Casal brothers strong as an ox, Bonsor/Gordon dominate the field as they wish

Press Release / 01.09.2015

­The exchange of blows at the 11th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN between the leaders Daniel Jung/Ivan Paulmichl (Italy) and Oscar Casal/Marc Casal (Andorra) enters the next round. The 4th stage over a distance of 46 kilometers from Landeck to Samnaun (Switzerland) – with a vertical gain of 2841 m the “royal stage” of the whole competition – ended with the second stage victory of the two men from the Iberian Peninsula who arrived at the finish in Samnaun after 5:05.49 h. 1.26 minutes later, the overall leaders Jung/Paulmichl came in second. Their lead has now shrunk to 10.19 minutes. With their third place today, the young German team Benjamin Sperl/Lukas Naegele (Kassel/Freiburg) defended their overall third place. In the women’s category, Helen Bonsor/Claire Gordon seem to be unstoppable.

The outer conditions on the 46 km long “royal stage“ from Landeck to Samnaun (Switzerland) were perfect for a sporting competition at the highest level. Excellent weather conditions, a blue sky, an ideal 13 degrees Celsius at 2700 m above sea level with only a slight breeze and then a comfortable 20 degrees Celsius at the finish in Samnaun. Additionally, todays’ trails are rated among the most beautiful and most demanding in Europe.

From the start in Landeck, the route led uphill to the top of the Fisser Joch at 2432m above sea level. After a short descent down to the Kölner Haus (Cologne House) at 1965 m above sea level a new high-alpine section began. The trails continued over the Arrezjoch with the second refreshment point up to the legendary Ochsenscharte, with 2787m the second highest elevation at the 11th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN.
Maybe it was due to the much more pleasant temperatures today that the two Andorreans Oscar and Marc Casal started their first attack right after the start of the race in Landeck at 7 a.m. this morning. “We felt much better today and the weather was definitely beneficial to us. Furthermore, we wanted to show that we can also win on such a quite long stage”, said the brothers after their second stage victory – and emphasized again that despite their time deficit, their names should not be forgotten when talking about the overall leading position.

This was also recognized by the leaders Daniel Jung and Ivan Paulmichl after they had accomplished half of the whole competition ending on September 5 in Sulden/Ortler. Nevertheless, they finished the longest stage (46km) with the tranquility of two old hands. Actually there was only one critical situation when Ivan Paulmichl twisted his ankle on the descent from the Ochsenscharte, but he recovered from this shock quite quickly. For the rest of the race they always stayed within sight of their strongest competitors in order to then catch up a bit more on the final part. Most impressive is also the physical condition of Daniel Jung who is virtually bursting with strength.

Only two years after his victory at the Bike Transalp, the 33-year-old Jung from Naturns in South Tyrol is on the verge of clinching victory on his most important trail running competition.

So far about 100 athletes had to personally experience that the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN is one of the hardest trail running events as they had to give up due to the high physical strain and the extreme heat this year. But also the top-athletes need to revert to their reserves. “What a stage! We were both extremely tired. I am almost too tired to celebrate the first birthday of my little daughter”, commented the obviously affected and exhausted Ragna Debats from the Netherlands on this 4th stage where she could also celebrate her fourth stage victory in her category with her partner Pere Bove Aurell. However, this time, their lead over the South African duo Duo Landie and Christiaan Greyling was relatively small (5.41 minutes).

No surprises in the other categories today – same scene as the days before. In the women’s category, the Scots Helen Bonsor/Claire Gordon celebrated their 4th stage victory. “Helen is extremely strong on the ascents”, applauded Claire Gordon with respect to the performance of her team partner. With an overall lead of 1:15.49 h over the French team Caroline Freslon-Bette/Maud Gobert, the ladies from Edinburgh should be relatively safe regarding the overall victory.

Some more suspension can be expected in the category “Senior Master Men” where the Italians Oswald and Richard Wenin could catch up a bit with their second stage victory today. Nevertheless, their time deficit compared to the two Germans Thomas Miksch and Joerg Schreiber still amounts to 50.52 minutes. As in Landeck, the Germans achieved rank two today. “We have not arrived in Sulden yet, there is still a long way to go”, says Richard Wenin showing his fighting spirit. On the first stage from Oberstdorf to Lech am Arlberg, the Italian almost had to give up as he was suffering from stomach cramps and thus had to take a time loss of over an hour.

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