Riley Sheehan delivered another strong performance to secure third place overall on the final day of racing in Lidl Deutschland Tour.
“I’m super happy. We came into this race aiming for a Top 10 overall, so to finish on the podium was a bit above expectations,” Sheehan explained after the podium ceremony.
Throughout the German stage race, Sheehan has been one of the animating factors with countless attacks, always staying near the front. The 25-year-old American narrowly missed out on the victory on stage 2 before finishing fourth in the reduced sprint the following day. On today’s final stage, he remained attentive, winning the last intermediate sprint to collect three bonus seconds and seal his podium spot.
“I knew I was good, but I didn’t think the stages would be so action-packed. It was really nice to be the hammer a bit. It has been a tough year for me with health issues in the spring, so it has really been a big confidence boost being able to be the hammer and not the nail for once.
“As a team we rode really well, and it was so great to have all the guys back me every day. Especially today, we really showed how good of a team we were. My teammates were all there for me at the crucial points and Matîs [Louvel] and Krists [Neilands] set me up perfectly for the bonus sprint. It couldn’t have gone any better today. They had full belief in me!”
Sports director Pat McCarty echoed Sheehan’s sentiment, praising the performance of the entire IPT squad.
“The team rode really well. We knew that Riley was good, and the guys set him up really well all week. On the second stage, Riley was just outstanding. He rode himself onto the podium that day, and from there it was just about making sure all the bases were covered and we supported him well. Overall, everybody did a great job. Riley is clearly flying at the moment, and it’s really good to see him racing at the front again.”