Litscher wins stage 3, Sauser remains in men's GC lead

Image 1 of 9

Men

Stage three of Trans Germany, covering 59km from Lermoos, Austria, to Seefeld, Austria, ended in a nine-man sprint with Thomas Litscher (Felt Ötztal X-Bionic) claiming his first ever stage win. Matthias Bettinger (Team Centuiron Vaude) finished second, followed by race leader Christoph Sauser (Specialized) in third.

Sauser will wear the leader's jersey into Saturday's final stage as his rivals failed to put any time into the reigning marathon world champion. David George (Nedbank Team 360Life), ninth on today's stage, remains in second overall at 2:02 while Thomas Dietsch (Team Bulls), 11th today, holds steady in third overall 3:46 behind Sauser.

"I'm very glad that it all worked out today and that I was able to benefit from my sprint qualities," said Litscher, the current U23 cross country world champion. "I definitely felt yesterday's attack in my legs and was suffering big time on the climbs. Fortunately I was with a fast group with which I did work well together. In the end, we finally got back to the front in the descent to the Gaistal."

David George went out on the attack on the highest ascent of Trans Germany, the climb of Ehrwalder Alm to Gaistal, but Sauser remained confident that he'd retain his leader's jersey and get one step closer to winning overall for the third straight year.

"Actually, that attack was not a real thread to my lead," said Sauser. "There was a lot of headwind in the long flat of the Gaistal. In addition, I was with the Vaude guys and knew that they were totally going for it.

"Tomorrow will bring an additional 75km, it's a long way and many things can happen. However, I won't take it easy or just wait and see. That's not me, not at all."

Women

Elisabeth Brandau (notebooksbilliger.de) won her second straight stage, finishing 1:07 ahead of teammate Silke Schmidt and 3:19 up on overall leader Milena Landtwing (Team Centuiron Vaude). Despite losing some time to her closest rivals, Landtwing remains atop general classification with one stage remaining. Landtwing leads Brandau by 4:51 and Schmidt by 7:57.

Despite taking time out of Landtwing for two straight days, Brandau doesn't believe she'll be able to wrest the leader's jersey from Landtwing on Saturday.

"I can't imagine that there will be a chance for it," said Brandau. "I guess that we will ride in a group, which would make it almost impossible to make up some time."

Masters 40+

Andreas Laner (Team Scott) claimed back-to back wins with a sprint victory over Andreas Strobel (Team Centuiron Vaude), the masters 40+ race leader.

Strobel was able to extend his general classification lead on Carsten Bresser (Craft-Rocky Mountain), who finished fourth on the day at 2:19, just behind Heinz Zoerweg (Factory Cube).

Strobel in now 4:45 ahead of Bresser in the battle for the leader's jersey with only one more stage to come, leading straight into Strobel's home town.

Masters 50+

Denmark's Henrik Cohen (Team Geels) won his first ever Trans Germany stage while overall leader Walter Perkmann (Craft And Friends) followed in second place at 2:43. Perkmann holds a commanding 11:30 lead over Cohen on general classification with one stage remaining. Werner Höpperger (Tiroler Zugspitz Arena) is third overall at 18:17.