Sauser aims for four-peat at Bike Four Peaks

The Bike Four Peaks, formerly known as the Trans Germany, gets under way on Wednesday with 900 racers from 35 countries.

After some stressful days due to heavy rainfall in the southern part of Germany, the race is going ahead as planned although their may be some minor changes in the route due to the extreme weather conditions.

In total, during four days, racers will cover 295.5km and 8,887m of climbing in Austria and Germany.

Christoph Sauser (Specialized) is returning to the race where he will be going for his fourth consecutive victory, having won the previous three Trans Germany editions.

Besides reigning German Marathon Champion Markus Kaufmann and his teammate from Centurion Vaude, Jochen Kaess, Karl Platt and Tim Boehme (both Team Bulls) are others among the favorites for the win.

In addition, Alban Lakata (Topeak Ergon Racing), who has several Austrian Championships to his record, is looking for a top result in the race which mainly takes place in his home country.

Swiss Urs Huber (Team Bulls) as well as Thomas Stoll and Lukas Buchli (both BiXS-iXS Pro Team) are others to watch along with Germany's Torsten Marx and Matthias Leisling (Black Tusk Racing toMotion) after they already secured their spots on the world championship team.

Most of the racers come from Germany (413). Austrian (90), Dutch (89), Danish (70) and Swiss (54) riders are also high in number. Athletes from New Zealand, Trinidad & Tobago, Belarus, Latvia, Brazil, the US and Kazakhstan create some international flair.

The most racers, some 350 each, are Masters Men 40+. 140 Masters Men 50+ will start while 60 women will take to the line.