Jeantex Bike Transalp 2008
Team Bull to Defend the Transalp Title
17.07.2008
On Saturday, July 19th, 2008, the starting gun for the eleventh JEANTEX BIKE TRANSALP powered by NISSAN will be fired off in Fuessen, Kemptenerstraße corner of Gluecksstraße. In eight days, 550 teams of two including pros as well as amateurs have to pedal hard in order to conquer the 665.40 kilometres and 21,691 metres of elevation gain across the Alps. On their way to the traditional finish in Riva del Garda (July 26th) the participants of the world’s toughest mountain bike stage race will stop also in Austria and Switzerland.
Among the starters are the defending champions. At the anniversary race in 2007, Germany’s Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm took home the victory in an impressive way. For this year’s thrashing across the Alps there can only be one mission for Team Bulls: to keep hold on the title. “When I show up at the Transalp there is only one goal for me! I want to win the race� underlines Karl Platt.
But the entry list, which is a colourful mix of 46 nations, includes some well-known top guns who might be able to play a major role in the battle for victory. Besides Austria’s Martin Kraler and Heinz Verbnjak from Craft & Friends, the Fiat-Rotwild pairing of Silvio Wieltschnig (AUT)and Thomas Nicke (GER)are among the favourites, as are Vaude-Simplon 1 consisting of Germany’s Andreas Strobel and Markus Kaufmann. In addition, one should have last year’s third placed pair, Alexander Pscheidl and Christian Schneidawind from the German Team Texpa-Simplon as well as their fellow countrymen Carsten Bresser and Daniel Gathof from Rocky Mountain on the list.
But most of the 1,100 starters, who are 16 to 70 years old, have only one major goal; making it to Lake Garda. On their way from Fuessen to Riva del Garda, the Transalp circus stops in Imst, Ischgl (both AUT), Scuol (SUI) and the Italian stage towns Livigno, Kaltern, Naturns and Andalo. The route also leads them across 20 passes including the roof of the tour, the Bocchetta di Forcola (2,769 m) and its climb of 700 metres.
Four-time Transalp champion Karl Platt who will enter the race in 2008 for the eighth time, has some good advice for all amateurs and newbies of this mountain bike classic: “I guess that everyone should simply enjoy the Transalp. It’s a very long race so everyone should not go at full speed within the first days.�
Hopefully the visitors from Australia, Brazil, Columbia, Libya, Costa Rica, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Singapore and the USA will listen to him when the starting signal is fired on Saturday at 10 AM and the Transalp gets under way to the sound of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell�.See All Event Posts
