Lidl Deutschland Tour 2025 Prologue

August 20, 2025 This edition of the Deutschland Tour is further North than last year, running West to East from Essen to Magdeburg in five days of racing. The riders won't make much progress on their journey today however because day one is a short and fierce 3.1KM Prologue. Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek won the Prologue last year on his way to completely dominating the race with his teammate Mads Pedersen. The roster of riders on the start line is stronger this year and without Pedersen, Lidl-Trek likely won't have it all their own way this time around. Crowds were packed around the start and finish near the Zeche Zollverein, a UNESCO site preserving coal mining and other manufacturing in the area. Maikel Zijlaard and Marco Haller each held the hot seat for Tudor Pro Cycling but Søren Wærenskjold of Uno-X Mobility went quicker by almost 2 seconds and held the top spot through to the last rider. Sam Watson of Ineos is proving to be a specialist at the Prologue and finished second, half a second down, after winning the Prologue in the Tour de Romandie in April. Haller hung on for third place. There are 36 riders within 10 seconds of Wærenskjold in GC and 82 within 15 seconds so nearly the entire field is still in contention for the overall.