Hi there,

since I'm from Germany it's pretty dissappointing not to have a bigger stage race in our country. Not that Germans wouldn't be into cycling at all, but apart from football the popularity of any sports depends very much on the success of German athletes. I think it's like that in most European countries, but it seems to be more extreme in Germany. So, after not having a stage race accross the country for ten years I was really excited about this relaunched version of the Deutschland Tour, and I am still. It is short, yes, but that's ok under the circumstances. It's not that easy to find host cities, people usually don't come to you, you have to go where they are (meaning urban areas), Germans are better in sprinting than climbing and at least there is the opportunity to extend the race to even 7 days in the next years (5 are to come 2022). That's still not much, regarding that they travelled 3 weeks through Spain at la Vuelta last year and only covered half of the country (and there is a 5 days stage race in small regions like Burgos, Wallonie or 9 in Switzerland, 5 wasn't even enough for Tour of Bavaria), but let's stick to what it is.

Still, the parcours could need some improvement from a sporting view, I think. In my opinion, a lot of stages ressemble each other to much, they travel about 160k through hilly regions from one city to another, do 2 hilly local laps and finish with a sprint of sometimes 4, sometimes 40 riders. And they leave out some nice opportunities - so from the start in 2018 I created a Tour of Germany each year, which I want to present to you in the following days or weeks, now that I found this Forum - and finally the opportunity to share my work of boredom and passion! You're invited to do your own Tours accross Germany, there aren't pretty much rules about it. The tour should be one for the classic riders, that's what the organisation always tells, but they have a MTF in the black forrest next year on top of a ~15k, 7% climb, so Politt or Stuyven eg won't do it

I just wanted to cover a lot of regions over the years and as much as possible within in one edition. Plus I wanted to create some variety and some development through the race, having a fight for the leaders jersey on most of the stages, with the possibilty of most stages to be the decisive one and a climax at the end. And of course, you need to have one or two pure sprinting stages, because Ackermann, Greipel, Kittel, Bauhaus... [edit: actually it would be better to say "opportunities for pure sprinters" instead of "pure sprinting stages" - on a 4-day-race nothing should be for granted and in 2/3 of Germany, if you go to the south it's almost impossible to create routes without some climbs. (But it's also nearly impossible to create really hard mountain stages like in the Grand Tours or Tour de Suisse, only a small part of the Alps is German or Bavarian, and passes like around Sella, San Gottardo or Huez and Maurienne-Valley don't exist here.)] My first edition from 2018 (I saved every GPS data on my Computer before I created some proper graphics with the LFR tools lately) will be uploaded soon and I would love to have some critcs, remarks or applause from the audience.

Greets, Möve (that means "seagull" and is the name of my local bicycle club, mind the "Ö" instead of the "O" in "move" )

Let's start with the 2018 edition. Grand Depart is in Weimar, as it was important to me to include both eastern and western Germany in the race, and Weimar is a historical place. Goethe and Schiller lived here, in 1919 the first democratic constitution of Germany was adopted in the city. The first and the last stage provide an opportunity for sprinters, but riders have to master some climbs on the way to the finish. There are possibilities to attack, but athletes like Degenkolb or Matthews could possibly win all 4 of the stages in a sprint of a reduced bunch or a small group. Finish of the race is in Koblenz, also a historical place with two of the biggest german rivers, Rhine and Moselle, merging in the old town. Both Koblenz and Weimar proved to be interesting places for the race IRL as they hosted the race start in 2018 or will host the race start in 2022. On the way to Koblenz we pass big cities such as Erfurt (1st stage) and Nuremberg (2nd stage), travel through medium mountain regions of Thuringian Forrest (1st stage), Palatine Forrest (3rd stage), Hunsrück and Westerwald (4th stage) and have opportunities to do some sightseeing at the Buchenwald Concentration camp (some kilometres away from the route an 1st stage), Plassenburg, Bayreuth and Brombachsee (2nd stage), Hambach Castle (3rd stage) and Lorelei Rock (next to the parcours on stage 4). Every stage has a Bonus sprint for 3-2-1 seconds in the final and 10-6-4 seconds on the finish line.

Map



Route overview
maps/tours/view/19942

Summary

Stage 1 is 186k long, starts flat, ends flat, but has some serious climbs in the middle section. Not too hard - the worst is a 8,4k long but only 4,8% steep climb before the half, the climbs are done 50k before the finish. But riders can be distanced here and lose the race.

Stage 2 is the longest one with 207k, there are no hard or long climbs in it, but it is designed to create some small time splits on short, punchy climbs in the finale. The finish line is at the end of a 400m long and 12% steep climb just above the Lake, a reservoir inaugurated in 2000 called "Großer Brombachsee".

Stage 3 is designed to finally seperate the race favourites from the rest. After having a 170k long approach on the flat and small hills, two KOM on the final circuit (6,5k at 5,5% and 2,4k at 6,5%) plus a little kick to the bonus sprint after the last KOM and 5k before the finish could cause some damage. Those who stay in the front group and additionally made the uphill finish on the day before the quickest will head to the final stage in the race lead.

Stage 4 maybe is the easiest one of the whole Tour - relying on the hope, that riders try more with no stages left. However, it still has some opportunities for attacks in the local circuit in Koblenz, where riders have to tackle a 1k long and 9,5% steep climb, which is done twice. And not to forget: Even if you can't manage to get away, there are still some bonus seconds to grab at the top.

Happy new year! I found some time to present the 2019 edition. It's pretty different compared to 2018, being a much more classical stage race with a MTF, an ITT and a totally flat stage. It's still made for allrounders, as the MTF is not too long and gaps can be levelled in the final ITT just like the sprint for bonus seconds could possibly still have an impact. The race was originally made to provide some opportunities for German riders like Schachmann, Buchmann and Geschke, although Schachmann to whom this race would have fit the best actually couldn't compete in the 2019 edition due to a crash at the Tour de France.

Start of the race is in Aachen, where in 1911 the first stage race ever in Germany finished (it was called "Quer durch Deutschland" and went from Wroclaw, which belongs to Poland nowadays, to Aachen in six days). The city of Aachen was once the capital of the Carolingian Empire, reigned by Emperor Charlemagne, the "father of Europe", and stayed one of the most important cities in Europe for a couple of hundred years afterwards. On our way from west to east we cross 5 German "Länder", including North Rhine-Westphalia, where 20 percent of the German population lives, and Berlin, in the same time capital and biggest city of Germany. We cross Rhine and Elbe, the largest rivers, pass the city of Kassel (stage 2) with the Unesco heritage of "Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe", the largest European hillside park, including castle Wilhelmshöhe, just as the Kyffhäuser monument (stage 3), errected to honor the first modern German emperor Wiliam I. And we climb up to Meißner, the mountain where Frau Holle is said to live. Nota bene: Frau Holle is a famous figure from a German fairytale who - according to the tale - is creating snowfall. And Wilhelmshöhe is named after the the Elector and Landgrave William of Hesse, while Kyffhäuser monument was errected to honor William of Hohenzollern, Emperor of Germany, who was born 50 years later than William of Hesse. Well, still pretty much monarchy around here in Germany - but let's stick to bike racing. The profile of the race is shaped by the Uplands of Sauerland, Meißner, Kyffhäuser and Harz.

Map



Route overview
maps/tours/view/19943

Summary

Stage 1 is the most unpredictable one in this years race. It's 217,5k long and crossing North Rhine Westphalia for almost its total spread from west to east. After a hilly start the stage eases in the Cologne region. In the final, the race becomes tougher again, taking some climbs in the Sauerland. Attackers maybe have some chances here, while the climbs shouldn't be to hard for the majority of the sprinters. After 30 merely flat kilometres before the finish, the last kilometre in Schmallenberg rises with a gradient of 4% to the line.

Stage 2 is the queen stage and a real MTF. It's 182k long, starts hilly, doesn't have much opportunities to catch a break, including seven KOM and a tough final in Hesse. The two ultimate climbs average above 8% for more than 4k, so this day is really one for the climbers. I would consider the final climb to Hoher Meißner in the same category as La Planche de Belles Filles, a bit easier maybe.

Stage 3 has some climbs after the start, but should end in a bunch sprint. We reach eastern Germany, starting in Thuringia and finishing in Saxony-Anhalt, crossing the eastern ends of the highland area Harz and Bernburg, a small town with a Castle and a memorial for the Nazi era. After 157k and two flat laps the race ends in Schönebeck, not far from the city of Magdeburg.

Stage 4 is an ITT to finish the race. 15,5k long and totally flat, the riders start and finish in Berlin, next to the Brandenburg Gate. They also pass Victory column, Kurfürstendamm, Zoo or Tiergarten.

Let's go on with the next edition I made up for 2020. This one came up pretty spontaneously due to the pandemic that stopped the whole racing calendar in spring and early summer. Originally, I planned a Tour in the southern regions, you can see the concrete result of those than unconcrete plans in the next post concerning the 2021 edition. So, what had to be taken into consideration in the 2020 plans? First, we stayed in the very north of Germany, as those regions hadn't been affected much by Covid up to that point. Numbers have been small in the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Bremen or Schleswig-Holstein, so this is where the whole race took place. The landscape in northern Germany offers some spectacular views, staying next to the coast of North and Baltic Sea, travelling through Lüneburg Heath or Holstein Switzerland, covering five more of the German Lands, adding Lower Saxony and Hamburg to the three mentioned earlier. After three editions, 13 of the 16 German regions have been visited by the Deutschland Tour than, with only Saarland, Brandenburg und Saxony missing.

Being pinned in the North of Germany, I wanted to seize the opportunity to visit the two Northern city states of Bremen and Hamburg by hosting the start of stage 1, respectively the start of stage 3. Other landmarks are the Leine Uplands (stage 1, haven't really been there but looks pretty nice from the train), the historical Hanseatic cities of Lübeck, Wismar (stage 3), Rostock and Stralsund (stage 4) and Rügen, Germany's biggest island with its famous chalk cliffs, where the race ends. However, staying north of the Central Uplands during the whole race, its character had to shift a bit. While the 2018 and 2019 race favored rather Ardenne specialists, this edition is one for the puncheurs and sprinters. The reason is obvious: Although we travel through Holstein Switzerland, you don't need to expect mountains down here - the name is only an hommage to the beauties of Germany's neighbour in the south. The route is still always seeking for opportunities to create some time splits, eg with short, but punchy climbs in the stage final.

Map


Route overview
maps/tours/view/19940

Summary
Stage 1 is the longest - but only one of two pretty long days at this race. The riders travel through the centre of Lower Saxony, pass Lake Steinhude and Hannover without lots of difficulties. All of those wait in the final in the Leine Uplands around Alfeld, where five KOM (including a Bonus Sprint on the last summit) could be too difficult for some or even most of the riders. Although the climbs are neither long nor steep, we expect some attacks and/or a restricted sprint after 233k, reducing the field of GC contenders right from the start.

Stage 2 also is 221k long, but almost completely flat - but pay attention to the final kilometre! Apart from one KOM after 20k the riders travel through the entirely flat region of eastern Lower Saxony, leaving the small hills of Lüneburg heath to their left and right and reach Lauenburg in Schleswig-Holstein. Here, the route suddenly kicks up on a small road behind the flamme rouge, where riders have to master a 500m long and 8% steep climb up to the home straight.

Stage 3 clearly provides a perfect opportunity for the sprinters. The race starts near the Northern sea but ends on the Baltic Sea after 188k, not providing any climbs apart from a really small KOM 100k before the finish.

Stage 4 is characterized by a punchy local lap in the final in Rügen's biggest town Bergen (still small though), where riders have two chances to attack each of the four final laps. After bonus seconds and gaps on the first three stages already shaped the GC before the final day, it still should be possible for the fastest and strongest riders to turn everything around.

When does the 2021 version come?

Hopefully soon! And found some GPS data from 2011 on my PC, back when I created races through Germany with 9 stages just like the old Deutschland Tour. Will upload that, too

Thank you for your interest!

The war affects my daily workload a lot, so my spare time to present the next D-Tour edition was pretty shortened just a few hours after I promised my next post to come soon. But on the other hand, there’s still a lot of time left until the 2022 edition will start, so I have to be creative to fill the next months in this thread anyway. But finally it’s time for the 2021 edition, and here it comes.

After having raced in the very north of Germany the year before, this edition travels the four southern Länder. Also, the race will be in the German Alps for the first time on a beautiful stage – but as the race is made for allrounders instead of climbers, it’s not too hard, although ending with a mountain top finish. In order to keep the balance, the Alps are right at the start of the race, because I wanted the last stage to be hilly, but not too hard, ending downtown and not after a brutal climb, in order to keep the race alive for as long as possible – and it’s pretty hard to create a stage like this in the Bavarian Alps. I found better opportunities for this in the Saarland, a small region next to Luxembourg and France, which had to be part of the 2021 edition – because it was ignored the years before, being the 14th Land visited by the Deutschland Tour since the relaunch 2018. Brandenburg and Saxony are still to be done. The idea behind the route in short: After forcing the riders to open GC battle right from the start with the small MTF, we create some more gaps and hope for a lot of attacks on the queen stage on day 2. After that, day 3 provides an opportunity for the sprinters, while it’s still possible to attack and/or go for some bonus seconds, before a lot of climbs combined with a flat run-in to the finish on the final day conclude the race, leaving all the options to turn the GC around with a more or less big effort, depending on how the days before went.

From a sightseeing point-of-view, the route offers quite a few spots along the race which are famous and popular among tourists. Starnberg and its lake in the Munich suburban area, which host the Grand Depart, are pretty known for being flooded by people from the city on the weekends, just like Lake Walchensee – which is known as Bavarian Caribbean because of its deep blue water surrounded by endless forrest – and Lake Kochelsee in the Alps. Also along the route is Garmisch-Partenkirchen, known as the municipality next to Germanys highest mountain, the Zugspitze, and one of the most important places for wintersports all over the world. There are quite a lot more mountains to see on this day, just as the picturesque village of Oberammergau or Ettal Abbey – where this stage finishes. The following days are maybe not as spectacular as our first trip to the Alps, but still offer some cool views. We travel through the German Uplands of Swabian Jura (stage 2), Odenwald (stage 3) and Hunsrück (stage 4), pass nereby the cities of Ulm (stage 2) and Heidelberg (stage 3) as well as we cross Stuttgart (stage 3) and visit the natural attractions of the Drei Kaiserberge (three Emperor-Mountains) and the source Blautopf in the Swabian Jura, the Rhine next to Worms or the Great Bend at the River Saar just at the finish line of the race. Also worth a visit are the historic old towns of Kaufbeuren and Mindelheim just as the Fugger Castle in Babenhausen on stage 2, the city of Worms on stage 3 (one of the oldest towns in Germany) and castle Lichtenberg on stage 4.

Map


Route overview
maps/tours/view/19941

Summary
Stage 1 is only 148 kilometres long, but features three KOM including a MTF. We pass beautiful Lake Walchensee straight after the KOM of Kesselberg, an uphill route famous among motorcycle riders for its serpentines. Being part of a final circuit, the last KOM climb up to Ettal has to be done twice, framing the Bonus sprint up to Sonnen 30k before the finish line. All KOM climbs are like 5k long and 5% steep, so not that hard, plus riders have to punch up 800m at 6,5% to the bonus sprint.

Stage 2 is pretty long, riders have to master 213.5k on their way west. The race starts rather easy, but not completely flat, after 105.5k it reaches the Swabian Jura and the first of 7 KOM. The penultimate of those is outstanding, a brutal climb up to Ochsenwang averaging 10%, with a maximum of 25% and 3,5k in length 30k before the finish. The 1k long and 8% steep climb up to Aichelberg, having to be done twice, 41 and 4k before the finish, could also be crucial. The second time, it’s not listed as a KOM but Bonus sprint.

Stage 3 is the longest stage of the race with 225k and the best opportunity for the sprinters – but not an easy one. First difficulties of the day can be found in Stuttgart, where the pack follows the route of the German National Championships 2021 to reach the first Intermediate Sprint, just before riding on the route of the 2007 World Championships to reach the first KOM at Stuttgarts highest point, the Birkenkopf. Later on, there are two difficult KOM in the Odenwald near Heidelberg before the stage endw with a merely flat, 60k long run-in to Worms. The only small difficulty left is a kick up to the Bonus Sprint in Worms, which is 1k long and 3% steep and to be done 18 and 7k before the finish line.

Stage 4 is 175k long and leaves no time to rest. It’s up and down all day long but climbs are neither as hard as on stage 2 nor is there a MTF like on stage 1. So riders can split the race apart, but they have to take some risks. As I know those climbs pretty well from riding most of them on my own, I can tell the outstanding ones: First of them is Schaumberg, where the final 600m to the KOM just don’t ease off, being over 10% all the time. And the second one is the climb up to Orscholz, which has already been done by the Deutschland Tour in 2018 on stage 3, where riders have to master over 200 vertical meters. After reaching Orscholz for the third and final time 10k before the end of the race, the route kicks and drops several times before the final downhill to the finish line in Mettlach, next to the famous Great Bend of the river Saar.

I also made a Deutschland Tour:
maps/tours/view/20223

It starts in East-Germany and goes across almost whole Germany to finish in West-Germany.

Pretty cool, I like it! This Inselberg finale is so nice, I would love to watch it. Also appreciate the opportunities on the two final stages and that the race features many imprtant German cities along its way. Although there's clearly a queen stage on the second day, the following two days also could be crucial. You passed on final laps in the finish, but they would be possible without problems, if needed.

It's been a while since my recent publication and I can already tell that a new edition of the modern Deutschland Tour is already in the making. It will start in Dresden (just as Will's), will take 5 instead of 4 days - just like the real Deutschland Tour also increases its length - and will finish in Freiburg in the Black Forrest. More information is yet to come. So, in the meantime I would like to share a race I created some years ago. It's an old Deutschland Tour, created on the basis of the race concept of the 2000s, an event that existed from 1999 to 2008.

This old Deutschland Tour started in the aftermath of the Jan-Ulrich-Erik-Zabel-Team-Telekom-Hype and became an original member of the UCI World Tour in 2005. Organisators always talked about becoming a Grand Tour, wanting to be the second most important stage race in the World. They failed massively, the race was cancelled after its 2008 edition. I started creating my own Deutschland Tours in 2004 (I was 12 y/o then) and continued after the race actually stopped exisiting for some years. Now I found some GPS data of my 2011 edition recently, so I want to share it with you.

The 2000s Deutschland Tour was a classical one-week-stage-race, featuring mountains, sprints and TTs. It was extended to nine days after becoming member of the World Tour calendar, and it visited the Austrian district of Tirol literally every year from 2004 on. That's because there are no real mountain passes in Germany - at least almost none in the Alps - and Tirol offered more opportunities to create mountain stages. But Tirol also offered lots of money... One favorite host city was Sölden with its brutal climb to Rettenbachferner, which was part of the real D-Tour in 2005 and 2007 and will also be part of my 2011 version.

Other important parts: Grand depart in Aachen because the first Deutschland Tour of all times ended in Aachen 100 years ago, opportunities to attack on stage 2, 4, 6 and 7, maybe even stage 1. Sprinters have their chances on the third, fifth and penultimate day. And everything ends with a TT in Germany's capitaly city Berlin, starting and ending at the Olympiastadion, home of the 1936 olympics, the 2006 World Cup final, the 2015 Champions League final and Bundesliga Team Hertha BSC.

And here we go:

maps/tours/view/20056

I also made a 9 stage race. It starts in Hannover, but doesn't end in Berlin, but in München. I also wanted to keep the entire Tour within Germany. The first stage is a hilly stage, where there can come attacks anywhere in the last 35 kilometres. Stage 2 is a completely flat stage. Stage 3 is the first top finish with a hilly stage in the Lusatian Mountains. Stage 4 is the longest stage, mostly flat, but some climbs in the last 10 kilometres, so maybe there will come attacks. Stage 5 is a hilly stage with a two major climbs, a long descent and then a short steep ramp to the finish. Stage 6 is the queen stage with many climbs and a long climb to the finish. Stage 7 is another mountain stage with steep climbs in the German Alps. Stage 8 is the last flat stages, but the race could explode on the many short climbs around the Starnberger See. Stage 9 is the last ITT, finishing on the steep cobbled Olympiaberg.

maps/tours/view/20693

That's a really great race. I like it from the beginning, having a fight for the GC maybe even on stage 1 and also on the following days. Maybe it's possible to chose a little easier climb in the final on stage 4 so sprinters have at leat two good opportunities. And you could also leave out the hills on stage 3 and approach the Fichtelberg from the other side, which is much harder and steeper than from Rittersgrün. What's also good is that you cover almost all of Germany, focus is clearly on the south but there are more opportunities to create a good bike race - so that's ok. I'm not so sure if the final time trial is possible like this in Munich and I don't know about cobbled climbs on the Olympiaberg, but I'll have a look soon (stage 8 is perfect though)

Two suggestions from my side considering the mountain stages: I actually don't see a MTF at Bildstöckle. That's a route to nowhere, I don't know why it's actually there, just ending in the forrest. And for both of the stages, I think they're a little bit too much focused on the final kilometres with not much opportunities to attack from a long range, because the MTF is so much harder than everything before. So I have alternative ideas for those stages, with a real multiple-pass-stage in the Black Forrest and another final climb in the Alps and a downhill finish (which was missing in the route by now).

Stage 6: maps/viewtrack/479472
Stage 7: maps/viewtrack/480280

There are some more alternatives for those routes. For example on stage 6: finish on the Feldberg instead of Belchen, going all the way to the top of Belchen, leaving out the downhill from Notschrei and finishing on top of the Schauinsland in the neighbourhood, or going further than my initial idea, taking the Hohtannpass or Wiedener Eck via Belchen, going downhill towards Münster and finishing on top of the Schauinsland from the steep Stöhren-side.

More Cat 1 climbs than the final one will be hard to find in those region of the Alps where stage 7 takes place, called the Allgäu, at least if you want to stay in Germany. Opportunities for other MTF would be the Ofterschwanger Horn or just finishing on top of the Riedbergpass at Grasgehren instead of taking the downhill to Balderschwang. Or a finish at the Ochsenbergalpe: This is where I created a MTF for my 2010 edition (maybe I will upload this one next year, I don't know). But I have to add: I regreted the finish on Ochselbergalpe later, would have prefered the Balderschwang finale anyway.

Möve wrote: ↑20/05/2022, 13:49 I'm not so sure if the final time trial is possible like this in Munich and I don't know about cobbled climbs on the Olympiaberg, but I'll have a look soon

You can see the cobbles here: https://www.google.com/maps/@48.1698609 ... 704!8i4352

Hallo zusammen,

I was creative as well. To be honest I think I have too many long stages, and the parcours might be too backloaded.

maps/tours/view/20716

Still a good one though. Like the Brocken on stage 1, had this on my list for my 2010 route mentioned earlier, maybe I really gotta recreate this one day.

7 of the 9 stages in South Germany is maybe too much, and I agree with the tour being backloaded. But having Black Forrest, Bavarian Forrest, Swabian Jura and Alps in it as well as Thuringian Forrest and Harz is a great thing. A lot of cool regions and climbs in your race!

I have some smaller German races in my books coming soon. And I still owe you my 2022 Deutschland Tour edition! I hope for it to be posted during Tour de France.

Möve wrote: ↑12/06/2022, 23:29 I hope for it to be posted during Tour de France.

Don't you wan't to participate in the Tour de France contest there?

That's a lot of work, but I'll try

Ok, here are some regional German races that actually don't exist (any more), but I think those would be needed even more in Germany - as the country is too big for just one small stage race, even 8 or 9 stages is not enough to cover the country properly, while we just don't have the mountains and climbs to create various stages like in Dauphinee or Tour de Suisse without crossing the border.

First one is the Tour of Bavaria, which existed from 1989 until 2015. Although Bavaria is the only German Land with a share of the Alps, the stages disappointed me most of the times. Often they ended in a mass sprint far away from the mountains while the GC was decided in a ITT. I wanted to make the 5 stages more attractive but not unrealistically hard, so the final climb in stage 4 is not too lang while stage 3 does not finish on top of the climb. Stage 2 is mostly the same stage as stage 4 of the 2021 Deutschland Tour. The race finishes with a TT next to Neuschwanstein.

maps/tours/view/20692

Next one is the Tour of Rhineland-Palatinate. It existed from 1966 to 2007 and was terminated because the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate, which financed the race massively, decided to stop that because of some doping scandals. However, the Land is pretty hilly and has some nice landscapes, so it's really a good terrain for a bike race. While the race was originally 5 days long, I shortened it to 3, during which we see all of the 5 regions of the Land: Westerwald, Eifel (with its Volcanic lakes), Hunsrück, Palatine Forrest and the Rhine Plain.

maps/tours/view/20936

And finally, a one-day-race I completely made up. It covers the smallest Land of Germany, the Saarland next to the french border (so one day is enough) and features a lot of Ardenne-like climbs (11 KOM). Start is in the regional capital, Saarbrücken, finish in Sankt Wendel, which created the worlds largest Maillot jaune during a Tour de France stage in 2002 and hosted the 2011 UCI Cyclocross championships. Pay special attention to the climbs of Merchingen, Weiskirchen, Peterberg and Schaumberg.

maps/viewtrack/481094

There are some more old regional German races, that don't exist any more or have been transformed into Junior's or Women's races, like the Regio Tour in the Black Forrest, Tour of Saxony, Tour of Hesse, Tour of Thuringia, Berlin or Lower Saxony... Maybe they'll come back soon. Let's see where the impulse of the Tour of Germany leads.

The 2022 Deutschland Tour is coming closer, so here is my new edition. As already mentioned, it starts in Dresden in Saxony, so we visit this German Land for the first time, staying here for one and a half day, with the first stage completely on Saxony's territory and the second stage starting in Leipzig. Also known before: The race finishes in Freiburg im Breisgau in the Black forrest, right after a short, but hard final mountain stage. Another premiere of this years edition: A comeback to one of the host cities, that we already visited: This honour belongs right to Neustadt an der Weinstraße, although the stage is totally different to 2018. Marburg will host the finish of the third day, just as in real life's edition: The city turns 800 this year, which is a pretty good occasion to visit it. And another historic mark in my 2022 Deutschland Tour: The finish in Sankt Andreasberg in the uplands of Harz. Once a popular MTF in the Niedersachsen Rundfahrt (which existed for 30 years until 2007), riders now have to tackle it in this Tour of Germany.

Looking at the race from a sporting point of view, we see especially two stages which are obviously important for GC contenders, being the MTF in Sankt Andreasberg on the second day (3k with 5.5% gradient, so we will see a separation between contenders and non-contenders, but presumably no big splits) and the Mountain stage on the final day through the Black Forrest. Here, riders have to tackle the Alpe-d'Huez-like climb up to Kandel, which is Germany's most difficult two-sided-climb, and the Schauinsland, which will also be done in real life's Tour of Germany this year. While it's a MTF in RL, the finish in my edition will be in the city of Freiburg 35k after the final KOM - because otherwise the whole race would very likely be decided on this stage only, creating a race for pure climbers instead of classic specialists and alrounders. As always, the other three days also provide some opportunities to attack and create some gaps, breakaways could also see their chance but especially the third stage is very likely to have a bunch sprint, while the bunch might be a little bit smaller after stage 1 and 4.

What's to see in this edition? We have the beautiful and rebuilt city of Dresden, after being totally destroyed in WWII. Shortly after the start, riders pass the National Park of Saxon Switzerland, a stunning rock climbing area which will also be a climbing area for cyclist this day. The German uplands visited are the Ore Mountains on the first day, Harz on the second day, Hesse Highlands on the third day, Taunus and Palatine Forrest on the fourth day and Black Forrest on the fifth day. Maybe also worth mentioning: The cities of Leipzig and Freiburg are also worth a visit. On top, we pass the bigger cities of Halle/Saale, Göttingen, Kassel, Wiesbaden and Mainz.

Map


Route overview
maps/tours/view/21503

Summary
Stage 1 is a rather short one where anything could possibly happen. With 6 KOM on this day in Saxon Switzerland and Ore Mountains and numerous uncategorized climbs on top, this stage will be hard to control. On the other hand, the final climb up to the Bonus Sprint is not that steep (2,2k, 4,5% with a max of 6,4%), so if they don't crack earlier, sprinters could also make it to the finish line.

If not already happened on stage 1, stage 2 is the first opportunity for GC contenders to show themselves. The day starts rather flat but becomes more and more hilly after reaching Harz region. 15k before the finish line we reach the final circuit right after climbing the hardest ascent of the day (4k at 5.7%). In the final circuit, the climb up to Sankt Andreasberg has to be done twice (3.6k at 5.1%), while the finish line comes 500m before the KOM in the first lap.

Stage 3 is the best opportunity for sprinters in this years edition, but as always, the bunch sprint has to be earned. Especially in the middle part of the stage plenty of climbs have to be done, while the ascent before reaching Marburg is rather a false flat and the short kick to the Bonus Sprint on the final lap (600m at 3%) shouldn't be a problem for professional cyclists. Plus, the stage is the longest of this years edition.

Stage 4 looks like a flat stage most of the time but will be decided in the final. After some climbs in the Taunus to start with we reach the two regional capitals of Wiesbaden and Mainz and the Upper Rhine Plain. But the finale will be interesting, a KOM (1.3k at 5.4%), an uncategorized climb afterwards (300m at 10% after a false flat of 5k at 2,5%) and the kick up to the Bonus sprint (700m at 5,7%) 3k before the finish provide some opportunities to create a gap.

Stage 5 is the queen stage with 2 Cat1 climbs above 1000m. But after Kandel (12k at 8%) and Schauinsland (11k at 6,5%) there are still 25k to be done before reaching Freiburg again, and then there is one flat extra lap of 9k to be done. The idea behind this stage is to provide some opportunities to attack early and shake up the GC, but also to create an open and tactical race on the final kilometres. Riders have to go hard on the two major climbs and reevaluate on the top: Where am I, who's working with my, and what's to do now? The ones waiting to attack in the final kilometres will probably be too the late.

Happy new year! I'm currently working on a new edition of the Deutschland Tour for 2023 - but it's still taking a while. To bridge the time until I can reveal it, I took a trip to my cellar to search for old versions I already made up some years ago. And this is the race I created in 2010: As already mentioned, it's longer than today's race, a rather classical stage race with high-altitude finishes and ITTs and 9 days long. But over twelve years after creating the race, I thought about some updates to include in the version I will present to you now. But first, here is how the race originally looked, shown on this scan of my old chronicles:

Overall plan



Stages



20 years after the German reunion, I wanted this competition to be totally raced in Germany, without crossing the border once, and including North, East, West and South. Also, I liked the idea of the race being decided on an MTF instead of an ITT, just like the Tour de France on Ventoux the year before. Bonn as the former capital and Berlin as the actual one also should play a central role in the route. The biggest issue I had to solve, was: How to create hard mountain stages without having the opportunity of the Austrian mountains? As the Berchtesgaden region is too far on the edge of the Austrian border and hard to combine with other parts of Germany, I had to find climbs in other parts of the Bavarian Alps (or I could have used the Black Forrest, but I wanted to do this 3k Prologue at the Tegernsee at the start). Still, I discovered some flaws recently, e.g. three flat stages on the final four days - which I want to eliminate in my updated version I will present to you the next days.