Adam Yates claims stage 3 mountaintop victory and moves into race lead at Deutschland Tour

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Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) won the first-ever mountaintop finish at the Deutschland Tour on stage 3 and took over as the general classification leader.  Finishing in second was Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) high atop Schauinsland, with Mauri Vansevenant (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) in third.

With 6.4km to go, Yates attacked and went solo on the banks of the Holzschlägermatte, 11.7km in length and averaging 6.5%. Bilbao picked up the pace and with under 5km to go was chasing alone in second place while George Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) chased in third. 

After Yates secured his first victory of the year and Bilbao emerged from the low-hanging clouds, the battle was on for the final spot on the podium. In the final 100 metres, Vansevenant sprinted past Zimmermann along with Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-EasyPost) and the Dutch rider edged out Guerreiro for the final podium spot. 

“I’m really happy. It’s my first win in a long time and this year I’ve had a lot of bad luck. I’ve been sick it feels like the whole year. To come back after the Tour and with  good condition and good legs, it really feels good,” Yates said at the finish.

“All the guys knew we had to put the pressure on early. The bottom of the climb was a lot steeper than the final. And also with the bonus seconds today, it would have been nice to take them. So we decided to go full gas at the bottom and that’s what we did. Yeah, it was a long effort, but in the end it worked out.”

The mountaintop finish produced a big shakeup in the GC, with Yates holding a margin of 30 seconds over Bilbao and 48 seconds  over Vansevenant. Having lost the leader’s jersey, Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) drops to 14th.

The penultimate stage of the four-day 2.Pro race began in Freiburg. Straightaway six riders attacked for the breakaway of the day - Abram Stockman  and Michiel Stockman of Saris Rouvey Sauerland Team, Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Jakob Beßner and Joshua Huppertz of Lotto-Kern Haus and Frederik Raßmann (Team Auner-Akkon).

The first KOM at Schelingert Hõhe, a stiff 8.7% pitch across 2.5km saw five points taken by Frederik Raßmann, with Jakob Geßner taking three and Michiel Stockman/the final point. Six kilometres later the Texas Pass KOM had three points going to Geßner, followed by Stockman with 2 and Harm Vanhoucke with one.

After the two early climbs and mid-way on the 70km flatlands of the Rhine Valley, the breakaway headed to the final rising roads toward the final ascent with a 5:20 advantage on the peloton. The gap moved out to 6:30 after the intermediate sprint at Bad Krozingen, top points taken by Michiel Stockman.

As the breakaway pressed on with 10km to the base of the next KOM, Luisenhöhe, a heavy rain began to fall. The peloton held a steady pace but had eaten away at the lead with 3:30 between them and the break.

Vanhoucke remained as the sole survivor of the break on the lower, rain-soaked slopes of the final climb, the sun beginning to shine through the clouds as he pressed ahead. In the chase behind Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) worked with Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), who joined Vanhoucke with 7.3km to go. It would be Yates who accelerated first and it was the winning move.

Geßner defended his blue mountain jersey and Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) will continue to ride in the green jersey of the points leader. The new best young rider was Vansevenant.

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