In Kassel, Danny van Poppel crossed the finish line first after the third stage of the Deutschland Tour. He stayed ahead of Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) and Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies). After a long jury deliberation, a maneuver by Van Poppel was ultimately penalized: the Norwegian was finally awarded the stage victory.
There were few flat kilometers between Arnsberg and Kassel, but the toughest part of the course was in the first section. In the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
the Hirschberger Wand (1.3 km at 7.3%), the Esshoff (2.7 km at 7%), and the Buttenberg (2.6 km at 7%) accounted for some of the total 3000 meters of climbing. But even in the state of Hesse, the terrain was far from flat.
Arnsberg) Kassel)Leijnse makes his presence felt
Enzo Leijnse (Picnic PostNL) was clearly motivated at the start of the stage. He chose the offensive alongside Marco Haller (Tudor) and Jannick Steimle (Q36.5). Leijnse collected points for the mountains classification on all categorized climbs.
But even more interesting was what happened at the back of the peloton. Fast riders like Milan, Meeus, Kristoff, Hofstetter, and Moschetti were dropped under the pressure from Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Emirates-XRG. This acceleration also caused the three breakaway riders to be caught early.
Enzo Leijnse made an impression during the queen stage - photo: Cor Vos
Maneuver in sprint costs Van Poppel dearly
Without all those riders, but with Matthew Brennan, Søren Wærenskjold, and Danny van Poppel, the group headed towards Kassel. Those riders competed for the stage win, along with other sprinter colleagues. Wout van Aert was the first through the final corner, but his teammate couldn’t finish it off. Brennan got caught in the sandwich between Van Poppel and Wærenskjold and was therefore out of contention for the victory.
The Dutch champion surged through a gap and appeared to be sprinting towards victory in the middle of the road, but in the end, he veered off his line. So much so that after long deliberation, the jury decided to demote Van Poppel. Wærenskjold was awarded the stage win, Jeannière moved up to second place, and Samuel Watson (INEOS Grenadiers) ultimately took third in the stage results, despite also making a significant swerve in the final straight.
Wærenskjold consolidated his leader’s jersey, but he had pictured his second stage victory of this race differently. “I think it’s the right decision, but I don’t want to win like this. He was the strongest, but he didn’t hold his line. If he had, I think he still would have won,” he said in the flash interview.
“It was a super tough stage. In the last part of the stage, I was completely alone. Luckily for me, there were no attacks and I could take a few more bonus seconds. Maybe they will try something tomorrow, we’ll have to stay focused, avoid stupid decisions, and make sure we can take the overall win home.”
🚴🇩🇪 | Danny van Poppel wins the sprint in Kassel but flirts with disqualification for boxing in Brennan. Will he get the victory or will the jury decide otherwise?! 💨🇳🇱 #DeutschlandTour
📺 Stream the race on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/zu4tKdkWLR
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) August 23, 2025
Lidl Deutschland Tour| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03:53:10 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | " | |
| 4 | " | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | " | |
| 7 | " | |
| 8 | " | |
| 9 | " | |
| 10 | " |
