Cycling: Manuel Fumic won his third German championship title in the cross-country discipline last weekend in Saalhausen. Helen Grobert did the same for the women, living up to her role as favorite and winning the championship jersey for the first time.
It was the international perennial favorite, Manuel Fumic, who, after a botched DM 2014, left his mark on the championship fight in Saalhausen. Right from the start, Fumic led the leading group and pulled away after just two of seven laps. His pursuers had no chance.
Markus Schulte-Lünzum, who never came close to his performance potential throughout the spring, proved to be the most stubborn pursuer after he really found his way into the race after two laps. Schulte-Lünzum halved the gap by the end of lap four and came within 15 seconds of Fumic over the next kilometer.
“I divided the race and took something out in the middle. Schulle came very close again, so that it got exciting again. But I was able to improve on the penultimate and the last lap.", explained Manuel Fumic.
His pursuer had benefited from a fall by Moritz Milatz. In the fourth lap, the man from Freiburg fell out of the saddle on a heel. Schulte-Lünzum had to lift his bike over his competitor in order to continue. Milatz injured his elbow and was a bit dazed afterwards. That cost him the chance to attack again at the front.
Schulte-Lünzum became Fumic's only pursuer. "I saw that I was getting closer and attacked again in the fifth round. Either I overdid it a little or Mani gained weight again.", explained Schulte-Lünzum. "But I'm very, very happy that I was able to get involved at the front. And that here in North Rhine-Westphalia.”
Meanwhile, Manuel Fumic was happy that he was able to win the title, his third after 2008 and 2012, in conditions that did not suit him. "I'm happy that I made it. It was difficult to drive. When the rain started, individual passages immediately became slippery and I slipped a few times.", according to Fumic.
Moritz Milatz had to worry about his third place. Simon Stiebjahn (Team Bulls) came within 17 seconds from behind, but the former European champion was able to keep him at bay with the fastest final lap.
But Milatz refused. “I didn't really fight for the medal. After the fall, the motivation was gone. The elbow was bleeding and I didn't know what was there. I just kept riding so I could take the world ranking points with me. But I didn't feel like it anymore", according to Milatz.
His whole week as a student was very tough, I felt tired and that's why he couldn't have competed in the first lap. "Then I found my rhythm and it was okay too", according to Milatz. 30 seconds behind Fumic, you would have expected him to catch up.
Helen Grobert (Ghost Factory Racing) and Sabine Spitz were able to pull away together on the first of six laps. But at the beginning of the second 4,8-kilometre lap, Spitz suddenly jumped off her bike and began to work on her rear wheel.
"I thought, oh no, that can't be true when Sabine had a defect. But then I focused on myself and tried to find my rhythm.", Grobert explained about the situation, which suddenly made her unrivaled.
The 50-year-old Spitz needed around 43 seconds to inflate her tire. Together with Adelheid Morath from Freiburg, she took up the race again. But the air didn't hold. Spitz had to stop at the next technical zone and swap wheels. She caught up with Nadine Rieder (Sonthofen), who had been in third place up to that point, but then she immediately had the next defect.
“It was then that I had to run to the technical zone. I can't remember when I had two such defects in one race", explained Sabine Spitz. She only finished the race for the world ranking points and finished fifth, 8:21 minutes behind.
Helen Grobert set the best time on every lap and gained a lead of 4:42 minutes to the finish. “I am overjoyed, also for my team. We have such a good time together”, said the 23-year-old, who comes from Remetschwiel and lives in Freiburg.
“In the third lap I didn't get up the mountain as well, but then I had my flow again. It was a lot of fun", according to Grobert.
Behind her three riders fought for the remaining two medals. Nadine Rieder had to let Hanna Klein and Adelheid Morath pass in the third lap.
Defending champion Morath started the race with hip problems and was not able to stand up to her teammate on the mountain as usual. Hanna Klein offered her best performance of the season so far and with silver she also recorded the best DM result of her career.
4:42 minutes behind Helen Grobert, who currently embodies world class, was measured. “At the beginning I lost contact right away because I couldn't get past on the downhill. When I saw Adelheid in front of me, I thought: just full throttle now. It was tough, but I'm super happy about the silver medal. My legs weren't great", explained Hanna Klein (Freiburg).
Adelheid Morath congratulated Helen Grobert: "I'm happy for you. Helen rode great World Cups and deserved to be German Champion. I already knew it wasn't going to go well. If I hadn't been the defending champion, maybe I wouldn't have competed at all. I think I made the best of it", said Adelheid Morath.
Nadine Rieder (+6:27) stayed within striking distance of the medal until the last lap, but in the end Morath (+5:26) was a minute behind