News

The Sparkassen Münsterland Giro is a race that is usually decided in a bunch sprint, as evidenced by a list of winners filled with fast men: André Greipel (2008, 2014), Marcel Kittel (2011, 2012), John Degenkolb (2016), Sam Bennett (2017), Maximilian Walscheid (2018), Álvaro José Hodeg (2019), and more recently, Mark Cavendish (2021) and Olav Kooij (2022) have won this race.

While it is true that in some editions there have been reduced group finishes (as in Cavendish's victory in 2021), many teams work to ensure a sprint finish, making it the most likely outcome. The weather, which is forecasted to be rainy, is the main factor that could prevent a bunch sprint.

Route

This edition of the race has considerably more elevation gain than last year (1634 meters compared to 787 in the 2022 edition), but the climbs are far from the finish line. The final 60 kilometers are flat, allowing the sprinters teams to work to regroup the peloton and set up the race for the sprint.

Favorites

The list of sprinters registered for the race is spectacular: Olav Kooij (1000), Jasper Philipsen (1200), Tim Merlier (1000), Mads Pedersen (1200), Dylan Groenewegen (800), Kaden Groves (800), Alexander Kristoff (800), Caleb Ewan (600), Jordi Meeus (600), Christophe Laporte (1000), Gerben Thijssen (400), Matteo Moschetti (400), Maximilian Walscheid (400), Danny Van Poppel (600), Jon Aberasturi (400), and Søren Wærenskjold (200) are some of the most notable.

Photo: © Sparkassen Münsterland Giro