Nils Politt kept it short, he didn't need many words to formulate his recipe for success.
“If your head is free, your legs are free too,” said the 27-year-old professional cyclist from Cologne, after winning the third stage of the Germany tour as a soloist and slipping into the red jersey of the front runner - which he kept on Sunday, at the end of the tour in Nuremberg, when the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff was the fastest of the day.
A special moment for Politt at the home tour, who also said on Sunday: “It was a really difficult race today.” About seven weeks earlier he had already achieved a great coup: He was one with a stage win in the Tour de France All day long on top of the most prestigious spectacle in cycling.
Arms outstretched
With his arms wide open and a strong blow to the chest, Politt crossed the finish line after 193.8 kilometers from Ilmenau to Erlangen on Saturday - eleven seconds ahead of Belgian Dylan Teuns, with whom he pulled away shortly after the last intermediate sprint of the day and which he was able to shake off a little later. “I hardly looked back. Only 500 meters from the finish did I see that there was still a relatively large gap and then I saw the pack. But then I already knew that it would be enough, ”said Politt.
It was the basis for his overall victory.
As early as 2018 in Stuttgart, Politt had been able to win a part of the day of the Germany tour as an outlier.
Above all, the fourth of the 2019 tour, Emanuel Buchmann, had created the prerequisites for the Bora-hansgrohe team to have a chance of victory in the finals in pouring rain while chasing four runaways - which Politt then took advantage of.
Long standstill
Last Thursday, the Germany Tour was the first professional race in the country after 693 days in Stralsund. Politt, too, had found the prolonged standstill in Germany to be a major disadvantage. “The Germans were extremely strict about events in contrast to the other countries. It must be said that sport has suffered as a result. ”The Hamburg Cyclassics were canceled twice, the race in Frankfurt fell victim to the pandemic once and was postponed to September 19 this year.
The wheels also stood still on the Germany tour in 2020. André Greipel was now also very pleased that he could say goodbye to the fans in his old home. “There has never been a professional race in my home country. I know every street here, ”said the Rostock native. After 17 years as a professional cyclist, Greipel, 39 years old, ended at the end of the season: “I lived, loved and sometimes hated cycling. It was a way of life. "
And a success story: Greipel won 22 stages in major tours, eleven of them in the Tour de France.
He was third in the World Cup and three times German champion.
With 158 victories, he is the most successful German professional cyclist.
This time, the Germany tour ran over four stages - and Greipel also hopes that the tour will soon be expanded to one week, as in previous years.
But then without him.
Eiking leads at the Vuelta
The Norwegian professional cyclist Odd Christian Eiking defended the red jersey of the overall leader on the 15th stage of the Tour of Spain. Eiking reached the finish on Sunday with the group of favorites. The outsider had taken over the red jersey from Primoz Roglic after the tenth stage. The day's victory went to the Pole Rafal Majka after a long solo drive after 197.5 kilometers from Navalmoral de la Mata to El Barraco.