The day after a fantastic victory of Mike Teunissen on the Muur van Geraardsbergen on his birthday, Madis Mihkels extended the party this Saturday 26th of August by winning the third stage of the Deutschland Tour in a sprint through the streets of Essen.
The 20 year old Estonian sprinter defeated big names in the discipline, for example Danny van Poppel, Phil Bauhaus or encore Mads Pedersen, to offer himself his second professional success after his victory in the Tour of Estonia one year ago.
Although he started his sprint in a far from ideal position, Mihkels passed his competitors until he took the lead in the final 100 meter and won with half a bike length.
Madis Mihkels obtained the seventeenth victory of Team Intermarché-Circus-Wanty this season and became the tenth different rider to throw his hands in the air in 2023.
“I can’t believe it! With one kilometer to go I was not well positioned. If I wanted to get a result, the only option was to go to the front through the wind. That’s how I managed to get back to the slipstream of the sprint train of BORA-Hansgrohe. When they were at their top speed, with around 300 meter to go, I started believing in the victory. I felt my legs had so much more to give and I managed to outsprint them. I knew this hard stage with possible sprint finish suited me very well, however, the level is so high here in the Deutschland Tour. That’s why I’m so surprised to win today. This is my most important victory in my young career, the first one since I turned pro with Intermarché-Circus-Wanty. This makes me so happy, it is such a relief. This gives me a lot of confidence. Tomorrow we’ll try our best again with the team in a new sprint opportunity!”
