Paez kicks off AlpenTour Trophy with victory

Leonardo Paez was crowned first stage winner of the 16th AlpenTour Trophy on Thursday. Paez claimed the victory 40 seconds ahead of two-time world champion Roel Paulissen from Belgium who came in second. Hermann Pernsteiner from Lower Austrian was the best local finisher in the stage that took the riders high up onto the Hochwurzen Mountain and the Giglach Lakes.

Day one provided its competitors with ideal weather conditions. The first stage of the four-day event ran for 59km and 2,900m of elevation up to the Hochwurzen Mountain and continued across the snow-covered Giglach Lake plains and back to Schladming.

The strongest rider of the day was the 31-year old Paez of Colombia, who won the bronze medal in last year’s marathon world championships. The Columbian rider dominated the entire first stage in Schladming together with Paulissen and today's third placed finisher Tony Longo from Italy, before he was able to break away just before the finish.

"It was very hot and the snow near the lakes, where we had to push our bikes, was quite the different. I really happy with my result and definitely want to push on hard toward an overall win," said Paez after the race.

Paulissen was content with his second place. "Leonardo was just too strong today. I've known him from many previous races. He’s just a top athlete."

Pernsteiner was also happy with his fifth place, "I've trained very hard for the Alpentour Trophy this year and my legs felt good. Today was an extremely difficult stage and I hope that I’ll be able to improve my overall position during tomorrow’s time trial."

Brazilian national champion Henrique Avancini also put in a good showing with an eighth place finish.

Ukrainian rider Yana Belomoina had been one of the major favourites for this year's Alpentour Trophy already in the elite women’s category. And the Ukrainian National Champion, European Champion and World Cup winner confirmed that status impressively today. In 2010, she raced her first Alpentour Trophy and with four second places, she claimed the overall second place then. Today she finished the first stage in 3:32:07, ahead of the Swiss rider Milena Landtwing, who came in with a gap of six minutes. Third was the Slovakian rider Janka Keseg.

Tomorrow’s second stage of the 16th Alpentour Trophy starts at 10:00 am at the Planai stadium. More than 14km and 1,100m of elevation will have to be concquered up to the Schafalm high above Schladming.

Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite men stage 1 and general classification after stage 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Hector Leonardo Paez Leon (Col) i.idro DRAIN Bianchi2:56:49
2Roel Paulissen (Bel) Torpado Factory0:00:40
3Tony Longo (Ita) i.idro DRAIN Bianchi0:00:42
4Lukas Buchli (Swi) RMV Chur0:02:48
5Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Fill ProForma Racing Team0:02:49
6Jukka Vastaranta (Swi) Medilaser-Specialized MTB-Team0:03:22
7Bart Aernouts (Bel) AA drink cycling team0:06:01
8Henrique Avancini (Bra) CALOI TEAM0:06:52
9Kevin Van Hoovels (Bel) Belgium national fedaration0:08:01
10Alexey Medvedev (Rus) Fulldynamix0:09:46
11Markus Preiss (Aut) RC Birkfeld0:10:07
12Hans Becking (Ned) BETCH.nl-Superior-Brentjens mtb racing team0:10:35
13Rick Reimann (Swi) LENOVO-CUBE Bikes0:12:46
14Jaime Chia amaya (Col) Fulldynamix0:13:04
15Michael Mayer (Aut) Sport4me Racing Team ARBÖ0:14:36
16Damian Perrin (Swi) BMC-Zimmermann-New Work0:15:31
17Martin Splítek (Cze) CS Specialized HK0:19:26
18Silva Cristobal (Chi) Lapierre CS Coaching system Chile0:20:29
19Cory Wallace (Can) KONA Factory Team0:20:30
20Philipp Wetzelberger (Aut) Bike Total RC Friedberg-Pinggau0:20:42
21Matthias Grick (Aut) RAD.SPORT.SZENE Ausseerland Racing0:22:55
22Evgenii Pechenin (Rus) FORMAT-UDMURTIA0:27:06
23Philipp Gerber (Swi) iXS- Bixs Swiss Team0:29:24
24Jonathan Schottler (USA) Cannondale0:30:08
25Hansueli Stauffer (Swi) WHEELER-iXS Pro Team0:30:22
26Milan Damek (Cze) caffenannini.cz CyclingMTBteam0:30:35
27Jakob Hartmann (Ger) SC Rosenheim0:31:53
28Tim Dunford (GBr) Mountain Trax RT0:32:04
29Hing Chan Chun (HKg) HKG0:32:50
30Stijn Van Boxstael (Bel) Nodrugs Heroes0:34:04
31Mario Espinoza (Chi) CS Coaching0:34:27
32Stefan Richter (Ger) Raceteam Radleck Mering0:35:04
33Robert Kircher (Aut) Uni Team Sport4me0:36:05
34Sebastian Geimecke (Ger) Multisport Team Wein0:37:44
35Vladislav Maksimov (Rus) FORMAT-UDMURTIA0:39:59
36Oriol Domenech Fernandez (Spa) SCOTT TEAM XC0:45:13
37Thomas Edelsbrunner (Aut) GIANT Stattegg Edelsbrunner0:49:33
38Martin Edelsbrunner (Aut) GIANT Stattegg Edelsbrunner0:49:34
39Johannes Ernst (Aut) WSA Greenteam Kaindorf0:54:33
40Dmtrii Medvedev (Rus) Fulldynamix0:54:37
41Alexey Belokrylov (Rus) FORMAT-UDMURTIA0:57:59
42Marko Frzop (Cro) B.K.Biker1:06:50
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite women stage 1 and general classification after stage 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Yana Belomoina (Ukr) BETCH.nl-Superior-Brentjens mtb racing team3:32:07
2Milena Landtwing (Swi) Wheeler-IXS Pro Team0:06:43
3Janka Keseg Stevkova (Svk) Slovakia National team0:09:56
4Githa Michiels (Bel) TREK-KMC TRADE TEAM0:09:59
5Nadia Walker (Swi) Stöckli PRO Team0:23:58
6Anne Terpstra (Ned) BETCH.nl-Superior-Brentjens mtb racing team0:30:40
7Anna Konovalova (Rus) FORMAT-UDMURTIA0:34:47
8Ann-Katrin Hellstern (Ger) BQ Cycling Team0:43:23
9Petra Mermans (Bel) Vanomobil MTB Cycling Team0:49:35
10Andrea Kuster (Swi) Mountain Heroes0:50:23
11Tina Idström (Fin) Kona Team Inari-Saariselkä1:28:57
12Sofie Renier (Bel) Team Joven1:53:40
DNFLieven De Meutter (Bel) Bike-InnRow 12 - Cell 2

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