried to go, and I heard on the radio Alex screaming to go, go, go. I had [Florian] Stork from DSM on my wheel and thought we could try to go. If they caught me, I would try my best to go for Alex, but luckily, I made it to the finish," Mühlberger said.

Stage 1 winner and overnight leader Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-Quick Step) finished fifth on the day and maintained an 11-second lead in the general classification ahead of Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates), while Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) is third at 13 seconds back.

The second stage of the Deutschland Tour was 201.3km from Kassel to Winterberg and included two intermediate sprints at Marsberg and Bad Fredeburg and two categorised ascents: the first mid-race at Berlar and then the final ascent to the finish in Winterberg.

Julian Borresch (Saris Rouvy Sauerland Team) and Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Deceuninck) attacked in the opening kilometres of the stage. Borresch took the early intermediate sprint points in Marseberg and Riesebeek the mountain points at Berlar.

Soudal-QuickStep set the pace from the peloton behind for their stage 1 winner and overall race leader, Ilan van Wilder.

The clouds opened up as rain poured down on the peloton during the last half of the stage, but the two breakaway riders pushed on, gaining more than six minutes on the field with 60km to go.

Borresch was eventually dropped from the move, leaving Riesebeek to continue alone. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider took the points through the second and final intermediate sprint in Bad Fredeburg, but by that point in the race, the main field had cut his gap down to four minutes.

He carried a four-minute lead into the base of a 10km uphill that peaked at Altastenberg. Ineos Grenadiers, Team dsm-firmenich, and Lidl-Trek all moved upfront on the ascent, causing Riesebeek's gap to quickly drop to three minutes and the two until he was caught just before the top of the climb 20km out from the finish.

A reduced peloton led by UAE Team Emirates and Soudal-QuickStep descended through the rain and into the base of the final ascent to the finish, a pace fast enough to cause separations among the front.

Late-race attacks set off before the field reached the bottom of the climb, with Mühlberger and Florian Stork (Team dsm-firmenich) breaking clear and stretching their lead out to 20 seconds inside 12km.

UAE Team Emirates' Brandon McNulty led the small peloton up the lower slopes of the final climb, and the two breakaway riders came into view as they reached the steeper sections.

Mühlberger surged again, distancing Stork with three kilometres to go, and pushed on alone in pursuit of the stage win. His 20-second lead was reduced to 10 as the small group sprinted behind him. But it was just enough to hang on for the stage win in Winterberg. 

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