Gore-Tex Transalpine Run
Top Teams Dominate Sprint Race in Italy's Campo Tures
News Release / 04.09.2014
The top-ranked teams of all categories demonstrated in today's short but sweet vertical race at Campo Tures, Italy, that not only are they gifted trail runners but would also qualify as bona fide sprint aces. The fifth stage traditionally is a sprint event that marks the beginning of the second half of the race. On the Eastern Course of the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN the competition routinely takes place on the ski slopes of Speickboden ski area, a resort closely associated with the community of Campo Tures. Today's course covered a distance of 6.78 km and tallied 1,086 m of vertical gain over a fairly even gradient. The course was mainly on singletrack, some of it over rocky terrain, with the finish located at 1,958 m asl.
Since times spent on the trail are short, the sprint race generally has relatively little influence on the existing hierarchy of teams. Yet, victory or at least a high ranking on the steep, all-up course carries tremendous prestige within the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN community. The sprint race also provides the only platform for individual racers to showcase their leg power independently from their teammates. For this purpose, additional race categories have been devised for Stage Five that showcase sprint talent and entice the racers to go full-on out.
Apart from the ordinary TAR team ranking (times of both teammates are added towards ranking), an individual finisher category is considered in the end-of-day award ceremony for the sprint race. This out-of-the ordinary category clocks the time of each runner - independently from his/her team. In turn, some breath-taking times are recorded on sprint day. Today Ryan Smith put down the most impressive performance with a time of 48:48.3 minutes. However, the U.S. American participated outside of the official ranking. Second to trail the American but first in the TAR individual racer category was 28-year-old Stephan Hugenschmidt of Germany with a time of 50:04.7 minutes to the summit station of the Speickboden ski area. Spaniard Alfredo Gil (50:13.0 minutes) took second with 14 seconds to spare ahead of German Florian Reichert (50:27.4 minutes).
In the standard TAR team ranking, David Castan Lopez and Alfredo Gil of Team LA SPORTIVA – MULTIPOWER took first place in today's stage for their cumulative time of 1:40:54 hours. For the first time the Spaniards managed to outrun the overall leaders Stephan Hugenschmidt and Mirco Berner (Team SALOMON DEUTSCHLAND, 1:42:02 hours) who claimed second place but still maintain an overall lead of more than 20 minutes with only three stages to go. Third team on the Men's podium were Markus Mingo and Wolfgang Hochholzer (SZIOLS SPORTGLASSES/ASICS FRONTRUNNER).
Stephan Hugenschmidt underscored his extraordinary strength today as he barely showed any signs of fatigue right after the sprint race. The German shared his victorious strategy which shed some light on his top-notch physical condition. “All I had to do was stay behind the Spaniard Gil, not to exert myself and to save up some energy for the remaining days”. With Swedish Team PEAK PERFORMANCE out of the race, there is no doubt that Hugenschmidt is currently the strongest racer in the 10th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN.
French Master Men racers Pascal Giguet and David Pasquio added yet another stage victory to their hitherto uninterrupted race success. Their times totaled impressive 1:50:22 hours which would have scored third place in the Men category. Italians Eugen Innerkofler/Ivano Molin provided yet another demonstration of their strength five days into the race as they came in second position trailing the leaders by 15 minutes but still were able to solidify their second place overall.
In the Mixed category, Jenn Shelton and Andreas Irsara showed who's boss on all-up trails. The Italo-American team has been quite visible all along – above all due to Jenn's winning spirit and her tolerance of cold weather conditions. The American triathlete is generally 'all-smiles' and typically under-dresses compared to the rest of the field. The overall leaders of the Mixed category, Emma Roca and Gerard Morales of Team BUFF, took some time out in today's sprint race. Their cumulative times added up to 2:14:52 hours which was good enough for seventh place but was well below what most would have been expected from the leaders.
A similar upset had to be noted in the Women's category where leaders Tamara Lunger and Annemarie Gross (Team GORE-TEX ACTIVE) experienced their first defeat. Today's fourth place didn't affect the Italians overall leadership and certainly not their authority. Still, Kathrin Schichtl and Yvonne Lehnert (Team THR33KY TRAIL-SQUIRRELS; 2:20:16 hours) were overjoyed by their stage victory as were Carmen Otto and Anne Gerlach (SAUERLAND GORE-TEX Team 1) who claimed second place with their time of 2:22:41 hours.
The leaders of all other categories managed to maintain their overall standing.
The Senior Master leadership stays firmly in the hands of local Italian trail talents. Peter Paul Steinhauser and Michael Steger (Team AHRNTAL) arrived in 2:02:08 hours ahead of Alois Untersteinerand Franz Kröss (Team SEXTEN 2, 2:05:27 hours). Rudi Schöpf and teammate Alfred Psenner (Team LATSCH SKINFIT BOZEN, 2:11.33,9 Std.) at this point seem relegated to third position due to Schöpf's injuries which he incurred on yesterday's stage.
After three consecutive Master Mixed stage victories Anneliese Felderer and Markus Planötscher (Team NIEDERDORF) decided to step down the pace. The pair has little to prove at this point and sits on a cushy lead that they will want to save into Sesto on the final day of the race. Team Niederdorf came in third, after the Spanish couple Maria Pilar and Roberto Prades (2:02:43 hours) and Swiss-French connection Marie Sebastien De Sainte and Marion Clignote (2:14:03 hours).
Today's race ambiance proved extraordinary on this first event day without rain and increasingly more sunshine towards the afternoon. More than 500 trail racers kicked back out-of-doors at the summit station of the Speickboden ski area gondola enjoying some tunes, food and drink as well as the comraderie of like-minded folks from around the world. It was likely the biggest, craziest and most colorful open-air festival in the Alps on this Wednesday. The pains of this and previous days already seemed forgotten shortly after the sprint race and the rest of the day afforded much time for recuperation. The racers can use the opportunity for regeneration given that three more stages still lie ahead of them.
Tomorrow's stage starts at 8:00 am and covers a distance of 38.5 km. By the time the racers reach the finish in San Vigilio, they will have 2,289 m of vertical gain in their legs – with two more days to go after that.
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