Osl and Milatz win in Bad Salzdetfurth

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Moritz Milatz (Multivan-Merida) and Lisi Osl (central-GHOST) won the Bundesliga finals at Bad Salzdetfurth in Germany on Sunday. With their wins, both also locked up the overall series titles.

Milatz defended his title by winning ahead of rival Fabian Giger (SKS-MiG) and Nicola Rohrbach (central-GHOST). Osl beat teammate Anja Gradl and Adelheid Morath (Rothaus-Cube). Eighth placed Hanna Klein (Rothaus-Cube) couldn't defend her lead in the overall and lost the overall title to the Austrian.

Lisi Osl took her sixth win of the season with a solo effort that began on lap six. Gradl followed but was later passed by Alexandra Engen (Merida Sweden).

Behind the trio, Klein tried to keep her overall lead by aiming the necessary fourth place. At times she was in fourth, at other times, not quite, and when Engen punctured Klein was not able to take advantage of it.

"From the very beginning, I felt same as I normally feel when I'm going into the last lap. I tried to stay in the competition by doing the downhills as fast as possible. Later on I couldn't do this any longer because I was completely exhausted," said a disappointed Klein.

In contrast, Lisi Osl was not thinking about the overall. She was surprised to get the overall. "Wow, that's super. I had a lot of fun. The course is really nice and the atmosphere in Bad Salzdetfurth is cool," she said before she gave teammate Gradl a hug.

Gradl was happy with her best Bundesliga result ever. "I had to suffer a lot but it was worth to do that," Gradl said.

Morath finished a strong third and was satisfied with her result

The men's competition was like that of last year's final at Bad Salzdetfurth. Moritz Milatz used the same strategy, too. "My goal was to be in front before the first downhill because of the dust. When I realized a gap, I looked and then when the gap extended, I pushed more," the winner said.

As he did last year, José Hermida (Multivan-Merida) and Fabian Giger chased, but couldn't go hard enough to catch Milatz. Hermida later had problems with a new crank he was racing and abandoned. That helped Nicola Rohrbach on third place.

"At the beginning of the season, I had no intention to focus on the overall but when I came close to Fabian after my victory in Wetter, I went for the top. Now I'm happy to get the overall a second time," Milatz said.

Giger, who was the leader of the overall before the finals by one point, complimented Milatz. "He was stronger, and I have to give it to him. I'm not unhappy, and I had a lot of fun in the race with all the people out here," said Giger.

Federspiel with explosive legs in previous day's sprint competition

Saturday's sprint race went to Daniel Federspiel (SRM-Stevens) and Alexandra Engen (Merida Sweden).
Young Daniel Federspiel, 22, who won several sprint races before, was explosive with his riding.

"I never had a chance to beat him," said Lukas Kaufmann (Rothaus-Cube). Kaufmann secured the sprint cup overall by passing second place on the line. He finished ahead of Thomas Litscher (SKS-MiG), while his biggest competitor Marco Schätzing (Zwillingscraft) lost his one-point lead by missing the final of six riders.

"It's crazy, I have pretty explosive legs. It went extraordinary well for me," Federspiel said.

Alexandra Engen won her third Bundesliga sprint competition of the current season. That moved her to second place in the overall. "I have a lot of fun with this kind of competition. Maybe that's the reason why it works so well for me," said Engen.

Claudia Seidel (Ghost Racing) won the women's overall after a third place behind Barbara Benkó (Rothaus-Cube).

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