Andreas Kugler, Alban Lakata and Kristian Hynek at the Trans Zollernalb (Image credit: Arno Fuhrmann)
Current marathon world champion Alban Lakata (Topeak Ergon) will return to the Trans Zollernalb mountain bike stage race in Germany on September 23-25. He will take on defending champion Hannes Genze (Multivan Merida) and his teammate Andreas Kugler. In 2010, Lakata finished third, but just one second behind Genze in the overall.
The Blacktusk Racing Team has also committed to the race and will be sending René Tann, who was seventh last year, and local heros Torsten Marx and Marcel Reiser.
The three-day race will take riders 215km from Bad Imnau to Albstadt-Ebingen and then to Hechingen. So far, 300 racers are registered but 500 to 600 total are expected. The stages will be 60, 75 and 80km long with six intermediate sprints en route.
