Two in a row for Hynek at AlpenTour Trophy

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Winter sport athletes would love the conditions that currently dominate the Alpentour Trophy. But mountain bikers? Not so much. Thick snow drifts welcomed riders to today's 15km time trial stage, which took them from Schladming up to the Schafberg Alp, which is the top station of the gondola. Today's winner was again Kristian Hynek from the Czech Republic, who was able to increase his overall lead. Danish rider Sören Nissen was second while European Marathon Champion Alban Lakata was third.

It was raining in Schladming, and thick snowflakes were falling from the mid-mountain station of the Planai peak. During stage 2, riders climbed up to the Schafberg Alp, where 20cm of fresh snow awaited them. Czech rider and 2012 winner Hynek dominated the day and showed that he's after the overall win this year again. And just like last year, he won not just the first but also the second stage in Schladming. Starting in reverse order from yesterday's result, Hynek won in a total race time of 59:15, eight seconds ahead of the Danish rider Nissen and 23 seconds ahead of Lakata.

"Today the conditions were really tough. Especially the last three kilometres where it was almost impossible to ride in all the snow", the winner said at the finish line. He had tried to catch up to Lakata in the time trial-style race stage and then managed to get away, increasing the gap in the overall classification. "I crashed just before the finish and almost lost my gap", he said of the rough riding conditions.

"Today was awesome!" said Lakata.

The organisers had the snow removed in the morning - the access roads to the Schafberg Alp where cleared with snowplows and the race track was prepared for the mountain bikers by quads and motorbikes. The riders from all over the world had a good sense of humour about the freezing winter conditions.

"One of my young team riders is from South Africa - the last time he saw snow was when he was six years old. So today he was thrilled to ride," said former MTB World and Olympic Champion Bart Brentjens.

"This reminds me of back home in Canada and training in the middle of winter - gloves, beanies, thick jerseys! We expected summery Alpine scenery and now we are wading through snow," said Canadian Cory Wallace from the Kona racing team.

Lakata was also excited. "That was a completely new experience for me and genuinely awesome! The last third of the track was impossible to ride, but it was also fun. I am very content with my third place today."

The elite women's winner Sally Bigham from Great Britain couldn't believe it, "I've been racing in the MTB industry for a long time and this was something new for a lot of us. But I was excited - the weather just keeps playing up, but in our sport we just have to make the best of it anyway."

A great result today also for the best Belgian rider, Frans Claes. He said that he still enjoyed the race, because "mountain biking is always fun, even when it's snowing".

Second today in the elite men's classification was Nissen who took out the third place in last year's final stage. "Unfortunately, yesterday I had a mechanical right at the start and lost a good 20 minutes. So the overall classification is history for me," he said today.

Lakata is now second in the overall classification, 2:08 minutes behind Hynek. Third in the general classification is the Czech rider Jiri Novak (at 4:53).

Stage 3: Queen stage via the Dachstein mountain

Tomorrow's third stage will kick off at 10:00 am. The queen stage was planned to run from Schladming via the Dachstein mountain range and back. However, due to the rough weather conditions the stage will be cut short. "We will shorten the stage from 73 to about 66km. From Ramsau will ride towards the Türlwandhütte, but not all the way. Instead the riders will stay at an altitude of about 1300m from Rittisberg onwards - below the snowfall line," said organiser Gerhard Schönbacher.

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