The last few days have been pretty haywire for me – after Villach I was on several dates in Landshut, Ingolstadt, Munich and finally also at the cycling weeks in Füssen. After a leisurely 180km lap yesterday, I traveled directly to the Kaunertal and accordingly started the race without any great ambitions. To be precise, I wasn't mentally prepared for "running" at all, as always, everyone needs something before the start, so once again I had to make sure that I got my own things lined up in time and rolled to the start in time .
Away from the valley we had to brake diligently behind the lead vehicle and even after the official start in Prutz the pace was (fortunately) not as fast as last year when Emanuel Nösig smashed the field here and I lost the connection. This year everything was "controlled" - the favorites Ortner, Traxl and Obwaller watched each other and various ambitious drivers like Patric Grüner, Martin Fritz and a few others did the speed work. The result was occasional escape attempts, all of which were unsuccessful, until my teammate Stephan Schwarz was successful with an advance in Feichten, which was followed a little later by Martin Fritz and two other drivers.
The cracks didn't care and while the ones on the ramps didn't even get a whiff of breath, the pace felt pretty high for me, although the watts barely exceeded 400 and kept dropping a lot. The group didn't even get significantly smaller on the ascent to the dam wall, the pace wasn't fast enough for that. Only Andi Traxl appeared briefly, but probably only to see who was nervous and immediately followed. I rode the flat section along the lake in front because no one wanted to and I rolled along with 100 watts, which gave the breakaway group with Stephan a clear lead.
Even at the end of the reservoir, where the road straightened up, there was no real attack, the field got smaller but no decisive advance. Until then I was driving very passively, but how much longer should this game go on? In the short flat spots, the train was immediately out again - couldn't it be that? I started to feel stronger and I remembered last Saturday in Villach, where I was unexpectedly one of the strongest on the mountain. So I took heart in the next short descent and attacked the top group with momentum from the 3rd pose.
At first I had a hole, but Obwaller, Ortner and Traxl got close again, the rest a bit from a distance. It was the last short descent, over the creek and then into the many switchbacks. Obwaller was the first to go into the curve, stepped up briefly on the climb and I countered with full force - the gap was there! Ortner and Traxl at 20 meters, Obwaller at 50 meters - I was fighting hard, but I couldn't do more than 380-400 watts for 2-3 minutes. I was panting like a cow, somehow I couldn't breathe - the sign in the bend showed me why: 2056m above sea level! "There are still 700 meters of altitude to suffer," I thought to myself, that's going to be long... Ortner and Traxl slowly caught up, I couldn't resist and the three of us went out of the serpentines into the short flat section where the lift station is located.
Suddenly Andi Ortner lets his legs hang in front of me, at second glance I saw that his chain had wrapped itself around the crank arm - that didn't look good. While Ortner stayed where he was, Obwaller came back, passed us and attacked me and Andi Traxl, who we had briefly taken out, a little surprised by Andis Malleur. I fought my way to Obwaller's rear wheel, but it switched off again fairly quickly. So I extended and now it was there - the gap between me and the two top favorites! I gave everything I had, literally flew past the 3 leading drivers I had caught and only had Martin Fritz in sight far ahead - but not yet beaten Obwaller and Traxl with a gap of about 100.
I tortured myself and really pushed myself to the limit - just like I had “learned” on the miserable flat sections of the Supergiro and in Villach, but the power meter only barely stayed above 300 watts.
The hole didn't get any bigger and Martin Fritz at the front didn't get any closer either. I tried to push the two short flat sections as much as possible, which helped a little to get close to Martin. After the lake and turn 5, there were still 300 meters of altitude, which I knew only too well - they drag on forever, the road is bumpy, but the gap to the oncoming Ortner, Obwaller and a breaking Andi Traxl was still there - approx. I guessed 30 seconds but fought myself more than anything else.
Again and again the cameraman was in the hairpin bends, which gave me a boost, I was really at my limit, breathing reminded me of earlier Spiros with the breathing gas mask put on - the pulse was over 180 (which is rare for me) and the watts just over 300, more and more often just below. How strong was Andi Ortner? He had already passed Obwaller and is setting the pace... If I had slowed down further, it wouldn't have worked out, but I kept pushing while riding out of the saddle and kept the two of them at a distance with the last of my strength until I finally had the last bend in sight and the Victory could almost be assured. Somehow I managed to close the jersey when I noticed that it wasn't just the legs that were completely blue.
Ortner and Obwaller delivered a real sprint for second place - I celebrated my victory and so the gap was ultimately very small, but still sufficient. In any case, it shouldn't have been 2 meters longer, then the two guys would have conceded me. I was overjoyed to win so surprisingly on the Kaunertal Glacier - after all, the race is traditionally very strong and a house number in the scene - although this year, with fewer than 100 participants, the number of starters was unfortunately not as large as in previous years.
My teammates also delivered just as remarkable performances: Stephan Schwarz, completely exhausted from the long escape and the hard fight against the charging top drivers, came in a great 7th place, "team chick" Max Aigner (18 years old) also drove a top race and also made the top 15 overall. Unfortunately, we didn't have an iron in the fire today in terms of women, but thanks to Mona we're spoiled for success anyway. All other riders also crossed the finish line very satisfied, some used the race as a preload for the three-country Giro and enjoyed the glorious weather on the glacier to the fullest!
The organization deserves special praise, as it held a stylish award ceremony in the glacier restaurant just one hour after the finish line. That was really great, because after a short refreshment, interview, conversation with competitors and team riders and a great buffet in the glacier restaurant, you didn't have to wait forever for the award ceremony (unfortunately often the case lately) when hardly anyone was there. At 14:00 p.m. everything was done and we rolled down the valley together. As a reward, I was even allowed to roll out to Nauders and enjoy the wonderful afternoon on the bike - my teammates parked the car right in front of the apartment.
We are staying here until Sunday and have a few days to enjoy the beautiful area and the great atmosphere in the team. So then, until Sunday and have a nice week!