July 20/05 7:26 am - TransAlp Challenge: Stage 5

Posted by Editoress on 07/20/05
 

TransAlp Challenge

Stage 5  Report by Leslie Tomlinson (Rocky Mountain Business Objects)  Alison's quote for the day was that of all the things she's ever done racing, women's Tour de France, Mountain Bike World Cups and stage races.....this is the hardest. It is getting really hard now with so many hours in our legs. The organizer confessed it is maybe even a little TOO hard this year. Lucky US!  Alison and Dre continue to battle with the Baylis team but have started to lose more time to them. They have said they were suprised to have such a challenge and huge respect for the other teams.  Karl and Carsten have a good lead at 15 mins on second place. Gretchen and I are in second overall with a 12min gap, but there has been a strong challenge the past two days from Sandra Kloser's team.  Two days ago they did have to heli some riders, who were bringing up the rear, off the summit of the last climb as a thunderstorm came in and made it too dangerous to leave anyone up there.   Today was our Rest Day....I think. We only climbed 2800 metres (two small passes) for 95km in the Dolomiti, Italy .  The upside of all the climbing is the absolutely incredible vistas on top of these passes. Riding the crest of a pass with the Dolomites in the background made for some incredible photography.  Organization report  5th stage from Sexten to St. Vigil across 93.64 kilometres and 2.833 altitude metres

After 93.64 kilometres the riders of the adidas BIKE Transalp Challenge reached the finish of the fifth stage in St.Vigil. Hightlight of this day was an old military road, on which the bikers had to master the ascend to the "Plätzwiese". In former times a mountains massif was extra exploded to create this road.

The southamerican team Banano de Costa Rica, winners of third stage to Lienz, started aggressively on fifth day of adidas BIKE Transalp Challenge. With permanent attacks they tried to stretch the leader's group to the length. On second ascend to Kronplatz their plans came true. After another attack on second ascendthey had a lead of seven minutes in very short time and kept it right to the finish line. After 3.45.50 hours Ivan Amador und Federico Ramirez they finished race on first place. With second place today, Transalp leaders Carsten Bresser and Karl Platt kept their top position in overall ranking. Czeck Team Salomon finished fifth stage on podium for the first time of this year's Transalp Challenge.

In women's category Esther Süss and Anna Enocsson (Ghost Int. Racing Team) completed their perfect balance, finished stage after 4.34.27 hours and extended their lead to 1.36 hours compared to Rocky Mountain ladies Gretchen Reeves and Lesley Tomlinson, who finished fifth stage on third position. Today Team Zwillingscraft obtained their best result on this year's adidas BIKE Transalp Challenge. After 4.45.40 hours geman sister duo Sandra and Peggy Klose crossed finish line in St. Vigil on second place.

High pace during the race came towards the leaders in mixed category. In 4.17.35 hours team captain of Ghost Int. Racing Team, Jörg Scheiderbauer and his wife Anna Baylis-Scheiderbauer finished race on first place. Both were followed by Andreas Hestler and his temmate - specialist in cross country races - Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain Business Objects). In 4.32.18 hours Team Panaceo with Werner Schellander Marita Staufer came in third and defended their third place in overall ranking.

In masters category once again Hans Grasegger and Walter Platzgummer (Team KTM Generali). with the winners time of 4.01.57 hours. On second place Siegfried Hochenwarter and Ekkehard Dörschlag passed finish line in front of Ralf Fischer und Wolfgang Robra (Scott-Fusion), who climbed today to the podium for first time.

The course of tomorrow's stage to the Italian town of Alleghe in the Alps, has everything that a mountain biker desires. The sixth stage of the adidas BIKE Transalp Challenge 2005 is not just regarded as the scenic highlight of this year's crossing of the Alps, but also demands good skills on the mountain bike, especially on the trails around Alleghe.  Stage 5 Results