As expected, the Deutschland Tour concluded with an expected contest for the last few decisive seconds. Danny Van Poppel used the final bonus sprint after five days of racing to secure third place overall. A mere fraction of a second was enough for him to finish on the GC podium, which marks a career first for him.
Last weekend in Hamburg, Danny Van Poppel already showed good form, which he brought with him to the Deutschland Tour. Fourth place in the prologue and top 10 finishes on the first difficult stages were crowned with the sprint in Essen. The 30-year-old was only narrowly beaten.
Although he wasn't awarded the stage win, Van Poppel made a leap in the GC and was less than 3 seconds off the podium. The last bonus sprint of the race was held on the finishing circuit on the final stage in Bremen. Danny Van Poppel secured this sprint and took exactly those 3 seconds and third place in the Deutschland Tour 2023!
GC Deutschland Tour
01 I. Van Wilder 17:01:18
02 F. Großschartner +0:11
03 D. Van Poppel +0:13
Danny Van Poppel: "There was some wind today and we tried to make echelons because we have such a strong team here. But it didn't work out. Then we had full focus on the bonus sprint. I won it and so I took 3rd place in the GC. For me it's amazing because it's my first GC podium result ever. I'm not a climber, so it means a lot to me and BORA - hansgrohe here in Germany. Our big goals for the Deutschland Tour were to win a stage and to be on the GC podium. In the end, we achieved one of these goals and yesterday we almost won the stage. I think it was a successful week for us."