Irishman Sam Bennett of Bora Argon 18 has finished second in the Garmin Velothon Berlin.
This race in Berln has seen Rickaert (TSV), Walsleben (SGT), Edmüller (THF) and Mathis (RNR) take a lead of 5.15 after fifty kilometres.
Five kilometres later and Djurhuus, Debesay and Schäfer were all out of the race when they crashed.
With 61kms left, the gap dropped to 2,25 as they crossed the finish line for the first time on the start of seven local circuits of 8.7km after 113.4kms of racing.
Rickaert, Walsleben,, Edmüller and Mathis stayed away until the final lap when they were caught by the Giant Alpecin team who had done plenty of work to bring them back.
The race on a sunny day in Berlin came down to a sprint and Ramon Sinkeldam of Giant Alpecin took the win in 3:54:42 ahead of Sam Bennett and Sinkeldam's Zico Waeytens.
Speaking to the Giant Alpecin press office, Sinkeldam was happy with his first win of the season and said: "I am very happy with this win. I am in good shape and had a good series of races in Yorkshire, Bayern and the World Ports Classic, where it did not work out a couple of times, so it is very nice that everything came together today.
“It was a calm day with a small breakaway group, and the sprinters’ teams, including us, controlled the gap.
“In the finale we were able to execute our plan, and the guys put me into a good position so that I could get on Bennet’s wheel. That way I didn’t need the help of Zico [Waeytens], and he was able to take my wheel and sprint to a nice result too.
“I started the sprint with 200m to go, as Bennet waited quite long and in that way he made it more difficult for himself, and I was able to sprint to victory. I am very satisfied with this result.”
Speaking about Bennett's second place, his team's sporting director Enrico Poitschke said: "Second place is a good result for Sam and the team, but of course we wanted to win here. Unfortunately that wasn't meant to be today.
"However, in general the race went exactly according to our plan. We wanted to allow a small break-away and that happened quickly after 15 kilometers. We started early to control the group. Michael did an excellent job riding in front for such a long time.
The other five riders focused on the finale to prepare the sprint. Sam should be placed in an ideal position where not even the risk arises that he gets blocked. The guys did very well.
With Rund um Köln, another German race is next on the program for Sam. And there is a new opportunity for us”
Source: DSG
