Cycling: Adelheid Morath and Markus Schulte-Lünzum won the German championship jerseys in the Olympic cross-country discipline in Bad Säckingen. Lena Wehrle won the women's U23 class. In the Masters categories, it was last year's winners who were able to win again. After the first HAIBIKE eMTB championship, some of the participants reported euphorically on their impressions.
The sky had just closed its floodgates when Adelheid Morath stood at the finish line and shed tears of joy. She had just completed her first cross-country title since junior days (2001 and 2002). "It takes a load off my mind", she is known. The tension must have been great before the race.
"I'm so happy. I knew I was in good shape and just wanted to ride my rhythm. I still had reserves in case they put pressure on me from behind. That was the plan and it worked. I still can't believe it." explained Morath.
The woman from Freiburg delivered an impressively focused performance in the rain at Bad Säckingen. Appearing in strong physical condition, the almost 30-year-old was also mentally in top form on the difficult surface. In the first lap she followed the pace of Helen Grobert. This created a first gap to defending champion Sabine Spitz.
On lap two of five, Morath picked up the pace a bit on the mountain and from then on was alone at the top. However, the gap between Helen Grobert and then Sabine Spitz was never so great that the woman from the Black Forest could feel safe. Sabine Spitz turned up the heat on the third lap, overtook Grobert and reduced her gap from 25 to 18 seconds.
But then the 16-time German champion made a mistake on a slippery descent and the gap grew to 30 seconds. Adelheid Morath didn't wobble at the front and when Sabine Spitz slipped away a second time and thus allowed Helen Grobert to drive up again, a preliminary decision had been made.
“The track changed every lap and it quickly happened that you slipped”, Spitz explained. In the end, the two teammates separated by 53 seconds.
Spitz secured silver after she was able to gain a few bike lengths over Grobert on the penultimate climb and routinely brought the lead to the finish. U23 rider Grobert (Focus XC) finished third, 57 seconds behind Morath (1:10:00) and thus won her first medal in the elite category.
The 42-year-old Olympic champion said after the duel of the generations: “I had some stomach problems and wasn't able to perform XNUMX%. Under the circumstances, I have to be satisfied with the silver medal. But Adelheid also delivered a splendid performance today.", commented Spitz.
For Helen Grobert, third place meant the fulfillment of her personal goal. “I wanted a medal and it worked out. It was awesome to be able to ride with the two top German riders and even to be in the lead. I'm super happy about the day", said the 22-year-old from Remetschwiel, for whom it was also a home race, as it was for Spitz.
Nina Wrobel (4th) and Hanna Klein (5th) from Freiburg were never able to get into the race for the medals. Klein was still close to Spitz in the first lap, but then collapsed.
The gentlemen were lucky that it stayed dry at least from above. However, the subsoil was still a very difficult matter, because the driving lines changed from lap to lap in muddy passages.
It was defending champion Moritz Milatz (32) who set the pace from the start. The Freiburger was able to break away together with Markus Schulte-Lünzum. Milatz was the stronger on the climbs, but the 23-year-old from Haltern am See was always able to close the small gaps in the technical passages.
Behind him, Manuel Fumic tried his hand "with bad legs" keeping afloat and keeping distance within bounds. He stayed within striking distance until half of the distance.
Milatz's dream of a fifth title ended in the fourth of six rounds. In a descent he had to go into the bushes. The fall itself was harmless, ("nothing happened to me"), but the consequences were drastic. The shifter bracket had broken off. No chance to repair, no chance to continue driving. Totally disappointed, he gave up the race. "I can not believe it", the frustrated Milatz shook his head.
With his nightmare, the dream of Schulte-Lünzum began to take shape. The distance to Manuel Fumic grew and the West-Münsterlander headed for his first title in the elite category. In the end it was 1:46 against Manuel Fumic.
Last year's U23 World Cup winner actually had a dream on Friday. "It's insane, absolutely amazing. I dreamed that Focus made me a champion frame, that I had the jersey and was glad I finally woke up because it was so unreal.", said Schulte-Lünzum euphorically. "It's a shame that it happened like this, with Moritz's bad luck, but I'm still super happy. I can't believe it."
Manuel Fumic, on the other hand, seemed very calm, almost sober. He was practically doing damage control the whole race. “I rode my pace and in the end it was enough for runner-up. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but I'm more than happy with my legs."said the Cannondale driver.
Markus Bauer finished third (+2:59). The fact that his buddy Moritz Milatz failed to win the medal, his first in the elite class, was certainly not for the Kirchzarten native. But for himself he took note of the bronze medal with a feeling of happiness.
He fell in the second lap when he was still in the leading group with Schulte-Lünzum and Milatz. He drove half a lap with Fumic, but even that was too fast for him.
Even when Julian Schelb moved up from behind, he didn't go with him. "Then it suddenly clicked. I drove up to Julian again and when I heard that third place was up for grabs, I attacked straight away.", said Bauer. His former roommate couldn't react and so Bauer drove to the bronze medal.