The Deutschland Tour (24-28th August) is the final chapter of the German high-level calendar which included the European Championships and the BEMER Cyclassics this year. The five-day stage-race will have a prologue and four hilly and mountainous days, which will see some exciting racing, and plenty riders looking to prepare the World championships and late-season World Tour calendar.
The race starts with a short 2.5-kilometer long prologue in the town of Weimar which will set the early lead of the race. Stage one will see the peloton go on it's first hilly stage with a finale in Meiningen, which includes a sequence of climbs, the final of which having 2.5 kilometers at 6.2% with bonifications available at the top with just under 20 kilometers.
Stage two sees the ascents closer to the finish, with a combination of several short but explosive climbs towards the end. Summits with 22.5, 13 and 5 kilometers to go, which include an intermediate sprint and a bonified sprint aswell will set the race alight. Stage three will be the queen stage, with the hills of the previous days having little influence in comparison to the summit finish at Schauinsland. The day is relatively calmer in it's majority, but the end gets tough, and the summit finish alone will see 11.7 kilometers at 6.5%, a true test for the climbers and those looking to succeed in the GC.
The final day will lead the riders into Stuttgart, an equally hard day with barely a flat meter in it's first half. However the urban inside the German city won't be any easier, with three ascents of the Herdweg (1.3Km; 7.8%) finishing with 27, 16.5 and 6.5 kilometers to go which will then wrap up the race.