Sauser wins third straight Trans Germany

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Three-peat for Sauser

2004 marathon world champion Massimo De Bertolis (Team Autopolar Volvo Cannondale) prevailed in the final Trans Germany stage while current marathon world champion Christoph Sauser (Specialized) won overall at Trans Germany for the third straight year.

De Bertolis finished seven seconds ahead of yesterday's stage winner, U23 cross country world champion, Thomas Litscher, while Daniel Geismayr (Team Centuiron Vaude) rounded out the top three at 1:35.

De Bertolis and Litscher had outpaced the field after the second downhill and rode in front for some 60 kilometres, at one point enjoying a four-minute lead on their nearest pursuers.

"I'm very happy about my first ever Trans Germany stage win," said De Bertolis. "I'm glad that I was able to finally ride without any stomach problems."

Sauser, who finished the final stage in 11th place, conceded one minute to his closest general classification rival David George (Nedbank Team 360Life) and was pleased to win for the third consecutive year at Trans Germany.

"It feels great to bring home the third title, which I aimed for," said Sauser. "I did a cross country race before I came to this event and wasn't as fresh as I should have been. A real burden got lifted from my shoulders today, however. It's been long and hard four days."

The final stage proved particularly difficult for Sauser as he was affected by the pouring rain and underestimated the last climb to Hausberg.

"I never knew if I should put my glasses on or not," said Sauser. "Then, I didn't know that we would take a new route into Garmisch. I thought that we had reached the peak of the last mountain after one third of the ascent but then there were still some meters to climb, which for me never came to an end. On the final descent I didn't risk anything."

Landtwing brings home first women's title

Just like the elite men's winner, the strongest woman also came from Switzerland. Milena Landtwing celebrated one of her career's best results with her victory in Trans Germany that ended a streak of back-to-back third place Trans Germany finishes.

"It is unbelievable. It was a very hard piece of work," said Landtwing, the Swiss champion. "It's a very big success for me. I didn't really expect to defend the leader's jersey over the course of three days."

The final stage was won by Silke Schmidt who finished 1:27 ahead of her notebooksbilliger.de teammate Elisabeth Brandau. Landtwing rounded out the top three to seal overall victory.

Strobel claims masters 40+ title in hometown

Andreas Strobel wrapped up his Trans Germany participation with a true victory lap. Strobel not only won the last stage in his hometown, but also the overall title in the masters 40+ category.

Carsten Bresser (Craft - Rocky Mountain Team) finished in second place, 1:05 behind Strobel, and also secured second place on general classification. Andreas Laner (Team Scott) rounded out the stage podium in third place.

Heinz Zörweg (Team Factory Cube), seventh on the final stage, finished in third place overall behind Strobel and Bresser.

Perkmann best in masters 50+

Walter Perkmann (Craft and Friends) sealed overall victory with his third stage win in four days. Denmark's Henrik Cohen (Team Geels) finished second on the day at 3:15 to secure second place overall, followed by Ewald Wacker (Soq.De-Coldblack) at 4:53. The stage's fourth place finisher Werner Höpperger (Tiroler Zugspitz Arena), who crossed the line six seconds behind Wacker, finished third overall on the final general classification.