Avancini and Wloszczowska win in Münsingen

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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.

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.

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