Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty) was able to hold off Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla) to claim his first road race title at the German Road Championships in Linden on Sunday.
Anton Schiffer (Bike Aid) took third ahead of Lennard Kämna (Lidl-Trek).
Zimmerman was part of a chase group that caught a two-man breakaway of Emanuel Buchmann (Cofidis) and Schiffer inside of 20km to go. Florian Stork (Tudor) also made the split.
Attacks flew but no one could escape as the kilometres ticked down. Engelhardt was the first to accelerate, with Zimmermann the only rider to hold his wheel before coming around him to take the win.
"Today was a real roller coaster of emotions. When I got a flat tyre at the crucial moment, I honestly thought about giving up. But I managed to motivate myself again, thanks to the exceptional support from my teammate Jonas Rutsch. In the end, everything just clicked for me. When Engelhardt attacked, I kept a cool head and stayed on his wheel, and in the final meters, I was able to use that last bit of power I had left to win this German Champion title," Zimmermann said.
"It's fantastic, it's a huge achievement to have the honour of wearing the jersey for a year; it was one of my career goals. Now, I still have the dream of winning a stage at the Tour de France and participating in the Olympic Games someday..."
The riders tackled a 198 km course featuring over 3,300 meters of climbing, with hot temperatures around 31°C adding to the difficulty in the race of attrition.
After an aggressive start, Nils Politt (UAE-Team Emirates-XRG) acceleration reeled in the early breakaway which led to numerous attacks especially from newly crowned TT champion Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal-Quick Step).
Inside of 60km to go, Zimmermann, Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek) and Nico Denz and Jonas Koch (both Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had managed to escape. Zimmermann suffered a mechanical but with the help of his teammate Jonas Rutsch was able to make it back to the chase group and ultimately to the very front of the field.
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