Avancini and Wloszczowska win in Münsingen

Henrique Avancini won the 27th edition of MTB-Frühjahrsklassiker in Münsingen, Germany. The Brazilian took the title just ahead of José Hermida and Rudi van Houts. In the women's race, Maja Wloszczowska won her first important race since her injury in 2012. Adelheid Morath and Alexandra Engen completed the women's podium.

Men

Absolutely nobody expected Henrique Avancini to be the winner of the spring mountain bike classic in Münsingen. Not even when the 24-year-old Brazilian was leading the Multivan-Merida duo of Hermida and Van Houts into the third lap.

Van Houts and Hermida themselves were wondering about this young guy. "I even didn't know the name of this guy, but he was pushing all the way," said Hermida.

Avancini set the pace and when it came into the last lap, the Merida duo tried to apply team tactics. "Rudi sacrificed for me, but unfortunately I slipped out of my pedal," said Hermida of a decisive moment in the race.

Avancini realized Hermida's mistake and went "full gas". In the final 1.5km, he got five seconds. Hermida was able to catch him, but on the narrow track towards the finish line, he was not more able to pass him.

"It's unbelievable. When I was in front with these world class riders, I forgot all my pain," an emotional Avancini said of the "biggest win in my career". He was the most surprising winner of the race in its 27-year history.

Twelve seconds later, last year's winner van Houts took third spot on the podium, while Fabian Giger (Giant Pro XC) from Switzerland was fourth and Maxime Marotte (BH Suntour-KMC) from France took fifth.

Women

After the first lap, U23 world champion Jolanda Neff and her Giant teammate Maja Wloszczowska were leading the race. But one important figure was missing. Ten minutes later, the word was out that Olympic champion had a bad crash, less than one minute after the start on a fast, paved part of the course.

Four women were involved, but only Bresset had to abandon. In the hospital after the race, doctors found no broken bones; however, further examination once back home in France proved that Bresset had broken her collarbone..

Meanwhile, Wloszczowska was on the way to her goal, winning and earning world ranking points, after a nine-month break due to injury. Neff couldn't hold her speed, so the Polish woman was solo in front, chased first by the Alexandra Engen and Adelheid Morath and then by Morath alone. The gap fluctuated between 10 and 20 seconds; sometimes Morath was very close.

"Adelheid was the strongest on the uphill, but I could make time in the technical parts. That's what I am very proud about, because after my injury I was nervous about that," Wloszczowska said.

Morath was a bit nervous about wearing plate number one, after winning Bundesliga opener at Bad Säckingen. "It was the first time for me, and I was not completely concentrated on the downhills. It was a super race for me," she said.

Engen showed herself "happy" about second for the time third in the Bundesliga. "It was a cool race, and I had a lot of fun in front of the spectators."

Irina Kalentieva (Topeak-Ergon) was able to overtake Neff in the penultimate lap and finished fourth.

Engen and Litscher captured eliminator titles

Eliminator world champion Alexandra Engen won the eliminator race in Münsingen for the fifth time in a row. Engen was dominant. In the final, she even was able to compensate for a not-so-good start. In a brilliant manner, she passed Nadine Rieder to win the first Bundesliga sprint of 2013.

"It's a very good training for the sprint season at the world cups," said Engen.

Thomas Litscher took the win in men's field. In all heats, he had problems with the start, but the longer the heats went on, the stronger Litscher became. "I have still some problems at the start, but the length suits me. It's nice to have a win in the eliminator," Litscher said.

The swiss Eliminator champion beated the German champion in this discipline, Simon Gegenheimer, and U23 rider Martin Gluth.

Full Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Henrique Avancini (Bra)1:23:02
2José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa)Row 1 - Cell 2
3Rudi Van Houts (Ned)0:00:12
4Fabian Giger (Swi)0:00:24
5Maxime Marotte (Fra)0:00:32
6Stéphane Tempier (Fra)0:00:40
7Frank Beemer (Ned)0:00:57
8Thomas Litscher (Swi)0:01:13
9Emil Lindgren (Swe)0:01:44
10Shlomi Haimy (Isr)0:01:56
11Henk Jaap Moorlag (Ned)0:02:00
12Kevin Van Hoovels (Bel)0:02:15
13Uwe Hochenwarter (Aut)0:02:17
14Alban Lakata (Aut)0:02:21
15Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned)0:02:23
16Calle Friberg (Swe)0:02:24
17Torsten Marx (Ger)0:02:32
18Sebastien Carabin (Bel)0:02:38
19Wolfram Kurschat (Ger)0:03:04
20Jukka Vastaranta (Fin)0:03:18
21Benjamin Wittrup Justesen (Den)0:04:05
22Hannes Genze (Ger)0:04:17
23Matthias Leisling (Ger)0:04:29
24Simon Stiebjahn (Ger)0:04:40
25Marcel Fleschhut (Ger)Row 24 - Cell 2
26Patrik Gallati (Swi)0:04:55
27Andy Eyring (Ger)0:05:15
28Heiko Gutmann (Ger)0:06:14
29Harold Flandre (Fra)0:06:23
30Robert Wardell (GBr)0:06:36
31Christopher Maletz (Ger)0:06:56
32Sherman Paiva (Bra)0:07:09
33Stefan Sahm (Ger)0:07:23
34Gerrit Rosenkranz (Ger)0:07:38
35Marco Schätzing (Ger)0:07:56
36Zdenek Vobecky (Cze)0:08:18
37Jan Fojtik (Cze)0:08:25
38Sebastian Lehr (Ger)0:08:40
39Sebastian Szraucner (Ger)0:09:16
40Brice Scholtes (Bel)0:09:27
41Daniel Aspacher (Ger)0:09:36
42Marc Odrosek (Ger)0:10:35
43Steffen Greger (Ger)0:11:02
44Davy Huygens (Bel)0:13:22
45Jeffrey Andris (Ger)0:13:38
46Sebastian Bergmann (Ger)Row 45 - Cell 2
47Christopher Roth (Ger)Row 46 - Cell 2
48Jochen Coconcelli (Ger)Row 47 - Cell 2
49Philipp Pangerl (Ger)Row 48 - Cell 2
50Rumen Voigt (Ger)Row 49 - Cell 2
51Stefan Schairer (Ger)Row 50 - Cell 2
52Dave Henderson (GBr)Row 51 - Cell 2
53Daniel Gathof (Ger)Row 52 - Cell 2
54Johnni Nielsen (Den)Row 53 - Cell 2
55Andi Weinhold (Ger)Row 54 - Cell 2
56Ragnar Wirths (Ger)Row 55 - Cell 2
57Michael Stieglbauer (Ger)Row 56 - Cell 2
58Timo Häfner (Ger)Row 57 - Cell 2
59Tobias Blum (Ger)Row 58 - Cell 2
60Matthias Seitz (Ger)Row 59 - Cell 2
61Severin Schweisguth (Ger)Row 60 - Cell 2
62Pascal Hossay (Bel)Row 61 - Cell 2
63Daniel Ziehfreund (Ger)Row 62 - Cell 2
64Max Holz (Ger)Row 63 - Cell 2
65Florian Schön (Ger)Row 64 - Cell 2
66Ahmed-Ridvan Reichling (Ger)Row 65 - Cell 2
67Ari Kansikas (Fin)Row 66 - Cell 2
68Christian Ludewig (Ger)Row 67 - Cell 2
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Maja Wloszczowska (Pol)1:23:17
2Adelheid Morath (Ger)0:00:25
3Alexandra Engen (Swe)0:01:29
4Irina Kalentieva (Rus)0:02:37
5Jolanda Neff (Swi)0:03:10
6Hanna Klein (Ger)0:05:26
7Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Nor)0:05:52
8Vera Andreeva (Rus)0:06:16
9Anja Gradl (Ger)0:06:41
10Nina Wrobel (Ger)0:07:27
11Helen Grobert (Ger)0:07:33
12Paula Gorycka (Pol)0:08:23
13Barbara Benko (Hun)0:08:42
14Lena Putz (Ger)0:09:46
15Helle Qvortrup Bachmann (Den)0:10:17
16Annefleur Kalvenhaar (Ned)0:10:18
17Katrin Schwing (Ger)0:11:01
18Hielke Elferink (Ned)0:11:29
19Regina Genser (Ger)0:11:53
20Nadine Rieder (Ger)0:12:39
21Britt Van Den Boogert (Ned)0:13:22
22Lucie Vesela (Cze)0:13:28
23Nadezhda Antonova (Rus)0:15:00
24Jasmin Kansikas (Fin)0:15:18
25Aleksandra Podgorska (Pol)0:15:25
26Jana Valesova (Cze)Row 25 - Cell 2
27Lena Wehrle (Ger)Row 26 - Cell 2
28Guzel Akhmadullina (Rus)Row 27 - Cell 2
29Hannah Traupe (Ger)Row 28 - Cell 2
30Stephanie Dohrn (Ger)Row 29 - Cell 2
31Majlen Müller (Ger)Row 30 - Cell 2
32Marina Philippova (Rus)Row 31 - Cell 2
33Vanessa Kleih (Ger)Row 32 - Cell 2
34Sophia Panzer (Ger)Row 33 - Cell 2
35Natalie Reifschneider (Ger)Row 34 - Cell 2
36Anne Thorbjørn (Den)Row 35 - Cell 2
37Julia Thaler (Ger)Row 36 - Cell 2
38Asuman Bura Balci (Tur)Row 37 - Cell 2
39Maike Bullert (Ger)Row 38 - Cell 2
40Vanesa Fernandez Vidueira (Spa)Row 39 - Cell 2

 

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