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Offenburg Marathon - E1
Offenburg, Germany, May 14, 2005
Big crowds enjoy wet weather
Offenburg's second "Worldclass-MTB-Challenge" marathon on Saturday saw more than 1200 riders, enjoying a wonderful courses in the Black Forest, passing some nice villages with crowds cheering all the athletes.
Offering four different distances (100, 77, 42, 27 km), the organisers got a lot of a positive comments about the event, even if rainy weather conditions perhaps prevented more riders taking part. The Worldclass-MTB-Challenge is organized by Joerg Scheiderbauer, an Austrian-German pro-rider and his girlfriend Anna Baylis, from Australia. Both are riding for Team Ghost International. Next weekend, they will get married.
Men
Three riders, Thomas Nicke (Ger), Martin Kraler (Aut) and Sandro Späth (Swi) reached the last 200 metres of the 100km distance (E1) together. Kraler and Späth missed getting the right gear when all three were riding onto the muddy grass. So Nicke took this opportunity to get a small gap and got the win, six seconds ahead of Kraler and seven in front of Späth. At km 75 they had lost the last companion, Alban Lakata (Aut), who finished fourth. Favourite Thomas Dietsch (Fra) had a flat tire early on and lost any chances of contesting the win.
"I didn't expect to win, so I'm very happy," said Nicke. "I had a little bit of luck because Martin and Sandro did not have the right gear when we reached the grass section."
Kraler was slightly disappointed, saying, "The finish zone was not that good, but I'm satisfied with second. My legs were not that good today."
Späth was even more disappointed: "The last ten kilometres I always waited for a climb to attack. But there was no climb. I should looked at the finish zone this morning."
Women
Marathon World Cup leader Esther Süss from the Ghost International Team was not able to follow her Swiss countrywoman Daniela Louis. She did a long solo ride, finishing with a 4'17 gap. Süss was suffering from a cold. Third was former European Champion Birgit Jüngst (Ger). With a strong finish, she caught Gaby Stanger (Ger) and put herself on the podium.
"The course is really nice, there are a lot of long climbs, where I am able to put on pressure," said Louis.
"I felt sick and sometimes I asked myself to give up," said Süss. "But there were a lot of friends waiting for me. They kept me in the race."
Jüngst said, "The first hour I was not able to follow the speed because I had a hard training program last week. But the closer I got to the end, the better I felt."
Results
Men licence 100km 1 Thomas Nicke (Ger) Görlitz Fusion 4.00.47.3 2 Martin Kraler (Aut) Raubling GIANT RACING TEAM 0.06.8 3 Sandro Späth (Swi) Muttenz Team Papival Craft BMC 0.07.6 4 Alban Lakata (Aut) Innsbruck Specialized Factory Racing 1.56.1 5 Gernot Stephinger (Ger) Schwanau Storck/ Herrenknecht 5.18.4 6 Roman Peter (Swi) Steg im Tösstal SRAM X.0-FELT 8.12.5 7 Pascal Cattin (Swi) Grenchen 8.16.4 8 Andy Strobel (Ger) 13.45.5 9 Nicolas Vermeulen (Bel) Lochristi carrosi-thompson 14.11.4 10 Richard Mc Cauley (Irl) Wicklow Bray Wheelers 15.10.9 11 Thomas Dietsch (Fra) Ingersheim Bianchi Agos International 17.34.7 12 Daniel Gathof (Ger) Vogt TEAM VAUDE Dämpfle/ Mathis 17.52.6 13 Henrik Scharf (Ger) Berlin 18.16.1 14 Christian Biffiger (Swi) Brig Thömus Racing-Team 18.38.4 15 Thomas Stoll (Swi) Osterfingen X.O-Felt 19.14.5 16 Andre Rudiger (Ger) St. Märgen Rothaus-Cube 19.14.6 17 Patrick Uhlig (Ger) Freiburg GHOST Racing Team 21.36.7 18 Roland Danner (Ger) Oberkirch CUBE Racing Zero5 22.44.4 19 Christian Naumann (Ger) Kaiserslautern Team Ralph Berner cc 24.11.9 20 Thomas Spichtig (Swi) Schaffhausen Stoeckli.ch 25.33.7 21 Benjamin Brockhagen (Ger) Marienheide Team Ghost 26.08.2 22 Anthony Mann (Ger) Beuren Team MayerArbeitsbühnen/UltraS 27.34.7 23 Bernd Jahrstorfer (Ger) Vaucherndorf 29.39.0 24 Thomas Lauterbach (Ger) Strullendorf Ghost-Racing-Team 31.47.9 25 Tobias Ullmann (Ger) Stephanskirchen RF Hilpoltstein 32.18.5 26 Benjamin Hirt (Ger) St. Märgen Rothaus-Cube 32.34.7 27 Benjamin Schmieg (Ger) Gomaringen Fuji Bikes Team / UCS Stuttgar 35.37.5 28 Christian Schneidawind (Ger) Zeil Rvc Trieb\TEAM TEXPA 36.54.2 29 Michael Kalivoda (Ger) Garmisch-Partenkirchen GHOST Racing Team 37.16.2 30 Joel Lussi (Swi) Brunnen Team Stoeckli 37.28.7 31 Dieter Hutt (Ger) Gernsbach RMSV 39.48.9 32 Achim Beckedahl (Ger) Saarbrücken Endorfin-Racing-Team 54.02.2 33 Niek Lingier (Bel) Oostende Beachbikers vzw 54.28.0 34 Björn Rondelez (Bel) Koekelare Beachbikers vzw 56.26.4 35 Jürgen Heuer (Ger) Grosserlach RSV Grossrlach 2001 56.33.4 36 Georg Voegele (Ger) Reutlingen Team Ankerbräu-schelbronn 1.01.15.3 37 Martin Krieg (Ger) Leinfelden-Echterdingen Megabike Stuttgart/ TB Neuffen 1.04.39.7 38 Patrick Engel (Ger) Tübingen CHS Racing Team 1.06.28.5 39 Joachim Oberföll (Ger) Lahr Bike & Radschopf Team Zunsweie 1.12.11.3 40 Jörg Beer (Ger) Diessen Ammersee Team Baier Corratec 1.13.08.0 41 Ehrenfried Seemann (Ger) Gundelfingen RSG Zollernalb 82 1.34.43.1 42 Jörg Metzger (Ger) Kaiserslautern RSC Felsenland 1.47.56.2 43 Holger Kühn (Ger) Düren IBC DIMB Racing Team 3.10.27.3 Women licence 100km 1 Daniela Louis (Swi) Nesslau 4.48.06.5 2 Esther Süss (Swi) Küttingen Ghost 4.16.6 3 Birgit Jüngst (Ger) Hatzfeld 13.49.0 4 Gabi Stanger (Ger) Dettingen team 13.55.8 5 Imke Kuhne (Ger) Windsbach Corratec World Team 19.56.2 6 Sabine Grona (Ger) Granau 20.43.6 7 Fabienne Heinzmann (Swi) Visperterminen 27.54.8 8 Jenny Mc Cauney (Irl) Co Wicklow 30.05.0 9 Rebecca Burbach (Ger) Tübingen Steinlach-Wiesaz 46.23.3 10 Birgit Demel (Ger) Schirmitz Ghost Racing Team / VC Corona 46.24.1 11 Emilia Sayranska (Pol) Szazin Bikebord 54.11.5
