The overall ranking got pretty garbled on the second stage of the 15th CRAFT BIKE TRANSALP. Topeak Ergon Racing athletes Alban Lakata (AUT) and Robert Mennen (GER), who were dogged by bad luck yesterday, clinched today’s stage through Tyrol, which led over 77.90 km and 3,274 meters in elevation from Imst, Austria, to Ischgl, Austria, in 3:31:37.8 hours. According to this, the Austrian-German team jumped on the third spot of the overall ranking.
The first rank and thus the Yellow Leader Jerseys went to German Marathon Champion Markus Kaufmann of Centurion-Vaude and his BiXS iXS colleague Thomas Stoll from Switzerland. The two pros reached the finish right next to the Silvretta Gondola after 3:33:37.1 hours. Today’s runner-ups were almost six minutes faster than yesterday’s winners of German Team Bulls, Karl Platt and Tim Böhme (3:39:24.7).
Alban Lakata and Robert Mennen win stage 2 of the 2012 Transalp. © Craft Bike Transalp/Peter Musch
The deposed overall leaders however were able to defend the second rank of the overall standings. Platt and Böhme are now 3:38 minutes behind of Kaufmann and Stoll, but also have to watch out their back as Lakata and Mennen have a deficit of 5:44 minutes on the new Transalp leaders.
A deficit which is not that big; especially in the light of today’s performance. Lakata and Mennen were simply killing it. The Austrian-German duo was the only pairing which was able to keep up the top speed set by Kaufmann and Stoll in the climb to Venetalm (1,976m). After the highest point of the day, the four mountain bikers subsequently extended their lead before later on victorious team Topeak Ergon Racing broke away in the tough and long ascent through the Paznaun valley into the finish of Ischgl.
“It was pretty tough today but I’m happy that we were able to get back to business after our bad luck yesterday. We were able to catch up,” said German Marathon Championships runner-up Robert Mennen.
His Austrian Topeak Ergon Racing Team partner Alban Lakata added: “We had to invest a lot of energy yesterday but had also some very strong legs today.
We didn’t want to risk too much in order to avoid technical defects. Now, everything is possible. We’ll see how it goes over the course of the next days,” the 2010 Marathon World Champion added.
Rupert Palmberger (GER) and Daniel Geismayr (AUT) of Centurion-Vaude. © Craft Bike Transalp/Peter Musch
Tactic of Centurion-Vaude/BiXS iXS works out
However, the two stage winners also took advantage of the outstanding climbing work delivered by the new Transalp leaders who wanted to test their rivals at the first climb.
“We wanted to check how good they are and also make up some time. Due to this, we pushed it hard in the first ascent. That paid off,” said Thomas Stoll, who won the 2009 Transalp.
His comrade-in-arms Kaufmann however was delighted about his first ever earned Yellow Leader Jersey: “I always dreamed of this since my first participation in 2008. Now, this dream came true.”
De Bertolis and Deho extend lead in the master category
On the side of the category organized for those teams of two with a total age of 80+, Italians Massimo de Bertolis and Marzio Deho underlined their claim to leadership by finishing the second stage as fifth fastest team overall in 3:41:29.9 hours.
Georg Niggl (GER) of third ranked senior master team CRAFT & Friends. © Craft Bike Transalp/Peter Musch
According to this, former World Champion de Bertolis and his team mate Deho were able to extend their lead up to some 17:30 minutes in the master men standings as second ranked Team Scott consisting of Andreas Lander (ITA) and Johann Grasegger (GER) came in more than ten minutes later (3:52:00.0).
Rank three went to Austrian title defenders of Cube Factory Racing Silvio Wieltschnig and Heinz Zörweg (3:59:33.5).
Landtwing and Bigham unbeatable on women’s side
Dominating womens of first two stages, Sally Bigham (GBR) of Topeak Ergon Racing left and Milena Landtwing (SUI) of Centurion-Vaude. © Craft Bike Transalp/Peter Musch
Just like on the master men’s side, also the women’s category is dominated by one pairing.
Milena Landtwing (SUI) of Centurion-Vaude and Sally Bigham (GBR) of Topeak Ergon Racing seem to ride in a class of their own. Today, the two race ladies in the Pink Leaderjerseys brought home victory #2 in the incredible time of 4:18:28.2 hours.
Some 40 minutes later, runner-ups Catherine Williamson (GBR) and Louise Stopforth (RSA) of Bizhub-Fcf came in (4:47:32.5). Swiss racers Angelika Niklaus and Andrea Kuster of Metz-Kraftwerk rounded out the podium as third (5:13:01.4).
Team Gisler with first stage win in mixed category
After coming in second yesterday, Switzerland’s Antonia Wipfli and Patrick Jauch were finally able to secure their first stage in 4:23:29.4 hours.
Team Gisler held the upper hand in a close battle with mixed category leaders from Germany, Katharina Alberti and Matthias Gärtner of Black Tusk Racing by toMotion (4:23:38.7) rolling over the finish line nine seconds earlier.
Lorenza Menapace and Claudio Segata of Press Riva del Garda earned the last spot on the podium (4:30:05.7) finishing third.
Finish area in Ischgl. © Craft Bike Transalp/Peter Musch
Senior Master leaders with second win
After the unexpected close finish yesterday, the best racers of the teams with a total age of 100+ taught their rivals the ins and outs today.
Silvano Janes and Walter Platzgummer of Italian Scott team mastered the second stage of the 2012 CRAFT BIKE TRANSALP in 4:23:08.9 hours.
Just like yesterday, Swiss BiXS Suisse team Renato Burch and Bärti Bucher took the second spot (4:28:32.8) while CRAFT & Friends 7 with Georg Niggl (GER) and Walter Platzgummer (ITA) rounded out the podium as third (4:30:31.9).
Tomorrow, the second stage of the CRAFT BIKE TRANSALP leads over 67.83 km and 2,720 meters in elevation through Tyrol and thus from Ischgl, Austria, to Nauders, Austria.
It’s been a wet start to this year’s race. © Craft Bike Transalp/Peter Musch