Rally Cycling’s Robin Carpenter won the King of the Mountain’s classification at the Deutschland Tour today. The 26-year-old defended his lead in the climber’s competition against WorldTour competition on the final 207 km stage to Stuttgart. The jersey was the first major European classification victory of Carpenter’s flourishing career.
Carpenter’s lead in the KOM classification was built on the back of a stage three breakaway where he won all five climbs en route to Merzig. Racing stage four through Stuttgart and defending the black polka dot jersey was a special moment for the Philadelphia native.
“It’s a pleasure to win the KOM jersey and be able to stand on the final podium at a big race in Europe,” said Carpenter. “The races over here are challenging in many different ways and in order to survive you have to learn and adapt. Something the team has done an excellent job of.”
The German tour brings to a close one of the most successful European campaigns in the team’s history. Top results included Carpenter’s podium finish on stage three of the Tour of Denmark and second place at the Netherland’s KOGA Slag om Norg. Colin Joyce won stage two and finished third overall at the Arctic Race of Norway.
“I really enjoyed this trip,” said Carpenter. “We had a lot of success and the morale was always high. To have some personal success is a bonus for me. I’ve been really stoked with how the team is riding and my ability to help whenever I can.”
The team now travels home for their final races of the season, the WorldTour one-days Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec on September 7th and Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal on September 9th. Expect fireworks in Canada as the team brings a year’s worth of fitness into two final battles with the WorldTour.
Final KOM standings
1 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling 15 pts
2 Gaëtan Pons (Lux) Leopard Pro Cycling 6
3 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 5
4 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 5
5 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 5
6 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 4
7 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 3
8 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 3
9 Nathan Earle (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy 3
10 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 3
