Everyone: In just over two weeks, the TOUR Transalp will start in Imst, Austria. Together with the Munich sports shop Ertl/Renz, we are at the start this year with our own top-class team consisting of Bob Michels, who came second last year, and a strong climbing debutant at his side: The Ertl/Renz – Velomotion 1 team.
It was wafer thin last year: After a week of countless kilometers of racing, tens of thousands of meters in altitude and complete exhaustion, the Belgian duo Bob Michels and Frederic Glorieux were an incredible seven seconds short of overall victory. This went to the two compatriots Bury Bart and Houben Kristof - even winning the stage at the end didn't help. This year, however, the overall victory should come – at least for Bob Michels, who will be at the start for the Ertl/Renz – Velomotion 1 team. Actually, of course, Frederic Glorieux would have been at his side again and would have completed the Belgian duo Infernale - but a fall last week and the fractured sacrum caused Glorieux to thwart the Transalp calculations.
However, Michel's new partner, Michiel Minneart, is more than 'just' a substitute: the 23-year-old lightweight weighs in at just 50kg – his climbing goat physique recently earned him the nickname “Il Piccolo”. A look at his Strava Profile shows that, despite all the spontaneity, Minneart will be well prepared for the TOUR Transalp adventure: more than 13.000 km have already been booked this year, including numerous amateur and some elite races. At the UCI World Cycling Tour – the world federation’s amateur world championships – he also achieved a sensational second place last year in Denmark. In view of the climbing-intensive profile of the TOUR Transalp (Here is the route preview) Il Piccolo will undoubtedly be able to play to its strengths.
Ertl/Renz provides the appropriate set of wheels – with ours Visit to the store in Munich two weeks ago we could already see the two frame kits in the workshop, with which the two Belgians will fight for the Tour Transalp victory. Michels and Minnaert will be seated in luxury Cipollini Bonds, custom-built for the race. It should therefore hardly fail because of the material. Also from Ertl/Renz – more precisely, from the Munich Cycle Club (to the blog on Velomotion) – comes the stylish team clothes for the Ertl/Renz – Velomotion 1 team. The simple kits are produced by none other than the Italian cult manufacturer De Marchi.
So stylish and well equipped for the 2016 TOUR Transalp victory? We hope so and keep our fingers crossed for Bob and Michiel!