Milatz and Morath win Bundesliga MTB opener

Moritz Milatz (BMC) and Adelheid Morath (Sabine Spitz-Haibike) took the first round victories of MTB-Bundesliga International in Bad Säckingen, Germany on Monday. Milatz beat Emil Lindgren (Giant Pro XC) and the young Markus Schulte-Lünzum (Focus), while Adelheid Morath surprised her rivals to win ahead of Katrin Leumann (Ghost Factory Racing) and Alexandra Engen (Ghost Factory Racing).

While the juniors and U23s had raced on Easter Sunday in muddy, but ride-able conditions, the elite racers enjoyed cold, but sunny weather on Monday.

Women

Adelheid Morath got the hole shot and led into the singletrack. During the first of five laps, she was joined by Katrin Leumann and by Kathrin Stirnemann and the three formed the lead group. Their teammate Sabine Spitz, raced in fourth place, only 10 seconds behind, and she was fighting to catch them.

On the second lap, Stirnemann suffered from a flat tire and dropped back.

Engen bridged up to Spitz on the third lap and it seemed like she could catch the leading two. But then the eliminator world champ made a mistake and crashed in a difficult technical section.

At the front, Leumann was better in the technical parts while Morath was stronger on the climbs. On the fourth lap, Leumann was no longer able to catch back up in the technical parts.

"Although I was stronger technically, I didn't know how long I could keep up the speed," said Leumann. I was happy we had gotten such a big gap so second place was safe."

Morath kept focused on her race, increasing her advantage by up to 43 seconds, when she crossed the finish line.

"I am so happy, I nearly cannot believe it," said Morath. "Before the start, I was so nervous, because these technical sections don't suit me. I tried to be calm and everything worked out."

It was Morath's second win this season for her new team Sabine Spitz-Haibike.

Spitz and Engen were left to battle for third, and Engen came out on top with a very fast last lap of the 3.9km course. She caught Spitz some hundreds of meters before the finish line and sprinted to third by just half a wheel length.

"It's unbelievable, how Alex is able to go over her limits in such situations," said Spitz, full of respect. In front of her home crowd, the London Olympic silver medallist was not unhappy with her race. "I didn't expect the win today. My training had no intensity up to now. So, for me it's okay."

Men

Moritz Milatz needed three of six laps to make it up to the lead group. The BMC rider had slipped out of his pedal at the start, dabbing his shoe on the pavement. He was left with a 30-second deficit to make up after the first half lap.

But Milatz remained focused. At the end of lap one, the European Champion realized that he was closing on the three man lead group of Emil Lindgren, Nicola Rohrbach (Goldwurstpower-Stöckli) and Markus Schulte-Lünzum.

"That gave me a bit more motivation. At the beginning my legs were not so good, but during the first lap, it went fine," said Milatz.

He joined the three leaders at the end of lap three and immediately went to the front. Riding as his own pace, he opened a small gap. "When I saw that, I decided to go. On this tricky course, it is not an advantage to ride in a group."

Slowly, Milatz extended his lead, keeping the focus on the difficult course. The last 100 meters he took to celebrate in front of the crowd. He beat Lindgren by ten seconds and Schulte-Lünzum by 18 seconds.

"It was my first race this year, and it's great to get the win for me and my team. This gives more motivation for the upcoming weeks," Milatz said.

Lindgren called Milatz "super strong" and seemed satisfied with his own race. "It was a good race for me."

He also admitted that he was slightly distracted as his girlfriend is expecting their second baby any day now. "I just checked my phone, and if it is so far along, I will leave for home."

Schulte-Lünzum was the big surprise in the game. The German U23 rider held the speed of the world class riders during the whole race. "It's completely crazy. I couldn't expect that," he said.

Fabian Giger, who finished eighth had a bad day. "I didn't feel good today and it's much harder to fight way back from the podium. Anyway, I had a lot of fun on this funny course."

U23 men

Julian Schelb (Lexware-Rothaus) won the U23 race on Easter Sunday. He beat his teammate Martin Gluth, while former junior European champion Jens Schuermans took the third spot on the podium.

Schelb closed the gap of 30 seconds to Gluth and then was reigning easily in the front position. "I still am missing some high intensity, but I am very happy to start with a victory."

Schuermans suffered from two flat tires, but one kilometre before the finish, he profited from the mechanical of Christian Pfäffle. The third Lexware-Rothaus rider was sitting in confortable third place, when his rear derailleur broke. He had to run for one kilometre and ended up finishing fifth, behind Belgian Didier Bats.

Full Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Moritz Milatz (Ger)0:01:18
2Emil Lindgren (Swe)0:00:00
3Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Ger)0:00:00
4Matthias Stirnemann (Swi)0:00:00
5Ondrej Cink (Cze)0:00:01
6Martin Fanger (Swi)0:00:01
7Nicola Rohrbach (Swi)Row 6 - Cell 2
8Fabian Giger (Swi)0:00:02
9Thomas Litscher (Swi)0:00:02
10Karl Markt (Aut)0:00:03
11Stephen Ettinger (USA)0:00:03
12Mathias Flückiger (Swi)0:00:03
13Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita)0:00:03
14Olof Jonsson (Swe)0:00:03
15Sepp Freiburghaus (Swi)0:00:04
16Reto Indergand (Swi)0:00:04
17Torsten Marx (Ger)0:00:04
18Simon Scheiber (Aut)0:00:05
19Pascal Meyer (Swi)0:00:05
20Luke Roberts (RSA)0:00:06
21Heiko Gutmann (Ger)0:00:06
22Patrik Gallati (Swi)0:00:07
23Sebastian Lehr (Ger)0:00:07
24Franz Hofer (Ita)0:00:08
25Matthias Leisling (Ger)0:00:08
26Tim Wynants (Bel)0:00:08
27Harold Flandre (Fra)0:00:09
28Gerrit Rosenkranz (Ger)0:00:09
29Daniel Eymann (Swi)0:00:09
30Marcel Fleschhut (Ger)0:00:09
31Timo Modosch (Ger)0:00:11
32Zdenek Vobecky (Cze)0:00:12
33Benjamin Joerges (Ger)0:00:12
34Shlomi Haimy (Isr)0:00:12
35Steffen Thum (Ger)0:00:13
36Simon Gegenheimer (Ger)Row 35 - Cell 2
37James Reid (RSA)0:00:13
38Jeffrey Andris (Ger)Row 37 - Cell 2
39Florian Willbold (Ger)Row 38 - Cell 2
40Patrick Tresch (Swi)Row 39 - Cell 2
41Steffen Greger (Ger)Row 40 - Cell 2
42Sonke Wegner (Ger)Row 41 - Cell 2
43Marc Odrosek (Ger)Row 42 - Cell 2
44Martin Larsen (Den)Row 43 - Cell 2
45Benjamin Oesterle (Ger)Row 44 - Cell 2
46Timo Häfner (Ger)Row 45 - Cell 2
47Samuel Rosenkranz (Ger)Row 46 - Cell 2
48Jochen Coconcelli (Ger)Row 47 - Cell 2
49David Van Orsdel (USA)Row 48 - Cell 2
50Ragnar Wirths (Ger)Row 49 - Cell 2
51Oliver Schär (Swi)Row 50 - Cell 2
52Tobias Blum (Ger)Row 51 - Cell 2
53Stefan Schairer (Ger)Row 52 - Cell 2
54Daniel Kaufmann (Swi)Row 53 - Cell 2
55Florian Schön (Ger)Row 54 - Cell 2
56Ahmed-Ridvan Reichling (Ger)Row 55 - Cell 2
57Christian Bernshausen (Ger)Row 56 - Cell 2
58Benjamin Stark (Ger)Row 57 - Cell 2
59Matthias Seitz (Ger)Row 58 - Cell 2
60Luca Formoso (Swi)Row 59 - Cell 2
61Alexander Kumpf (Ger)Row 60 - Cell 2
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Adelheid Morath (Ger)1:21:03
2Katrin Leumann (Swi)0:00:44
3Alexandra Engen (Swe)0:01:43
4Sabine Spitz (Ger)Row 3 - Cell 2
5Irina Kalentieva (Rus)0:02:12
6Esther Süss (Swi)0:02:39
7Githa Michiels (Bel)0:04:17
8Kathrin Stirnemann (Swi)0:04:39
9Elisabeth Osl (Aut)0:05:04
10Hanna Klein (Ger)0:06:07
11Anja Gradl (Ger)0:07:49
12Linda Indergand (Swi)0:08:08
13Lena Putz (Ger)0:08:50
14Michelle Hediger (Swi)0:10:17
15Jenny Rissveds (Swe)0:11:17
16Judith Pollinger (Ita)0:13:00
17Barbara Benko (Hun)0:13:30
18Hielke Elferink (Ned)0:13:33
19Lisa Rabensteiner (Ita)Row 18 - Cell 2
20Candice Neethling (RSA)0:13:52
21Deborah Inauen (Swi)0:14:53
22Helen Grobert (Ger)0:15:39
23Britt Van Den Boogert (Ned)0:15:56
24Majlen Müller (Ger)0:16:55
25Lena Wehrle (Ger)0:22:33
26Nadine Rieder (Ger)0:22:37
27Michele Wittlin (Swi)Row 26 - Cell 2
28Vanessa Kleih (Ger)Row 27 - Cell 2
29Ashleigh Parker-Moffatt (RSA)Row 28 - Cell 2
30Sophia Panzer (Ger)Row 29 - Cell 2
Swipe to scroll horizontally
U23 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Julian Schelb (Ger)1:16:40
2Martin Gluth (Ger)0:00:52
3Jens Schuermans (Bel)0:02:29
4Didier Bats (Bel)0:03:08
5Christian Pfäffle (Ger)0:03:28
6Christopher Platt (Ger)0:03:38
7David Simon (Ger)0:04:18
8Kevin Panhuyzen (Bel)0:04:29
9Jonas Pedersen (Den)0:05:04
10Louis Wolf (Ger)0:06:14
11Maxi Maier (Ger)0:07:02
12Rens De Bruin (Ned)0:07:05
13Marcus Nicolai (Ger)0:07:11
14Severin Sagesser (Swi)0:07:36
15Sam Weber (Ger)0:07:57
16Stefan Peter (Swi)0:08:33
17Martin Frey (Ger)0:08:39
18Philipp Hediger (Swi)0:09:00
19Aaron Beck (Ger)0:09:15
20Bryan Allemann (Swi)0:09:31
21Andrea Righettini (Ita)0:09:50
22Ronny Koller (Swi)0:10:13
23Romain Corti (Swi)0:10:33
24Kevin Krieg (Swi)0:10:45
25Yannik Brischle (Ger)0:11:01
26Mike Schuler (Swi)0:12:02
27Claude Koster (Swi)0:12:40
28Simon Schilli (Ger)0:12:45
29Tim Rosenkranz (Ger)0:13:42
30Marcel Guerrini (Swi)0:13:52
31Marvin Schmidt (Ger)0:14:15
32Fabian Costa (Aut)0:14:23
33Michael Stünzi (Swi)0:15:29
34Heiko Hog (Ger)0:15:30
35Ulisse Fieschi (Swi)0:15:31
36Alexander Gläser (Ger)0:16:18
37Fabian Obrist (Swi)0:17:43
38Joel Koller (Swi)0:18:50
39Nicolas Chopard (Swi)0:20:42
40Lukas Kaufmann (Aut)Row 39 - Cell 2
41Steve Scheffel (Ger)Row 40 - Cell 2
42Niklas Grobert (Ger)Row 41 - Cell 2
43Tobias Sindlinger (Ger)Row 42 - Cell 2
44Markus Siebert (Ger)Row 43 - Cell 2
45Jonas Müller (Ger)Row 44 - Cell 2
46Florian Kortüm (Ger)Row 45 - Cell 2
47Pirmin Kuß (Ger)Row 46 - Cell 2
48Thomas Rasmussen (Den)Row 47 - Cell 2
49Michael Feinauer (Ger)Row 48 - Cell 2
50Rico Von Burg (Swi)Row 49 - Cell 2

 

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