Deutschland Tour 2024 Stage 4

August 25, 2024 Stage 4 is similar to previous days with a rolling start and a finishing circuit that likely will come down to a reduced sprint. The race continues to follow the German wine route West to Saarbrücken, right on the border with France. Max Walscheid of the German National Team, Joshua Huppertz of Lotto-Kern Haus, Javier Romo of Movistar, Alberto Bruttomesso of Bahrian-Victorious, and Oliver Mattheis of Bike-Aid made the break and had 3 minutes 30 seconds with 75KM to race. EF-Education EasyPost and Tudor Pro Cycling hit the final categorized climb of Ormescheim hard to try and shake out the Lidl-Trek sprinters. The peloton had trimmed down over the top with 38KM go to but there were still over 60 riders left in the bunch. The break rolled through the finish line with 14.5KM to go to start the local laps with a gap of just under 40 seconds but they were down to three riders as Huppertz and Bruttomesso fell away earlier. The hill on the first part of the circuit put the end to Walscheid and also gave the opportunity for some attacks from the peloton. Nothing stuck but Toms Skujiņš of Lidl-Trek kept the pace high over the top to keep things together. Romo and Mattheis were caught with 6KM to go on the final climb before the finish line on the penultimate lap. On the last effort up the climb, Archie Ryan of EF-Education EasyPost put in his max effort but it wasn't enough to drop Mads Pedersen. Over the top, Ryan was distanced and Tobias Johannessen of Uno-X Mobility attacked but again, Pedersen could not be shaken and was straight on the wheel. Danny van Poppel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe joined the duo with four more coming across. Pedersen was forced to close down all of the attacks, at least six in the final 7KM. The final attack came from Johannessen but Pedersen dragged him back with 300M to go and he did not stop. Pedersen started his sprint then and no one would come around. It was an incredible performance from Pedersen, unquestionably the strongest rider in the race. Danny van Poppel was closest to Pedersen in the sprint to take second place with Luke Lamperti of Soudal Quickstep taking third place. Pedersen took the overall GC by 22 seconds to van Poppel and 23 seconds to Johannessen.