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Results and Reports for June 8-14, 2002

Austria

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Road GP Voralberg Kriterium Dornirn

2nd Silberreiher Trophy

Gols, June 8-9

Achermann concedes to Baloh after close 24 hour struggle

The second edition of the Silberreiher Trophy 24-hour race was held in Gols, Austria last weekend. The international field of 30 cyclists from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovenia included the current world record holder for 24 hour road races, Pius Achermann from Switzerland. The pre-race favorite was to face a tough opposition in last year's second and third place finishers Marko Baloh (Slovenia) and Reinhard Schroeder (Germany).

Since solo men were racing together with relay teams, the pace was very high from the beginning. Every lap a few of the solo riders were dropped. By the middle of the race, Achermann and Baloh were the only ones strong enough to sustain the high tempo of the relay teams. During the night there was heavy rain and by lap 14 (624km) the constant attacking of the teams was too much for the strongest two solo racers. Achermann and Baloh were dropped behind the fastest teams, slowing their pace considerably.

On what should have been Achermann and Baloh's last lap, the fastest three relay teams caught them. In the sprint for the line one of the relay team members beat Baloh and Achermann was unfortunate to fall in the last corner, 300m before the finish, though he still managed to cross the finish line before 24 hours were over. The rules say that a cyclist can finish a lap that is started before the clock stops but the time of that final lap shouldn't be more than 30 minutes longer than the time of the penultimate lap. If Achermann completed another lap and Baloh didn't, Achermann would be the victor.

Baloh jumped back on his bike and chased and caught Achermann. After a few kilometres ridden together, the world record holder congratulated Baloh on his race and a deserved victory. They turned back towards the finish and came through it with their hands joined together.

Results

                                    distance     time
1 Marko Baloh (Slo)                 892.0km      23.57.38
2 Pius Achermann (Swi)              892.0km      23.58.36
3 Reinhard Schroeder (Ger)          802.8km      23.57.44