Alvaro Hodeg pushed his wheel past Pascal Ackermann in the sprint to win the opening stage of the Tour of Germany in Bonn on Thursday.
With the stage race in his home country resuming after a 10-year hiatus, Ackermann launched his bid for glory several hundred metres from the finish of the 157-kilometre ride from Koblenz.
Even though two great German sprinters Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) and Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) are in the race, it was two youngsters who gave chase.
Hodeg came late and did just enough to win in a photo finish. Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) was half a wheel back in third.
“I knew the best sprinters were here like Greipel and Kittel,” Hodeg tsaid. “It was a great feeling to beat all these great sprinters.”
Greipel finished sixth as Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas and runner-up Tom Dumoulin finished safely with the peloton.
Tour of Germany 2018 – stage 1 results (Koblenz – Bonn):
| 1 | Alvaro Hodeg (Quick-Step Floors) | 4:38:36 |
| 2 | Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 3 | Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 4 | Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 5 | Alexander Krieger (Leopard Pro Cycling) | ,, |
| 6 | Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 7 | Aaron Grosser (Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany) | ,, |
| 8 | Colin Joyce (Rally Cycling) | ,, |
| 9 | Rick Zabel (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 10 | Kristian Sbaragli (Israel Cycling Academy) | ,, |
