TOUR Transalp
Nothegger/Obwaller Celebrate First TOUR Transalp Stage Win
Press Release / 27.06.2017
Mathias Nothegger and Hans Peter Obwaller of www.nom-training.com have celebrated their first stage win at the 15th TOUR Transalp. The two athletes competing in the masters category finished the third stage of the one-week classic from Naturns to Bormio (97.80 km, 3,025 metres of climbing) in 3:41.34,7 edging off overall leaders from Belgium, Frederic Glorieux and Bob Michels, with a gap of 16 seconds to the runner-up position (3:41.50,7). However, Team Prostyle-Grinta! was still able to defend its overall lead.
Before, the top duos of this year's Transalp edition successfully fought off the attacks of their competitors.
Just outside of Naturns, it was Team corratec 1 consisting of Stefan Oettl (GER) and Bart Bury (BEL) upping the tempo. “We want to be in the top-3 overall. That's why we tried to shake off www.nom-training.com and Team Imst Tourismus 2”, explained Bury who – together with Oettl – finished as third fastest duo and second best masters team in the end.
However, only a few racers were able to hold the pace which was set with the result that a small leading group arrived together on the top of the Vinschgau High Alpine Road which served as first col of the day. Nevertheless, later on triumphing athlete Obwaller had to admit that “I was thinking that if they keep up this tempo, I will never make it to the finish.”
But after a rainy descent to Schluderns, things turned to his favour when the cyclists entered the long and tough climb to Stelvio Pass, Italy's highest saddle. “Things were running pretty smoothly right from the start. I was able to pick up pace in all 50 turns,” he said with a chuckle while also earning the respect of his rivals in the battle for the 2017 TOUR Transalp title.
“Hans Peter is crazy. He was super strong in the climbs today. We really had to fight to keep up with him. Both were working a lot today and have definitely deserved to win this stage,” lauded Bob Michels who – together with Frederic Glorieux – has still a tiny advantage of only 5,1 second over the experienced athletes from Austria.
Coming in with a gap of more than five minutes, Thomas Gschnitzer (AUT) and Daniel Pechtl (ITA) of Team Imst Tourism 2 secured the second rank in the men's category (3:47.29,2) while Belgians Tim de Vos and Daan Vermeulen of Team il Volpe & Vermeulen #GFTbe rounded out the podium as third (3:53.08,2). Both duos also sit in a respective second and third position of the men's overall standings.
Category Leaders Stay in Front
In the grand masters classification, Bernd Hoetz and Erwin Hickl riding for Team corratec 3 were aiming for a preliminary decision right from the start.
“Our goal was to extend our lead over our pursuers. We were able to break away in the ascent to the High Alpine Road but they were coming back in the descent again. In the climb to Stelvio Pass it was us again having the strongest legs and best rhythm,” explained Hickl in the finish which the Germans reached as fastest of the Over 100 classifier in 3:56.39,3.
In the women's category, Italians Letizia Grottoli and Marcellina Dossi of Team montura garda trentino secured a stage win three-peat in 4:47.55,1 while Austrian couple Daniela Pintarelli and Andreas Traxl of Team MooserWirt – traxlradsport.at did so in the mixed category (4:03.08,0).
Wedded pair Janine and Michael Meyer of LeXXi SmartSuits powered by Tune came in second (4:07.44,3) with Dutch racers Yvonne Van Hattum and Jasper Carpaij of Dubai Dutchies rounding out the podium as third (4:15.18,6).
“We had a good day,” said Van Hattum. “It's hard but nice that you don't have to master the race all by yourself. It's great that you can motivate each other which helps a lot on stages like the one today.”
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