Buchli & Stoll clinch TransAlp title while Genze & Kugler victorious on final stage

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Lukas Buchli and Thomas Stoll won the men's category of the TransAlp even though the two BiXS iXS Pro Team riders lost nearly 12 seconds on the winners of the final stage.  Hannes Genze and Andreas Kugler (Multivan Merida Biking Team), the day's winners, finished in 2:33:10, but Buchli and Stoll took the overall with a 2:53 margin. Thomas Dietsch and Tim Boehme (Team Bulls 2) rounded out the overall podium in third after a fifth place finish on the final stage. Full Dynamixs and Vaude Simplon were third and fourth on the day.

Buchli and Stoll had to fight hard on the final kilometres of an exhausting week of racing. Their main contenders for the title didn't miss out on any chances.

"We went full speed up the climb and broke away quickly, but unfortunately I couldn't hold the pace throughout the whole ascent," said Multivan Merida racer Genze.

The two Swiss riders and winners, who had both painted their helmets yellow to match the leaders' jerseys, were more than happy. "They tried everything," said Buchli. "It was brutal. I'm so happy that it worked out. It's a fantastic feeling."

His teammate Stoll said, "We fought tooth and nail. I haven't realised yet that we really did it. I guess I have to calm down a little first."

Rothaus-Cube secures ladies' title

Milena Landtwing and Kristine Noorgard made it seven for seven and won the overall. The Rothaus-Cube duo crossed the finish line at Lake Garda after 3:11:27, about 12 minutes ahead of overall third-ranked team Fi´Zi:k Ti:m consisting of Susann Oehring and Katrin Neumann (3:23:06). Today's third Kerstin Brachtendorf and Danièle Troesch from Fiat Rotwild (3:26:10.7) placed second in the overall ladies' ranking.

Landtwing said after the race, "It is a different win but it's always nice to win. I always have to get used to riding with a new partner."

Teammate Kristine Noorgard could relate. The Danish rider, who had finished in 2008 as runner-up with her sister Anna-Sofie, said, "It's weird to not race with my sister. But a race is a race. And you want to win it for sure!"

Team KTM clinches four-peat in the master category

Ekkehard Doerschlag and Heinz Zoerweg secured their fourth consecutive Transalp title. Austria's Team KTM, which rolled across the finish line in third (2:46:13) thus claimed the title ahead of the day's stage winners from Scott-Adidas (2:46:07) Walter Platzgummer and Johann Grasegger as well as the day's runner-ups Silvano Janes and Stephan Unterthurner (Petrovilla Bergner Bau RTTR)

"Our consistency was the key to success this year. We rode in a steady pace and never had a weak day," Ekkehard Doerschlag said, pretty exhausted. "This victory is something very special as I never had to fight that much before. I never suffered that much."

Rocky Mountain wins mixed title

With a lead of 1.5 hours over the second-ranked mixed duo in the table, Rocky Mountain riders Alison Sydor and Daniel Gathof claimed their first joint title.

"It's a great feeling to ride in as champions. In order to make this happen we aimed for security today. We didn't take any risks and pedalled absolutely focused. We wanted to bring home this title," said Gathof after the final stage, which was won by Daniela Storch and Alexander Stark (Scott Genius-Generation). The two German young guns, who celebrated their first Transalp stage win, also jumped on the overall podium as third, right behind Margrit Joerg and Roland Abaecherli (Giant-Swiss). Joerg and Abaecherli finished third for the day.

Senior Masters defend their title

Ferdinand Ganser and Georg Niggl defended their overall title by winning all the stages.

Per Kristian Greve and Bjarne Lien (Team Replica) followed in second, and Ueli Schuermann and Hanspeter Hunziker (Long Time Bikers V-Sport.ch) were third.

"This year's title was definitely harder to achieve although the competition was not as strong as in 2008," said Niggl. "But the 2008 title is the more precious one as it was the first time ever we won at the TransAlp."

The final stage wasn't easy. "On the downhill from Passo San Giovanni, my quick release opened, and I lost my back wheel. Luckily we gained so much lead already throughout the whole week that we were relaxed enough to fix the problem. If it had been closer, I bet we would have been frantic," said Ganser.

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