Cycling: Admittedly - Guadeloupe is not exactly the place you would think of for a European Championship. However, the French overseas department in the Caribbean is currently the venue for the European title fights. And this started for the BDR with three medals.
The triple of Olympic victory, world championship title and European champion honors was narrowly denied in the team sprint of the women Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte. The duo had to admit defeat to the Russian team in qualifying and also lost out in the final. Third place went to the duo from the Netherlands.
The German team sprint trio, which this year featured Joachim Eilers, Tobias Wächter and Robert Förstemann, became European champions for the fifth time in a row. Thanks to an extremely strong performance by the Chemnitz Eilers, the trio relegated the French to second place. The Russians won bronze by beating Poland.
There was also reason to celebrate in endurance. The German foursome with Henning Bommel, Theo Reinhardt, Nils Schomber and Kersten Thiele were initially in the lead in the final before the favored Brits turned the tables two laps before the end. With a driving time of 4:12,342 minutes, the foursome has nevertheless taken a big step towards Rio 2016. Bronze also went to Russia here.
The other competitions ended without medals for the BDR. Stephanie Pohl secured sixth place in the points race. In the men's scratch, Kersten Thiele and Leon Rohde finished 19th and 29th.
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