After the opening prologue on Wednesday, the first road stage at the Deutschland Tour saw the peloton take on a rolling day in the saddle before a few categorised climbs in the finale which could act as a launchpad for attacks. Riding well as a unit, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL stuck within the peloton while a three rider break formed out front, keeping their proverbial powder dry for the attacking finale. On the last climbs a strong tempo was set in the group which thinned out dramatically, with Kevin Vermaerke, Sean Flynn and Niklas Märk all present for the team. However, things slowed a little bit and in the downhill more riders came back and a larger peloton then headed for a sprint finish. The team did well to drop Märkl off in a good spot but he got somewhat blocked in just before the finish, not able to fully open his sprint, taking seventh place on the day.”
Speaking after the stage Märkl said: “It was a hilly stage and was basically up and down all day. Pretty quickly a break went away and the bunch took control. We weren’t quite sure how the final would play out as the last ten kilometres there were two climbs, where the race could explode. On the climbs the peloton went full gas but I felt pretty comfortable and on the top I was with Sean and Kevin in a group of around 30. I was confident that if we went to the finish in this group that we could really go for the victory. Unfortunately, in the downhill a lot of guys came back and we had a big mass sprint again. The guys did a good job to set me up for the sprint and put me in position. I got a little boxed in during the last 100 metres so couldn’t fully start my sprint and came in seventh. The legs felt good and we have a few more stages to come here and I have one eye on the final stage on Sunday which finishes in my home area. The guys are all really motivated for the next days and we’ll keep on going.”
