With several representatives of sponsor CUBE present at the Bayern Rundfahrt, Wanty-Groupe Gobert rode aggressively from the start. The mountain classification became a goal from stage two when Marco Minnaard found himself in the break of the day and picked up all the available points for the polka dot jersey.
“My legs felt good today. I won both sprints for the mountain jersey relatively easy," the Dutchman said. "With six points I was level pegging with the Cololmbian (Rodolfo Torres) and knew that my position in the overall classification would be decisive in who would get the jersey."
Minnaard sprinted for bonus seconds along the way before he was one of the last breakaway riders to be caught at ten kilometres from the line.
"I was happy to take these four seconds. Now I would have to finish in the bunch and I succeeded in doing just that!”
Simone Antonini took over the jersey from Minnaard on the third day. The Italian was very active in the breakaway and won all the points for the classification. The last day would be decisive for this ranking as there were 13 points up for grabs in the stage to Nürnberg and more riders were interested in the jersey; notably MTN-Qhubeka’s Louis Meintjes for example.
“Minnaard tried to be in the break and then Antonini went. I was the third to try and my group stuck and stayed away,” Frederik Veuchelen explains. “Louis Meintjes was in this group as we went clear on the first climb but I took the maximum amount of points immediately, in front of the South African.”
Veuchelen did the same on all the other climbs on the local circuit in Nürnberg. With a total of 13 points he brought home the mountain jersey from the Bayern Rundfahrt.
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