2021 Sparkassen Münsterland Giro (1.Pro), Germany
15th edition: Sunday, October 3, 2021
Münsterland Giro podium history | 2019 edition (race not run in 2020) | 2022 edition
Enschede - Münster, 188.5 km
Mark Cavendish's comeback continues as he wins the Münsterland Giro sprint.
Weather at the finish city of Münster at 2:30 PM, local time: 18C (65F), mostly cloudy, with the wind from the south at 26 km/hr (16 mph). There is a 75% chance of rain during the afternoon.
The race: Here's the report from winner Mark Cavendish's Deceuninck-Quick Step team.
Mark Cavendish got his tenth victory of this season at the end of a fantastic day of racing. The 15th edition of the 188km German one-day race was cut to pieces by his Deceuninck – Quick-Step teammates with around 100 kilometers to go, when our squad took the race by the scruff of its neck and turned things into their favour with a series of clinical attacks in the crosswinds.
Five of our riders made the resulting split and pushed a huge tempo that not only spelled the end for an earlier breakaway, but also kept the chasers at bay, dealing a big blow to many of the sprinters, who were caught on the back foot. Cavendish, Josef Cerny, Alvaro Hodeg, Iljo Keisse and Stijn Steels made sure the Wolfpack had the numerical advantage, and this allowed our squad to kick off attacks early.
Surprisingly for many, it was the Tour de France green jersey winner who made the first move, which further reduced the group with 30 kilometers to go. One by one, Cerny, reigning champion Hodeg and Keisse all tried their luck, forcing the others to do the work, an effort which took its toll on many of the riders in the front group. Two kilometers from the finish, four men jumped clear, and the Wolfpack had there both the Czech ITT Champion and Mark Cavendish. Josef did a monster lead-out for the Manxman, who opened his sprint with just 100 meters to go and sailed to a victory that put him into double-digits for the first time since 2016.
“It was a hard day, with bad weather and lots of wind. We forced a split at one point and worked that into our advantage, committing 100% to the effort. We wanted to make it a tough race and we did just that. In the final kilometers, we began attacking and four of us moved away. I had Josef with me and he did a great job, as did the entire squad. I am happy to get a win so late in the season and to add to the team’s tally”, Mark Cavendish said.
Les Woodland's book The Olympics's 50 Craziest Stories: A Five Ring Circus is available as an audiobook.
Complete Results:
188.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 44.905 km/hr
| 1 | Mark Cavendish | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 4hr 11min 52sec |
| 2 | Alexis Renard | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 3 | Morten Hulgaard | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 4 | Josef Cerny | Deceuninck-Quick Step | @ 6sec |
| 5 | Niklas Markl | Team DSM | 0:09 |
| 6 | Rune Herregodts | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 0:12 |
| 7 | Adriaan Janssen | à Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 8 | Alvaro Hodeg | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 0:58 |
| 9 | Pascal Ackermann | Bora-hansgrohe | 1:21 |
| 10 | Andre Greipel | Israel Start-Up Nation | 1:33 |
| 11 | Georg Zimmermann | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | 1:39 |
| 12 | Dries De Bondt | Alpecin-Fenix | 1:45 |
| 13 | Stijn Steels | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 1:46 |
| 14 | Nico Denz | Team DSM | s.t. |
| 15 | Martin Urianstad | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 16 | Aaron van Poucke | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 1:50 |
| 17 | Alexander Tarlton | Lotto-Kern Haus | 1:58 |
| 18 | Andreas Schillinger | Bora-hansgrohe | 2:06 |
| 19 | Rudiger Selig | Bora-hansgrohe | 2:08 |
| 20 | Iljo Keisse | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 2:11 |
| 21 | Philip Walsleben | Alpecin-Fenix | 2:13 |
| 22 | Erlend Blikra | Uno-X | 4:49 |
| 23 | Kenneth van Rooy | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 24 | Fredrik Dversnes | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 25 | Tim Teutenberg | Leopard Pro | s.t. |
| 26 | Sergey Chernetskiy | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 27 | Martijn Tusveld | Team DSM | s.t. |
| 28 | Stan van Tricht | Deceuninck-Quick Step | s.t. |
| 29 | Timo de Jong | VolkerWessels | s.t. |
| 30 | Petr Rikunov | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 31 | Danny van Poppel | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 32 | Jonas Koch | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 33 | Edward Planckaert | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 34 | Rick Zabel | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 35 | Tobias Bayer | Alpecin-Fenix | 8:38 |
| 36 | Riccardo Minali | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 37 | Jan Maas | Leopard Pro | s.t. |
| 38 | Nick van der Meer | VolkerWessels | s.t. |
| 39 | Michiel Stockman | SKS-Sauerland-NRW | s.t. |
| 40 | Norman Vahtra | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 41 | Kim Heiduk | Lotto-Kern Haus | s.t. |
| 42 | Maurice Ballerstedt | Germany | 9:40 |
| 43 | Arne Marit | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 10:11 |
| 44 | Simon Dehairs | Alpecin-Fenix | 10:27 |
| 45 | Linus Rosner | Germany | 10:42 |
| 46 | Marco Canola | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 47 | Meindert Weulink | à Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 48 | Jean-Marc Temmen | Dauner-Akkon | s.t. |
| 49 | Jarno Mobach | Leopard Pro | s.t. |
| 50 | Lars Loohuis | à Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 51 | Igor Boev | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 52 | Sven Thurau | Dauner-Akkon | s.t. |
| 53 | Nils Wolfenbuttel | VolkerWessels | s.t. |
| 54 | Jon Knolle | SKS-Sauerland-NRW | s.t. |
| 55 | Abram Stockman | SKS-Sauerland-NRW | s.t. |
| 56 | Julian Lino | Bike Aid | s.t. |
| 57 | Miguel Heidemann | Leopard Pro | s.t. |
| 58 | Patrick Gamper | Bora-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 59 | Jakob Gessner | Germany | s.t. |
| 60 | Martin Salmon | Team DSM | s.t. |
| 61 | Daan van Sintmaartensdijk | VolkerWessels | s.t. |
| 62 | Pirmin Benz | Germany | s.t. |
| 63 | Boy van Poppel | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 64 | Stijn Daemen | à Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 65 | Erik Resell | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 66 | Rasmus Tiller | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 67 | Cedric Pries | Leopard Pro | s.t. |
| 68 | Colin Heiderscheid | Leopard Pro | s.t. |
| 69 | Michael Schwarzmann | Bora-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 70 | Lionel Taminiaux | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 71 | Julius Johansen | Uno-X | s.t. |