“It’s a beautiful victory,” Barré said afterwards. “Fortunately, I was able to carry my good form from the Tour of Poland into this race. I felt really good today. The plan was to go for the bonus seconds, but with the gap I had, I decided to give it everything until the finish. To be able to win in such a strong field makes me very happy.”

In the longest stage of the German stage race, the peloton’s attention was quickly focused on the difficult finale, which featured a number of short and steep climbs. Team Visma | Lease a Bike remained alert heading into the finale, positioning itself at the front of the peloton.

The team played an active role in the hilly section. Wilco Kelderman attacked with 30 kilometres to go, but was caught with seven kilometres remaining. Barré then attacked and was joined by Paul Magnier. On one of the final uphill sections, Barré managed to drop his compatriot with an acceleration, after which the 26-year-old rider soloed to his second victory of the season.

Barré gives his team, where he feels very much at home, its 39th victory of the season. “I feel very much at home in the team. The first few months weren’t easy, but I always felt the support from the team. It’s great to see that I’ve grown into such good form over the past few months. I’m going to give everything over the coming days to ride for the strongest possible position in the general classification.”