Team Visma | Lease a Bike once again showed its attacking intent in the queen stage of the Deutschland Tour. During the tough opening part of the stage, in which the riders raced in challenging conditions, the team positioned itself at the front of the peloton in support of race leader Barré.

With 35 kilometres to go, Del Toro launched an attack. Barré responded, but was just unable to follow the Mexican's wheel. The team gave everything in the chase, after which Barré went on the attack again, but the Frenchman was ultimately unable to close the gap. Barré lost the overall race lead to Del Toro, but thanks to his strong performances over the past few days, he heads into the final stage in second place overall.

“The whole team did an incredibly strong job, but unfortunately the result is not what we had hoped for,” sports director Gaëtan Pons reflects honestly. “We had the race well under control, but when it started raining heavily and the temperature dropped, Louis unfortunately didn't respond well to those conditions. When Del Toro eventually attacked, Louis looked like he could follow him, but he had to let him go. Bart and Tijmen then did a great job in the chase, but in the end we couldn't get any closer.”

The final stage awaits tomorrow, with plenty potentially still to happen in the finale. “It's disappointing that we lost the overall race lead, but tomorrow we have another stage where anything is possible. We will continue to race aggressively and the motivation is high. I'm looking forward to it,” Pons concludes.