Four Austrians were among the first five place getters – that´s the red-white-and-red result of today’s second stage at the Alpentour Trophy. The newly crowned Marathon National Champion Daniel Geismayr claimed the stage win and takes over the race lead. Double World Champion Alban Lakata was second ahead of Hermann Pernsteiner. The Italian Christian Cominelli came in fourth and Uwe Hochenwarter is fifth. In the women´s, Christina Kollmann increases her overall lead with a second stage win ahead of her runner up from yesterday, Angelika Tazreiter.
Geismayr comes in triumphant.
The new overall leader is Daniel Geismayr. The Austrian National Marathon Champion won the Queen Stage of this year’s event along the Southern Dachstein mountain range and was all smiles at the finish, “There’s nothing better than winning such a stage!” He had felt good from the beginning and had been riding at the pace of the lead group, which had gotten smaller drastically towards the end, mainly due to the hot conditions. It had been a fight until the last descent with Alban Lakata, Geismayr recounted his race, “I’ve been a Lakata-fan since I started racing bikes, so to keep up with him and even win against the double World Champion is unreal.” He was looking ahead confidently and he will be at the start of tomorrow’s Saturday stage in the leader jersey and with a gap of 26 seconds to Lakata. Third overall is Hermann Pernsteiner with a gap of 2:39 min.
Riders feel the pain at the Alpentour Trophy
Alban Lakata congratulated Geismayr and said that he’d had a good race and had felt strong. More exhausted seemed Hermann Pernsteiner who confirmed that it had been “brutal” from the beginning today. “I’ve been suffering today from the first metre on the bike”, the 26-year old admitted. He had fallen back to the eighth position and had given everything to fight back to the front, which is why he wasn’t to disappointed with a third place. “Today was a write-off, I haven’t had a bad day like this for a while”, he said. During yesterday’s stage in the snow fields near the Giglach Lakes he had started to cramp at the long ascents on foot and those efforts had really left their mark on his form today.
Leader in the “King of the Mountain” Classification is the Italian stage winner from yesterday, Daniele Mensi.
Christina Kollmann increases Alpentour Trophy lead
An exhausted title defender Kollmann crossed the line with a second stage win. “The heat was really tough, I don’t even know how what the temperatures were, but it was extremely hot. The last hour was the hardest, I had to fight a lot”, she said. Each year, she added, this was the stage that she had the most respect of and she was now happy that she had it behind her. “Until the King and Queen of the Mountain classification point at the Türlwandhut I rode with Angelika and at the descent I was able to get away. I’m happy and really tired, but tomorrow is a bit shorter”, concluded a relieved “Queen of the Mountain” Kollmann, who has a lead of 12:48min overall ahead of Tazreiter.
Alice Pirard crests the climb.
Another second place for Angelika Tazreiter, who had enjoyed todays stage. “It was an awesome ride today, the trails were amazing, the elevation, the roads, everything! And the great weather on top of it, I really loved it!”, she said. Her plan now was to take this euphoria into tomorrow’s third stage. “One of the highlights was the Türlwandhut, the many spectators cheering us on and to ride straight across the restaurant terrace, that was unique!”, she added.
Tomorrow’s third stage will be 53km across the Hauser Kaibling Mountain. However, with 2200vm it will be a stage that shouldn’t be underestimated. Race start is at 10am in Schladming.
Belamoina in the hunt.
Elite Men:
1. #3 Daniel Geismayr AUT / CENTURION VAUDE / 2nd KOM at 11:01:44 / 03:17:36
2. #6 Alban Lakata AUT / Team Topeak Ergon / 4th KOM at 11:02:02/ 03:17:53 +00:17
3. #15 Hermann Pernsteiner AUT / Picher Racing Team / 8th KOM 11:03:05 / 03:20:15 +02:39
4. #33 Cristian Cominelli ITA / SOUDAL LEECOUGAN RACING TEAM / 7th KOM at 11:03:05 / 03:22:27 +04:51
5. #38 Uwe Hochenwarter AUT / Craft-Rocky-Mountain Factory Team / 6th KOM at 11:03:03 / 03:23:02 +05:26
Elite Women:
1. #105 Christina Kollmann AUT / Team TEXPA-SIMPLON / 1st KOM at 11:15:36 / 04:02:39
2. #115 Angelika Tazreiter AUT / Polizei SV Graz – Bigtime Maishofen / 2nd KOM at 11:15:43 / 04:07:37 +00:04:58
3. #121 Margot Moschetti FRA / CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing / 3rd KOM at 11:17:06 / 04:16:33 +00:13:54
4. #120 Janka Keseg Stevkova SVK /OUTSITERZ cycling / 7th KOM at 11:20:33 / 04:19:39 +00:17:00
5. #109 Janine Schneider GER / CUBE bikes / 4th KOM at 11:18:33 / 04:20:26 +00:17:47