Last month Imogen Smith interviewed Sally Bigham (Topeak-Ergon Racing Team) about the announcement she had made via social media. She would be racing the 2014 Craft Bike Transalp as a mixed pair, but with no assistance from her male team mate. As Bigham pointed out, she wanted to ride over the Alps herself, as her […]
Racing the 2014 Transalp
In 2014, the Craft Bike Transalp ran over 7 days, from the centre of kitsch, Oberammagau, Germany, down to the favourite holiday location of Dutch and Germans alike – Riva del Garda, Italy. Two of our Subaru-MarathonMTB.com Team were riding as a mixed pair, and although Naomi Hansen and Stu Spies didn’t have an ideal […]
Transalp and BIKE Four Peaks set 2015 dates
Just after the 2014 Craft BIKE Transalp finished, the dates for the 2015 event, and that of it’s sister event, BIKE Four Peaks, have been announced. The Transalp has run since 1998, and until 2013 ran as an eight day stage race from southern Germany to Lake Garda, Italy. In 2014, the race shifted to […]
Stage 7 Transalp 2014: 62.73km and 2325hm
The final day of a multiday race such as Transalp is never as easy as the guidebook depicts and our stage 7 was equally as tough as any of the 6 stages we had completed prior. On paper the stage looked simple… 62.7km with a mere 2300hm from Trento to Riva Del Garda… an uphill […]
Kaufmann and Kass defend lead at Transalp
Markus Kaufmann and Jochen Käß have won the sixth stage from Kaltern to Trento at the Craft Bike Transalp. Centurion Vaude 1 completed the 98.25 km and 2,894 metres of climbing in 4:07:37.4 extending their lead over third ranked team mates Daniel Geismayr and Hannes Genze (4:10:37.4) in the overall ranking to 10:44 minutes. Second place went to Alban Lakata and […]
Transalp Stage 5 – Sarntal to Kaltern (67km – 2785hm)
Today was, in a nutshell, BRUTAL! Due to our unfortunate Day 2 (Naomi’s muddy eyeball) we start each day in the mad house that is ‘Pen B’. Why is it a madhouse? Well simply put you have a serious mix of fitness capability, competitiveness and technical skill. This all culminates in a furious attack […]
Transalp Stage 4: Naturns to Sarntal (73km and 2645hm)
The most important thing to remember about a race like Transalp is that there is NEVER an easy day.. today was a mere 73km on paper (very sociable compared to yesterdays 100km and the preceding days of 87km and 97km) but the fine print includes a 30km climb from around 32km to 62km taking us […]
Transalp 2014 stage 3 “The Queen Stage”
Firstly, I will have to up-speed on the events of stage 2 (yesterdays stage from Imst to Nauders) Stu and I were otherwise occupied and failed to log a full report. Stage 2 started in Imst, in the rain and the rain continued for the entire stage… Stu and I rode well (to clarify […]
Transalp: Genze and Geismayr win in the wet
The second day of the 17th Craft BIKE Transalp powered by Sigma wrapped up with a top result for Team Centurion Vaude. Besides celebrating the stage win, the Meckenbeuren based squad also took over the lead in the seven-day stage races’ overall ranking. Daniel Geismayr and Hannes Genze of Centurion Vaude 2 claimed victory in the […]
Sally Bigham’s Transalp mission: self-powered women
In an interview with Sally Bigham who will be racing Transalp 2014 in a mixed pair, unassisted, Subaru-MarathonMTB.com racer Imogen Smith delves into the integrity of pushing and towing in mixed pairs racing, and reflects on her own experience at Transalp last year. When Sally Bigham announced on Facebook a couple of days ago that […]