Everyone / MTB-News: The 19th BIKE Transalp ended on Saturday in Arco with a day's victory for the Austrian duo Pernsteiner/Geismayr from Centurio Vaude 2, who also confidently secured the overall victory ahead of Team Bulls with Urs Huber and Karl Platt . Lennard and Alexander from Team Velomotion had to struggle in the last few days, but achieved an outstanding result for their age group with 23rd place in the men's classification.
'The mother of all MTB stage races', the BIKE Transalp ended on Saturday for the 19th time. In the battle for overall victory, Centurion Vaude 2 with Hermann Pernsteiner and Daniel Geismayr prevailed over the well-known competition. The two Austrians are succeeding their teammates Markus Kaufmann and Jochen Käß, who had won the previous three stages and who started as Centurion Vaude 1 again this year, but missed the title defense due to an injury handicap.
Even if Pernsteiner and Geismayr had to admit defeat to the Topeak Ergon duo on the first stage, the two of them crystallized more and more clearly as the big favorites on the following days. With five stage wins in seven days, there can hardly be a more deserving winner. It was a pity, however, that Topeak Ergon driver Kristian Hynek had to retire due to injury. After that, the Bulls team around Karl Platt and Urs Huber became the new hunters for the leaders, but could not quite keep up with the extremely strong pace of Centurion Vaude 2 and in the end had to settle for a strong second place.
Team Velomotion narrowly misses out on top 20
Lennard Heidenreich and Alexander Hertel from Team Velomotion started without pressure, but with great ambitions. After Alexander had some health problems on the first few days, the two youngsters showed stamina and got back into the race - even if it got more and more difficult, especially towards the end, as Lennard openly admitted: "We're at the limit. Alex struggled with knee problems today. After changing shoes it was halfway. I'm starting to have problems too," he reports after the tough queen's stage. As is unfortunately often the case, Lennrad also caught a cold that made his legs even heavier.
The fact that the two finally fought for a really sensational 23rd place in the men's ranking is not only extremely impressive in view of their young age and an achievement of which they can be proud - at least we are!
Leave a Comment