Sahm and Platt claim TransAlp overall win

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Stefan Sahm and Karl Platt won their third shared title at this year's 13th annual TransAlp after having been victorious in 2007 and 2008. The two Germans of Team Bulls, who came in fourth in today's final stage from Madonna di Campiglio to Riva del Garda in Italy mastered the eight days from Füssen, Germany, to Lake Garda, Italy and its 598. It took them 26:07:04 to cover the distance.

The win on the last 75km stage went to Italy's Massimo De Bertolis and Mike Felderer of Team Full-Dynamix, who climbed up to the third spot in the overall ranking due to their fourth stage win. It was a pleasing wrap-up for the top duo as Felderer said, "With this we have underlined that we could have gone for more if Massimo wouldn't have had stomach problems on the first two days."

The runner-up spot of the overall ranking right in front of them was taken by Hannes Genze and Andreas Kugler of Multivan Merida Biking Team who came in third today behind of Stöckli-Craft with Switzerland's Thomas Zahnd and Konny Looser.

Team Bulls overwhelmed by joy

As expected, the three-time TransAlp champions Team Bulls celebrated their win with a huge and long shower of champagne. No wonder as eight long and exhausting days of the mountain bike stage race across the Alpine divide saw a total of three changes of the overall lead.

"We are more than glad. It's an amazing feeling that we finally made it although we had some tough days in between," said Sahm. The 33-year-old "Sahmurai" thus alluded to stage three and four on which especially his team made had to suffer big time.

"This was the hardest TransAlp I ever competed in," said Karl who brought home his seventh TransAlp crown. "It never was that fast. There was no time for a break at all. But luckily my form came back." However, there was another reason why this year's triumph was a "very special one" for the 32-year-old father of two, who is expecting a third child with his wife. Last year, "Plattos" had to withdrawal from the race due to an injury.

Rothaus-Cube ladies bring home an expected win

Danish Kristine and Anna-Sofie Norgaard finished the 13th TransAlp unbeaten. After having won all seven stages before, the two sisters also claimed victory on the last one. Thus, the Rothaus-Cube team sat about 32:52:57 in the saddle of their bikes.

Just like in the overall ladies' ranking, Germany's Natascha Binder and Bettina Dietzen of Felt Ötztal X-Bionic / Cannondale Store came in as runner-ups. The top-three of the day and the ranking were rounded out by Mountain Heroes' Katrin Neumann and Danièle Troesch.

Cube Team with flawless record

Udo Bölts and Silvio Wieltschnig secured the title in the master category in their first ever season as a duo. Team Cube brought home victory on all eight stages. Today, the experienced pairing needed 3:04:37 to finish first in Riva del Garda.

After having been on tour several years as a cycling pro, the TransAlp title was the first big triumph for Bölts as mountain biker. "This is something very special for me. I never thought that we would be capable of winning this although I was expecting a podium result." The 43-year-old added, "It's nice that it worked out with Silvio as I had promised him last year that we would compete together. This team competition is special; I found out after I started mountain biking. It's impressive how this blends a team."

The second and third spots of the day and the master ranking were taken by Team Garmin adidas/Bike and Soul consisting of Mannie Heymans and Reini Woisetschläger as well as defeated title defenders of Team KTM: Heinz Zörweg and Ekkehard Dörschlag.

Sundstedt/Gathof underline their mixed title with stage win

Adhering to standards, Pia Sundstedt and Daniel Gathof clinched victory on this year's final stage. The Finnish-German duo of Craft-Rocky-Mountain needed only 3:16:02 for the last leg. Second and third for the stage - just like in the ranking - were occupied by Milena Landtwing and Heiko Gutmann of Rothaus-Cube as well as Switzerland's Jane Nüssli and Markus Hochstrasser of credo-bikes.com.

Green Valley Team 100 with fifth stage win at senior master category

In the class of the oldest participants South Tyrolean's Hartmann Stifter and Josef Pallhuber of Green Valley Team 100 secured their fifth stage win in 3:23:06. The second ranked duo of the senior master classifier relegated Team Craft to the runner-up position.

But Ferdinand Ganser and Georg Niggl easily earned another TransAlp win after 2008 and 2009 thus saying good-bye with a title hattrick. The two Germans had already announced yesterday, that they were retiring from all stage races.

Overall third within the senior master's class were Thomax Bike team riders Max Bertschinger and Thomas Rüegg of Switzerland. Their fellow countryman Daniel Feuz and Adolf Steiner of Crazyveloshop-Scott entered the last stage podium as third.

Full Results (Stage 8 followed by GC)