Genze hangs tough for overall Trans Zollernalb win

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Multivan Merida's Hannes Genze took the victory in the inaugural edition of the Sparkasse Trans Zollernalb. After three stages, he took the overall race by just one second ahead of Belgian champion Kevin van Hoovels and marathon world champion Alban Lakata. Surprisingly the victory in women's category went to Gabi Stanger, who finished in front of Estonian Maaris Meier and Holland's Anne Terpstra.

The men's peloton was a strong one and the climbs in the middle mountains of the Zollernalb, a part of the Swabian Alb, were not long enough to make a big difference among the top riders.

The first stage, on Friday, took 13 men together into the final straight. It was Swiss marathon champion Andreas Kugler who profited from the work of teammates Hannes Genze and Jochen Käss by winning the sprint in Balingen. Käss got the second spot, van Hoovels was third, while overall contender Karl Platt lost all chances by puncturing in the very first 20 kilometers.

The second stage was expected to make the difference. At least it did, but not in a totally obvious way. Seven riders, without yellow jersey Kugler, made it together toward the finish in Albstadt. Karl Platt took the lead by pushing very hard. But his plan didn't work.

"I thought that the last kilometer was two to go, and I gave Hannes the chance to pass," said Platt.

That was the wrong decision because after Genze took the lead, only 200m remained, and there was no way for Platt to overtake Genze again.

"I think Karl went too early," said Genze, who took the yellow jersey by three seconds over René Tann who passed the finish line in third position. Alban Lakata was at four seconds and van Hoovels was at six seconds.

The tight situation opened up an exciting final stage between Albstadt and Hechingen. On every climb, the lead group shed members, and René Tann crashed and lost his chance to win. On the last longer climb Alban Lakata, Kevin van Hoovels and Czech Kristian Hynek got a small gap of about 10 seconds to Hannes Genze.

"We saw the chance and went full gas," said Lakata. Hannes Genze put everything he had left on the line but it wasn't enough to catch the lead trio on the final climb.

Van Hoovels sprinted to the stage victory, Lakata lost two seconds and Hynek came into third with three seconds. However, more important for the overall, Genze passed the finish line in fourth position with five seconds to van Hoovels. That secured him the yellow jersey on his shoulders.

"I think today there were a lot of riders able to win. I'm happy that I was able to fight back and get that second," said Genze.

Van Hoovels and Lakata finished with the same time but with Lakata set into third place for the overall.

"Hannes got his Pitbull look and was fighting really hard," said Lakata.

For Stanger, less training leads to victory

The women's category didn't draw as many big names, but in spite of that, Gabi Stanger surprised many and was able to grab the overall. The 42-year-old retired two years ago and took a licence this year again only to ride sometimes for fun.

"I'm in training, yes, but not in a way I did when I was competing seriously in a team," said Stanger. "Maybe that was helpful, I don't know. Stanger took stage 1 and stage 2 and the overall ahead of Maaris Meier, who is ranked in the top 60 by the UCI.

The last stage went to Anne Terpstra. The junior European bronze medalist of 2009 handled the constant up and downs better than Stanger, who was third in that stage and Meier, but she was too far away in the overall to endanger Stanger's standing as leader.

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