August 19, 2026
The Lidl-Deutschland Tour kicks off with a lung-searing 2.6 km Prologue through the streets of Bad Orb in the Bundesland of Hesse. There are six corners of at least 90 degrees or more as the riders navigate the village streets and, because Bad Orb is nestled within the Spessart hills, the course has a 1 km rise at 3.5% before a similar run back down to the finish. Prologues are not as common as they used to be but they offer a great chance to get the riders settled into the race and for the fans to see a high speed, action packed event.
Highlighted Riders
Sprinters - Paul Magnier, Tim Torn Teutenberg, Danny Van Poppel, Henri Uhlig, Phil Bauhaus, Clément Venturini, Iúri Leitão
GC - Georg Zimmermann, Isaac del Toro, Giulio Ciccone, Mathias Vacek, Giulio Pellizzari, Louis Barré, Bart Lemmen, Dylan Teuns, Florian Stock, Mathieu Burgaudeau
Race Summary
A heavy rain shower fell just before the first riders set off, soaking the streets and leaving puddles and fallen leaves on course. The first recorded crash came after only about 10 riders as Martijn Rasenberg of Unibet Rose Rockets hit the deck and broke off his seat post in the process. He got back going and was able to finish but it was a warning to all the others about conditions of the road.
The first big bench mark from Henri Uhlig of Alpecin-Premier Tech stood until the in-form Paul Magnier of Soudal Quickstep came storming the the finish almost 11 seconds quicker than the German. As the day progressed, the roads dried and riders were able to take the corners at higher speeds. There were plenty of riders stacking up behind Magnier but all of them were at least 4 seconds back, a reasonably large deficit given the distance.
It wasn't until the penultimate rider that Magnier was finally unseated. Isaac del Toro of UAE-XRG has carried his form well out of the Tour de France and reached the finish 2 seconds quicker than Magnier did with a time of 3 minutes 8 seconds at an average speed of 49.660 KM/HR. Magnier finished a comfortable second place with his teammate, Laurenz Rex, taking third 5 seconds down.