Swedish Leaders Drop Out Due to Injury & Salomon Germany Move Into Lead

News Release / 03.09.2014

Awe-inspiring athleticism, high drama, sensational singletrack at and above treeline – that just about sums up the 4th of eight stages in the 2014 GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE RUN. The 530 racers that remain in the official competition had to head well above treeline twice on today's course. A fresh dusting of snow greeted runners on White Wall Pass early in the morning, whereas the stage's second ascent offered up views of nearby glaciers on all points of the compass.

As fate would have it, leading Swedish Team PEAK PERFORMANCE of Johan Johansson und André Jonsson was forced to drop out after the latter incurred an injury on today's technical singletrack. Team SALOMON GERMANY which had trailed the leaders most closely, moved into pole position, ultimately claiming stage victory - the first race day in the Italian Alps. Stephan Hugenschmidt and Mirco Berner of Germany ran the 31.5 km distance between Prettau and Campo Tures, Italy, in just 3:11:41 hours with a distinct lead of 2:55 minutes over Team LA SPORTIVA – MULTIPOWER of Spaniards Alfredo Gil and David Castan Lopez. Daniel Jung and Ivan Paulmichl of Team LATSCH-MOUNTAIN HEROES enjoyed the limelight of arriving on home turf in third place after 3:37:49 hours on the trail.

Stephan Hugenschmidt was overjoyed to have won a second stage upon arrival in Campo Tures on Tuesday. “It was a dream stage today. We decided to throttle it on the steep ascent to the Mayerhoferalm and squeezed the lemon for all it was worth. I was almost in a trance”. The 28-year-old' athlete's enthusiasm and relentless charges pulled along teammate Mirco Berner who added ”we gave all we had today. Finally we're off!”. While the two Germans were euphoric, the Swedish leaders faced agony and, ultimately, frustration.

Johansson and Jonsson had begun the stage en par with the top teams in the race but when the others managed to pull away shortly after the second food stop it was all too obvious that something was not going to plan for Team PEAK PERFORMANCE. A medical check-up at the third food station confirmed that Jonsson had torn a calf muscle which ended what had seemed a sure-bet podium position for the Swedes on the 10th Anniversary of the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE RUN.

While Jonsson will be forced to sit still for at least three weeks, his mate Johan Johansson will continue in the race as an individual competitor albeit outside of the official ranking. Both athletes already plan on coming back in 2015 to attend to what would seem to be unfinished business.

The day held a few more surprises, but none that would upset the order among the top brass the way it did in the Men's category. French racers Pascal Giguet and David Pasquio (SCOTT GORE-TEX® FOOTWEAR TEAM) notched their race belts with a fourth consecutive stage victory. Their time of 3:46:17 hours padded their extensive overall lead even more. Still, Austrians Armin Weißenböck-Meerkatz and Martin Hörmann had given them a run for the money racing across the finish line barely a minute after the leaders (3:47:32) for a much-deserved second place today. Italians Eugen Innerkofler and Ivano Molin of Team DOLOMITI SUPERBIKE completed the day's podium lineup with a time of 3:52:37 hours on what had been 31.5 km of mostly mountain trails.

While the Master Men already ran formidable times, the Senior Masters were hardly slacking off either. Local heroes Peter-Paul Steinhauser and Michael Steger thought it a matter of pride to win today's stage. Their time of 3:58:05 hours was also good enough for claiming overall lead in their category which they inherit from fellow countrymen Rudi Schöpf and Alfred Psenner (TEAM LATSCH SKINFIT BOZEN). Schöpf suffered bruised ribs after taking a spill on today's technical trails – ill luck that clearly can befall the best of them. Despite this mishap Team LATSCH SKINFIT BOZEN didn't grant the new leaders more than a 12 second lead on today's high alpine stage. The imagination of Italian Team Sexten 2 also must have been fired by the prospect of their home-coming. Alois Untersteiner and Franz Kröss were overjoyed to be met with thunderous applause for running to third place that close to home. 

The fourth stage also seemed to work in favor of the common suspects in the Women category. Italians Tamara Lunger and Annemarie Gross felt obliged to claim victory on the first race day in their home country (4:39:42 hours). Their fast pace on the trail allowed them almost a full day of recuperation before Wednesday's scheduled sprint race – a luxury only a few handful of teams would get to enjoy. Carmen Otto and Anne Gerlach (SAUERLAND GORE-TEX Team 1) surprised everyone with a finish in second place. After suffering minor injuries on

Day One the team had had to scale it down for the interim stages. Their speedy comeback on Tuesday clearly demonstrates that they are back in the game. Cati Llado and Angie Rigo Bibiloni of Team SA MILANA – ALARO were relegated to third place by the Germans whom they ended up trailing by roughly ten minutes at the finish line.

The fastest Mixed team on Tuesday's fourth stage once again were Emma Roca and Gerard Morales of Spain (Team BUFF, 4:03:19 hours). They managed to stay more than eleven minutes ahead of Caroline Freslon-Bette and Christophe Bette for whom running as a team seems a successful family affair so far. While first and second place have been in firm hands so far, third place has seen quite some fluctuation over the course of the race. Today, it was once more Julia Böttger and Daniel Locher  of Team WOLY-SPORT – SALOMON (4:22:17) who claimed the coveted third place on the podium but at least two other teams vie for this position with reasonable chances.

The new Master Mixed category saw podium regulars Annelise Felderer/Markus Planötscher (Team NIEDERDORF) once again as first arrivals at the finish after 4:25:48 hours on the trail. Two Spanish teams complemented the podium at the daily awards ceremony: Team ATM and Team HOCKEY ALCALA - SIERRA SUR on second and third place, respectively. Neither posed a real threat to the hitherto unbeaten leaders, however, as they required an additional 13 minutes and 27 minutes to cover the 31.5 km trail distance to Campo Tures, respectively.

Tomorrow's fifth of eight stages in the 2014 GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE RUN would almost qualify as a rest day – at least for the top-ranked teams. Wednesday calls for a 6.8 km sprint race from the valley bottom at Campo Tures (German: Sand in Taufers) up to the local ski resort Speickboden. The total vertical gain tallies just under 1,100 meters and the weather forecast looks promising with temperatures that would suit the race itinerary. As for tomorrow's sprint stage and the local resort community, “good things come in small packages”! 

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