Litscher wins short race in Saalhausen

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Thomas Litscher (Felt-Ötztal-X-Bionic) won the short race of the International MTB Bundesliga in Saalhausen on Saturday. The Swiss rider finished ahead of Sweden's Emil Lindgren (Rabobank-Giant) and Dutchman Marco Minnaard (Rabobank-Giant). Swede Alexandra Engen was the fastest of a small women's field.

From the start, Litscher rode well as he marched through the six 400-meter rounds. Heiko Gutmann (Rothaus Poison-Bikes) tried to follow him, but he felt the fatigue of his earlier rounds.

"I wanted a little practice before the sprint at the Dalby World Cup," said Litscher. "When you go to the front, you have no dust in the lungs from the man in front."

Lindgren was second place at four seconds. The Swede has fought his way to that place from behind. "Thomas was too quick from the beginning, but in the end, I was probably just as fast," said Lindgren. "I'm happy, but last year, I was second, too. I like this position."

Minnaard had a strong last round, when he was able to pass three competitors. "In the beginning, I felt tired. I was surprised because I could 'do so well'," said Minnaard.

Markus Bauer (Lexware) powered to fourth in front of Markus Schulte-Lünzum (Focus-MiG) and Jochen Kaess (Multivan-Merida), who complained that he had been mistakenly placed in the second row and therefore had a clear disadvantage.

The men's short race was held with two semi-finals, in which each of the top 15 qualified for the final.

In the women's short race, Alexandra Engen had a similar experience to that of Litscher. She went to the front right from the start. Behind the Swede, who had won the Münsingen sprint race, 'cross specialist Sabrina Swier (Focus-MiG) took the sprint for second place narrowly ahead of Elisabeth Sveum (Merida Smart Safety).

There were only eight women at the start.

(Report translated from mtb.rad-net.de).

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