PREVIEW & FAVOURITES | Deutschland Tour 2025 stage 2 - Can Visma's supertalent Brennan win queen stage?
Cycling
From the 20th to the 24th of August the German calendar continues, this time around with the country's most important stage-race of the year: The Deutschland Tour. We preview stage 2.
Stage 2 of the race can be termed the queen stage, a day for the classics specialists. The 189 kilometers between Herford and Neheim will have no long climbs but many short and punchy ascents where it's possible to make the difference and make the race very tactical.
From 65 to 31 kilometers to go there will be five small climbs where this action can take place, and a few groups may go up the road. Afterwards it's not pan-flat all the way to the finish but there is a bonus sprint at the top of a small hill where we may see some more attacks or sprints to obtain key seconds. This is indeed the most difficult stage of the race but you do wonder how much difference can actually be made. At the speed the modern peloton moves, very few riders will even want the little ring on such a stage.
The GC is fully open due to the minor gaps and so every second matters, whether it is on the bonus sprint or final one. But the sprinters have to be dropped and that will be hard, I see riders such as today's winner Matthew Brennan or Kaden Groves as the main favourites, whilst I wouldn't exclude Jonathan Milan from surviving these ascents still within a peloton.
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Stage 2: Herford - Neheim, 189.7 kilometers
Prediction Deutschland Tour 2025 stage 2:
*** Matthew Brennan, Kaden Groves
** Danny van Poppel, Jhonatan Narváez
* Wout van Aert, Jonathan Milan, Florian Lipowitz, Jan Christen, Brandon McNulty, Luke Lamperti, Soren Waerenskjold, Sam Watson, Emilien Jeannière
** Danny van Poppel, Jhonatan Narváez
* Wout van Aert, Jonathan Milan, Florian Lipowitz, Jan Christen, Brandon McNulty, Luke Lamperti, Soren Waerenskjold, Sam Watson, Emilien Jeannière
Pick: Matthew Brennan
How: Another victory but this time around with a smaller peloton.
Original: Rúben Silva
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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