Austrian one-two in U23 Henninger

The Austrian youngsters dominated the Rund um den Henninger Turm U23 race Thursday in Frankfurt, Germany. Stefan Denifl of Team Elk Haus and Christoph Sokoll of Team Volksbank finished one-two out of the remains of an escape group after 143 kilometres.

The 20 year-old Denifl and Sokoll, 21, were appearing for the Austrian national team. The two joined an early seven-man strong breakaway, which was unsuccessful. "About 20 km before the finale, Christoph Sokoll and I made the deciding attack," Denifl said. They were joined by Jean Schlüter of Continental Team Milram and Ralf Matzka of Team Ista. The two Austrians were able to outsprint Schlüter who finished one second back, while Matzka fell back and won the sprint of the field.

"Last year I was ninth in the pro race," Denifl said. "That's why I expected to do well today in the U23 race. Of course I would have been glad to start with the pros again today, but I am very happy with this win."

Sokoll added, "As a team we harmonized perfectly and had the race under control at all times. Everything worked out perfectly. A perfect race."