Team NetApp is off to a successful start at the 17th running of the Vattenfall Cyclassics. The only German WorldTour race was decided, as in previous years, in the final sprint. After 246 kilometers, Arnaud Demare (FDJ) relegated Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Radioshack Nissan) to second and third place, respectively. NetApp' s Andreas Schillinger finished the day in 17th place. Andreas Dietziker won the mountain classification.

Shortly after the start, two riders were able to pull away from the field, followed by Andreas Dietziker. The trio built a comfortable lead of up to 7 minutes. However, the peloton did not leave anything to chance and started to chase before it had even gone over the mountain, Waseberg, the first time. Shortly after the second lap, the breakaway group was finally caught. The field unsuccessfully attacked over and over in the final kilometers of the stage. Ten kilometers before the finish line, a larger group of approximately 50 riders formed, so that stage was decided by the top sprinters.

"That was a very good race, despite extreme temperatures and the very strong field of riders. Just ahead of the finish line, we had four riders in the leaders' group. But the racing situation was too hectic to develop a sprint train. So Andreas Schillinger tried to sprint on his own to a good finish. On the whole, team was really able to shine today. We were in the group of the day, won mountain bonus sprint, and rode into the Top 20. That is a good result in a WorldTour race,“ said Enrico Poitschke, who was very satisfied with the race. 

Website of the race