German National Championships - CNHeppenheim, Germany, June 24-25, 2000
Schedule
PreviewThis year's German National Championships will be held in Heppenheim on a 14.8 kilometre hilly circuit near the Odenwald forest. The winner of the Elite race on Sunday will have to earn it, as each lap involves several steep climbs approaching 20%. 14 laps, plus a finishing circuit of 1.5 kilometres add up to 208.7 kilometres for the race, and it is expected that only a fraction of the field will finish. Although Telekom will start as favourites, with several riders capable of performing well on the course, the other German teams have their chance as well. Veteran Jens Zemke (Nürnberger) is one of these, as he excels on climbs. He has trained on and assessed the course, believing it to be very selective due to the tough ascents. In his opinion, less than 30 will finish - but he hopes to be among the top 5. He will be without teammate Dirk Baldinger though, who is still recovering from injury. Reports say that he is training but not ready for competition until the end of July. Other candidates for the titles include Gerolsteiner, with Olaf Pollack, Michael Rich and Tobias Steinhauser their top riders. Hohenfelder-Concorde might be in with a shot, although Corey Sweet, Peter Rogers and Nick Gates are not eligible to win the German Championship! Day 1 - June 24: Elite women's road race, 103 kmReportHanka Kupfernagel destroyed the field in the women's race by over 8 minutes. The hilly course suited her down to the ground, and she finished with over 10 minutes to the top sprinters, Rossner, Teutenberg and Arndt and Hohlfeld. In second was Nürnberger's Kerstin Scheitle leading a small group containing Tanja Hennes (3rd), Trixi Worrack (4th), Regina Marunde (5th) and Simone Klewitz (6th). Rossner won the sprint out of the next group for 7th. Results1. Hanka Kupfernagel (Radteam Kupfernagel) 3.01.24 (34.07 km/h) 2. Kerstin Scheitle (Equipe Nürnberger) 8.05 3. Tanja Hennes (TV Attendorn 1900) 4. Trixi Worrack (RK Endspurt 09 Cottbus) * 5. Regina Marunde (RC Charlottenburg eV) 6. Simone Klewitz (RSC Komet Ludwigsburg) * 7. Petra Rossner (Saturn) 10.10 8. Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (VfR Büttgen 1912) 9. Susanne Lange (RV Vorw. Anspach) 10. Judith Arndt (Frankfurter RC '90 eV) 11. Vera Hohlfeld (Equipe Nürnberger) 12. Anne-Kathrin Weiße (HAU) 13. Birgit Söllner (Equipe Nürnberger) 14. Bettina Schöke (LG Stuttgart eV) 10.34 15. Anke Wichmann (RSC Cottbus eV) 15.42 16. Mandy Hampel (1. RSV 1886 Greiz eV) 17. Angela Brodtka (RSC Cottbus eV) * 18. Doreen Weise (SV Lokomotive Guben eV) * 19. Sandra Mißbach (Radteam Kupfernagel) 15.47 20. Katrin Helmcke (Harvestehuder RSV 'v. 1909 eV) 18.28 21. Anna-Sophia Czilwik (RSG Badenia Freiburg eV) 22.25 22. Barbara Fiedler (MBC Unit 'Bochum eV) 23. Katharina Michalk (SC DHfK Leipzig eV) * 24. Sabine Dopleb (RSC Waltershausen-Gotha eV) 25. Chanttalle Gehrig (RV Conc. 1926 eV Karbach) * 26. Clarissa Breuer (Equipe Nürnberger) 24.13 27. Anja Ritter (1. RV Stuttgardia Stuttgart 1886 eV) 26.21 28. Kathrin Reichenberger (RSG Olympiapark München eV) 29. Inga Hoffmann (RSV 1885/91 Marburg) 28.12 30. Johanna Stephan (TSG Münsingen) 29.39 31. Leonie Toffel (SHO) * 32. Claudia Dienemann (RSC Niddatal eV) 39.19 33. Heike Frei (TB Neuffen) * 34. Andrea Hannemann (RSV Wittekind Herford) 35. Bettina Mariscal (VC Frankfurt 1883 eV) 44.19 * U21 Day 2 - June 24: Elite men's road race, 14 laps, 208.7 kmTelekom unstoppableIt was a question of 'which Telekom rider should win?' in the German road championships in Heppingen on Sunday, and the answer was Rolf Aldag. Although favourite Steffen Wesemann was with him until near the end, Aldag had more to gain as he won't be riding the Tour. He was hungry, and attacked Wesemann (or was it pre-planned?) with 1.5 kilometres to go to win the title. The horizontal striped black, red and yellow champions jersey is one that won't be seen in Futuroscope next weekend. Telekom made sure of themselves, placing last year's champion Udo Bölts in third, and Jan Ullrich fourth, while the first 'outsider' was Manheim-Mercury's Jan Bratowski, who managed fifth in a small chase group some five minutes behind the winners. The Mercury man at least prevented a Telekom clean sweep of the top five, as Jens Heppner finished at the back of his group. The course was one of the toughest of all the European championships, with two 18 percent climbs on each of the 14 laps. On lap 5, a serious attack went with Bölts, Bratowski, and Klöden, the three gaining a minute on the field. However, this didn't satisfy Telekom, and by halfway (lap 7), Ullrich and Heppner bridged, taking Sven Teutenberg (Gerolsteiner) with them. The six strong lead group gained two minutes on the field, and it looked as though that was the race. However, on lap nine, Aldag found his legs and jumped away solo. It took him a lap to gain the leaders, and he finally got them on lap 10. Nürnberger's Raphael Schweda almost managed it as well, with Steffen Wesemann and Kai Hundertmarck. With 60 kilometres to go, there were 11 riders in front. Then, the stronger Telekom riders (Ullrich, Wesemann and Bölts) attacked once more, leaving the rest grovelling on the climbs. Aldag had to bridge again, and Ullrich dropped back to help him. With two laps to go, the four had the best part of two minutes, and on the last lap Aldag attacked with Steffen Wesemann. Finally, with 1.5 kilometres to go, he opened up a lead on Wesemann to take the solo victory. Results1 Rolf Aldag (Team Deutsche Telekom) 5.22.45 (38.80 km/h) 2 Steffen Wesemann (Team Deutsche Telekom) 0.08 3 Udo Bölts (Team Deutsche Telekom) 1.09 4 Jan Ullrich (Team Deutsche Telekom) 1.10 5 Jan Bratkowski (Manheim Auctions-Mercury) 4.57 6 Torsten Schmidt (Team Gerolsteiner) 7 Jens Heppner (Team Deutsche Telekom) 5.00 8 Rafael Schweda (Team Nürnberger) 5.28 9 Sven Teutenberg (Team Gerolsteiner) 7.22 10 Erik Zabel (Team Deutsche Telekom) 7.27 11 Bert Dietz (Team Nürnberger) 12 Klaus Mutschler (Team Coast) 13 Björn Glasner (Team Cologne) 14 Jörg Jaksche (Team Deutsche Telekom) 15 Christian Van Dartel (Hohenfelder-Concorde) 16 Bert Grabsch (Team Cologne) 17 Stephan Gottschling (Post Swiss Team) 18 Grischa Jan Niermann (Rabobank) 19 Holger Sievers (Team Nürnberger) 20 Jens Zemke (Team Nürnberger) 8.34 21 Andreas Klier (Farm Frites) 22 Timo Scholz (Bunte Berte-Leipzig) 17.26 23 Dirk Ronellenfitsch (Farm Frites) Starters: 91 Finishers: 23
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