Hynek and Bigham win AlpenTour opener

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Rainy, six degrees Celsius in Schladming, temperatures below zero on top of the Reiteralm and Hochwurzen mountains with snow falling down to 1,500m. These were the inhospitable conditions the riders of the first stage at the Alpentour Trophy faced. The Czech rider and last year's winner Kristian Hynek repeated his victory at the first stage in 2012 and had the current European MTB Marathon Champion from Lienz, Alban Lakata, claim second place by 1:45.

"I almost lost one of my fingers to frostbite," moaned the Austrian Lakata at the finish near the Planai Stadium.

With 69 kilometers and 2900m, the first stage of the Alpentour Trophy in Schladming via the Hochwurzen and Reiteralm mountains and back into the ski world championship venue demanded everything of the more than 500 participants. A considerable number of amateur riders even decided to finish their race early and were brought back with shuttles.

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The one who coped with today's difficult conditions the best was the Czech rider Hynek, who celebrated two stage victories and the overall race win last year at the Alpentour Trophy and not long after also became the European Marathon Champion.

In a lead group of six riders about 10km from the start, Hynek attacked already and was able to increase his solo lead to more than five minutes at the Reiteralm peak. Hynek rode towards an impressive stage win and second placed Lakata was able to decrease his gap only on the last descend to the finish.

"I risked everything and got more than two minutes back. In the beginning I struggled to get into a rhythm and I felt uncomfortable in all the thick clothing. But towards the end I was able to get into it. The conditions today were extreme and we don't expect any improvements over the next few days," said Lakata at the finish.

Hynek was completely exhausted after the race, looking for the closest warm shower right away. "It was brutal out there today. I can't remember when I last did such a difficult race. But it went well for me today and I am happy about the win!" said Hynek.

The second-fastest Austrian and two-time Olympian Christoph Soukup came in sixth place.

The fastest female racer of the day was Sally Bigham whose plan for the evening was to "Eat, eat, eat and get those muscles warmed up again."

Stage 2: Time trial

Tomorrow's stage will be a time trial onto the Schafalm with race start at 9am. The track length will be 15km with 1100m of climbing.

Full Results for stage 1 and general classification after stage 1