Spitz wins first race after comeback from injury

Germans Sabine Spitz (Central Pro) and Moritz Milatz (Multivan Merida) took victories in the third round of the International Mountain Bike Bundesliga Series in Albstadt, Germany. Olympic champion Spitz won the sixth edition of the Gonso Albstadt MTB Classic ahead of teammate Lisi Osl and Annika Langvad HMTBK), while Milatz defeated two Swiss riders: Florian Vogel (Scott-Swisspower) and Lukas Flückiger (Trek World Racing).

A rainy day in the valleys of Swabian Alb didn't deter the crowds from coming out to cheer enthusiastically. For Spitz, the crowds helped her excel in the conditions.

"It's not my favourite course, and the rain didn't suit me, but the crowd was unbeatable," she said. Spitz also said she wasn't sure if she would have won had her teammate Osl had not had a mechanical issue.

In her third race after an eight-month break following undergoing a surgery, Spitz profited from a flat tire of her teammate, who had been with her at the front of the race. Osl lost one minute, but was able to work her way back to second, passing Langvad.

"Despite of the flat tire and after a hard training week, I think I made the best out of it," said Osl.

Langvad said she thought she was going to die when she tried to follow Osl, but she was satisfied with her race, which came during a period of training as she preps for the European championships in July.

In fact, most of the cross country riders are in the midst of a training block, including all the top riders in the men's race like winner Milatz, Vogel and Lukas Flückiger.

Milatz and Vogel dominated the men's race until the sixth of seven 5.1-km laps, which featured both long and steep climbs. Vogel started to fatigue, and Milatz saw weakness in his opponent and accelerated on the climb. As the crowd roared, Vogel lost contact with Milatz's wheel.

The German overcame chainsuck, which forced him to dismount and attend to his shifting on the final lap, to hang on for victory, one that seemed familiar.

"It was a kind of deja-vu for me because in 2006, when I became German national champion in Albstadt, the football world championship was going on, and it was the same feeling," Milatz said, referring to the football (soccer World Cup) happening in South Africa.

Vogel was on his third race of the week after doing city races in Prague and Lausanne earlier, confessed to being over his limit for a long time during the race.

"We worked together pretty well, but just before the last lap, I was getting tired. Moritz was stronger than me today."

Vogel's compatriot Flückiger came on strong near the end of the race. "In the beginning I was weak on the uphill and weak on the downhill, but the last two laps, I was suddenly flying," he said.

With the best time on the penultimate lap, Flückiger overtook Nicola Rohrbach (SRM-Stevens) and grabbed third. Rohrbach was a surprise in the race, spending much of it in third place. "I had no chance against Lukas, but I'm super happy as fourth. This year, I've started to profit from training at a higher level."

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