The fourth day in Germany was marked as the queen stage, with several tough climbs in the middle of a rolling route. A few attackers broke away early, but on the first hills the peloton split for the first time. Brennan and Wout van Aert were alert at the front, supported by teammates.

On the Buttenberg, the hardest climb of the day, the pace was raised significantly. The early breakaway riders were caught, and only fifty riders managed to hold on. Team Visma | Lease a Bike had five men in the group and immediately took the initiative. With more than eighty kilometers to go, they impressively kept the chasing groups behind them, spending a lot of energy.

In the finale, Van Aert pulled on the front for a long time to prepare the sprint for Brennan, but the young brit was boxed in by rivals just before the line. He had to stop his sprint and lost his chance at victory. Danny van Poppel was the first to cross the line, but was later relegated. That meant the victory eventually went to Søren Wærenskjold.

“First and foremost: the guys rode brilliantly. We expected UAE to set a hard pace on the climbs, but after the toughest climb we still had five men in the front group. That’s when we decided to work together to keep the other sprinters behind us. In the end, the race was just two hundred meters too long,” said sports director Robert Wagner afterwards.

“Matthew got boxed in and didn’t get the chance to really sprint today. That’s just part of sprinting. Luckily he can put things like this into perspective quickly, which is one of his strengths, and he’s already fully focused on tomorrow. We can’t dwell on this for too long. We rode an almost perfect stage and the atmosphere within the team is still excellent,” Wagner concluded.