Paez kicks off AlpenTour Trophy with victory

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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