Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) was crowned the overall Tour of Germany champion after finishing second behind home favourite Nils Politt in Sunday’s fourth and final stage in Stuttgart.
It was second stage-race win in a fortnight for Mohoric, 23, who won Saturday’s stage in Merzig to take the red jersey, following victory last weekend on the BinckBank Tour.
Politt, 24, earned the first stage-race win of his career by covering the 207.4 kilometres from Lorsch to Stuttgart in four hours, 49 minutes, 20 seconds with Mohoric finishing close behind.
Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas finished 52nd on Sunday, 2min 30sec behind Politt, coming 41st overall, but the Welshman’s presence in Germany boosted the race’s profile on its return after a decade-long absence.
Maximilian Schachmann, who won Friday’s second stage after beating Mohoric on the line in Trier, took second overall with Politt third.
Enthusiastic crowds greeted the riders as the Tour of Germany returned following a ten-year hiatus after the 2009 edition was scrapped following a series of high-profile doping cases, which blighted cycling.
“It’s amazing, the number of spectators is great. Cycling is not dead in Germany,” said Schachmann.
Tour of Germany 2018 – stage 4 results (Lorsch – Stuttgart):
| 1 | Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) | 4:49:20 |
| 2 | Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 3 | Damiano Caruso (BMC) | ,, |
| 4 | Nick van der Lijke (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) | ,, |
| 5 | Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 6 | Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 7 | Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 8 | Warren Barguil (Fortuneo-Samsic) | ,, |
| 9 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 10 | Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
Final general classification:
| 1 | Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) | 17:27:10 |
| 2 | Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) | +06” |
| 3 | Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) | +12” |
| 4 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +16” |
| 5 | Damiano Caruso (BMC) | +26” |
| 6 | Warren Barguil (Fortuneo-Samsic) | +28” |
| 7 | Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data) | +30” |
| 8 | Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | +31” |
| 9 | Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | +33” |
| 10 | Nick van der Lijke (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) | +34” |
