Maja Wloszczowska wins the elite women's race(Image credit: Thomas Weschta)
Henrique Avancini holds off a charging Jose Antonio Hermida in Muensingen(Image credit: Multivan Merida Mountain Bike Team)
Julie Bresset is tended by medics after crashing and breaking her collarbone in Germany(Image credit: Henrik Millennium, Kirchzarten, Germany)
Henrique Avancini leads Jose Hermida in Muensingen(Image credit: Henrik Millennium, Kirchzarten, Germany)
Maja Wloszczowska leads(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Maja Wloszczowska in the lead(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Maja Wloszczowska wins in Muensingen(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini set a fast pace at the Muensingen round of the Bundesliga series on Sunday.(Image credit: Henrik Millennium, Kirchzarten, Germany)
The elite men all lined up(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini leads the race(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini in front of Jose Hermida(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini leads Jose Hermida and Rudi van Houts(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini in the front(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini after his surprise win(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini wins the elite men's race in Muensingen(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
The elite men are off(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
The elite men's start in Muensingen(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Jolanda Neff leads Maja Wloszczowska(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
The elite women push the pace up an early hill(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
The elite women start in Muensingen(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
The elite women are off(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
The elite women's cross country start(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Maja Wloszczowska sets the pace(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini on a downhill(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini flies past spectators(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Women's eliminator podium in Muesingen(Image credit: Armin Küstenbrück)
Men's eliminator podium in Muesingen(Image credit: Armin Küstenbrück)
Thomas Litscher wins the eliminator(Image credit: Armin Küstenbrück)
Thomas Litscher wins the eliminator(Image credit: Armin Küstenbrück)
Henrique Avancini leads Jose Hermida(Image credit: Thomas Weschta)
The elite men's cross country podium in Muesingen(Image credit: Thomas Weschta)
The elite women's cross country podium in Muesingen.(Image credit: Thomas Weschta)
Henrique Avancini sets a blistering pace(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Thomas Litscher wins the eliminator race(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Eliminator World Champ Alexandra Engen at the start of the eliminator finals , which she would win(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
The start of the elite women's eliminator finals(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
The start of the elite men's race(Image credit: Erhard Goller)
Alexandra Engen, Julie Bresset, Vera Andreeva and Jolanda Neff(Image credit: Thomas Weschta)
Elite men's podium at the Bundesliga round in Muensingen(Image credit: Multivan Merida Mountain Bike Team)
Jose Hermida pushes the pace(Image credit: Multivan Merida Mountain Bike Team)
Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida)(Image credit: Multivan Merida Mountain Bike Team)
Adelheid Morath (Sabine Spitz Haibike) in Muensingen(Image credit: Marius Maasewerd)
Henrique Avancini won the 27th edition of MTB-Frühjahrsklassiker in Münsingen, Germany. The Brazilian took the title just ahead of José Hermida and Rudi van Houts. In the women's race, Maja Wloszczowska won her first important race since her injury in 2012. Adelheid Morath and Alexandra Engen completed the women's podium.
Men
Absolutely nobody expected Henrique Avancini to be the winner of the spring mountain bike classic in Münsingen. Not even when the 24-year-old Brazilian was leading the Multivan-Merida duo of Hermida and Van Houts into the third lap.
Van Houts and Hermida themselves were wondering about this young guy. "I even didn't know the name of this guy, but he was pushing all the way," said Hermida.
Avancini set the pace and when it came into the last lap, the Merida duo tried to apply team tactics. "Rudi sacrificed for me, but unfortunately I slipped out of my pedal," said Hermida of a decisive moment in the race.
Avancini realized Hermida's mistake and went "full gas". In the final 1.5km, he got five seconds. Hermida was able to catch him, but on the narrow track towards the finish line, he was not more able to pass him.
"It's unbelievable. When I was in front with these world class riders, I forgot all my pain," an emotional Avancini said of the "biggest win in my career". He was the most surprising winner of the race in its 27-year history.
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Twelve seconds later, last year's winner van Houts took third spot on the podium, while Fabian Giger (Giant Pro XC) from Switzerland was fourth and Maxime Marotte (BH Suntour-KMC) from France took fifth.
Women
After the first lap, U23 world champion Jolanda Neff and her Giant teammate Maja Wloszczowska were leading the race. But one important figure was missing. Ten minutes later, the word was out that Olympic champion had a bad crash, less than one minute after the start on a fast, paved part of the course.
Four women were involved, but only Bresset had to abandon. In the hospital after the race, doctors found no broken bones; however, further examination once back home in France proved that Bresset had broken her collarbone..
Meanwhile, Wloszczowska was on the way to her goal, winning and earning world ranking points, after a nine-month break due to injury. Neff couldn't hold her speed, so the Polish woman was solo in front, chased first by the Alexandra Engen and Adelheid Morath and then by Morath alone. The gap fluctuated between 10 and 20 seconds; sometimes Morath was very close.
"Adelheid was the strongest on the uphill, but I could make time in the technical parts. That's what I am very proud about, because after my injury I was nervous about that," Wloszczowska said.
Morath was a bit nervous about wearing plate number one, after winning Bundesliga opener at Bad Säckingen. "It was the first time for me, and I was not completely concentrated on the downhills. It was a super race for me," she said.
Engen showed herself "happy" about second for the time third in the Bundesliga. "It was a cool race, and I had a lot of fun in front of the spectators."
Irina Kalentieva (Topeak-Ergon) was able to overtake Neff in the penultimate lap and finished fourth.
Engen and Litscher captured eliminator titles
Eliminator world champion Alexandra Engen won the eliminator race in Münsingen for the fifth time in a row. Engen was dominant. In the final, she even was able to compensate for a not-so-good start. In a brilliant manner, she passed Nadine Rieder to win the first Bundesliga sprint of 2013.
"It's a very good training for the sprint season at the world cups," said Engen.
Thomas Litscher took the win in men's field. In all heats, he had problems with the start, but the longer the heats went on, the stronger Litscher became. "I have still some problems at the start, but the length suits me. It's nice to have a win in the eliminator," Litscher said.
The swiss Eliminator champion beated the German champion in this discipline, Simon Gegenheimer, and U23 rider Martin Gluth.
