Mads Pedersen claimed Lidl-Trek's third straight stage win in the Deutschland Tour, out-pacing late escape companions Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) and Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) in Schwäbisch Gmünd.
Pedersen followed teammate Jonathan Milan, winner of the prologue and stage 1, in victory. With the stage win and time bonus, Pedersen moved into the race lead, taking the jersey from Milan.
Pedersen leads the Deutschland Tour ahead of Johannessen by 12 seconds, with Ineos' Ethan Hayter third at 21 seconds.
Dario Igor Belletta (Visma-Lease a Bike), Dawit Yemane (BIKE AID) and Miguel Heidemann (Team Felt Felbermayr) made the early breakaway but could only gain two minutes on the field.
In the final 80 kilometres, the gap had come down below one minute and Marco Brenner (Lotto Kern-Haus PSD) and Bjørn Koerdt (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) bridged across.
The breakaway dissolved on the Lauterburg, with Heidmann dropped first and then all of the escapees caught with 44km to go.
Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost), Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Toms Skujinš (Lidl-Trek) made a counter-move but they too were caught with 21km to go.
The peloton had split and only 25 or so riders were left to contest the finale.
Pedersen launched a searing attack in the final 2km, pulling Ryan and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) away but he held on to take Lidl-Trek's third straight stage win.
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