Schachmann claims German road race title

Max Schachmann took the title in the German national men's road race, a race in which Bora-Hansgrohe dealt quickly and efficiently with all competition. Second and third went to his teammates Marcus Burghardt and Andreas Schillinger.

The trio were part of a lead group that formed early and quickly shrank, due to both the bad weather conditions and the high tempo. With 40km left, the trio pulled away and their full podium was never in doubt.

The 170 riders faced full sunshine and temperatures around 35° Celsius as they took to the 180.6km race around the Sachsen Ring. The conditions were bad enough that 70 riders had already abandoned after only 40km.

It developed even more into an elimination race, with the temperatures soaring up to nearly 38° Celsius. A large lead group formed and got away, but grew smaller and smaller as the race went on. Also, because of the short laps - only 12.9km - riders who were too far down were taken out of the race.

With 40km to go, the situation had evolved into a race of only 20 riders. Bora-Hansgrohe took control, with Burghardt, Schachmann and Schillinger jumping into the lead. Nils Politt (Katusha) and Georg Zimmerman (Tirol-KTM) gave chase, but going into the final lap of the large circuit and with three 2.9km laps on the Sachsenring to come, the gap had grown to 40 seconds. The remaining riders were over three minutes down.

Only 15 riders went into the final small laps, with the two chasers a minute down and the large field at around four minutes. It became obvious that the Bora riders could decide amongst themselves who would take the honours.

Politt decided that fourth would be better than fifth, and pulled away from Zimmerman in an attempt to secure that thankless position.

Schachmann led the trio into the closing kilometer. Although they were all together again with 400 meters to go, the win went to Schachmann. All three riders raised their arms in victory as they crossed the line.

Results