Bayern Rundfahrt: Brit Geraint Thomas (Sky) has won the Bayern Rundfahrt for the second time in his career. Victory on the last stage was secured by the Irishman Sam Bennett, who gave the Raublinger Team NetApp-Endura the hoped-for sense of achievement at the end of the home tour.
The 159-kilometer stage from Wassertrüdingen to Nuremberg was initially determined by a nine-man lead group, which broke away from the field after 20 kilometers. The best-known riders in this group were New Zealand champion Hayden Roulston (Trek), Russian Pavel Brutt (Katusha) and Austrian Daniel Schorn (NetApp-Endura). However, with a maximum lead of 2:55 minutes, the group was kept on a short leash.
On the final laps in downtown Nuremberg, the group disintegrated noticeably. As the last breakaway, the Spaniard Marcos Garcia (Caja Rural-Sehuros RGA) tried to assert himself in front of the field. Alexander Grad (Heizomat) and Eduardo Sepulveda (Brittany-Seché Environment) added to his verse. But even with the three of them, the group couldn't hold on.
What was impressive was Sepulveda's performance, who insisted on tackling the last laps of the race in front of the field together with Jens Voigt (Trek). But even this last attempt was doomed to fail. The field was together five kilometers before the finish line. After that, the Garmin-Sharp, Stuttgart and NetApp-Endura teams set the pace. The latter proved to be successful. On the home stretch in front of the Nuremberg Opera, Bennett gave the competition no chance. He won clearly ahead of Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2R-La Mondiale) and Raymond Kreder (Garmin Sharp).
As a result, Bennett also secured the jersey for the best sprinter of the tour. The French Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) was the best young professional. Canadian Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEdge) secured the jersey. Probably the most important jersey of the tour went to the Briton Geraint Thomas (Sky). In the end he was 19 seconds ahead of Swiss Mathias Frank (IAM) and Belarusian Vasil Kiryenka (Sky).