Alpentour Trophy

Stage 2

Italian Longo takes over overall lead at the Int. Alpentour Trophy

Yesterday’s victory took its toll on the Columbian rider Leonardo Paez. During today’s second stage of the 16th Int. Alpentour Trophy in Schladming he came third and lost too much time against the Italian stage winner Tony Longo, who takes over the lead overall. The Austrian Hermann Pernsteiner had a great race and placed sixth. In the women’s classification the Belgian National Champion Githa Michiels secured herself the stage win on today’s 14km time trial onto the Planai mountain.

Again perfect weather conditions at the spectacular second stage of the 16th Alpentour Trophy and its 14km time trial (1,100m elevation) from the Planai Stadium to the Schafalm Hut. And the crowd high above Schladming welcomed a grinning Italian! Tony Longo who was third yesterday, clocked in a 52:36 minute record race time and put the Swiss rider Lukas Buchli into second place by 1:12 minutes. Third with a gap of 1:15 was the overall leader from yesterday, Leonardo Paez (COL). The Austrian Hermann Pernsteiner was sixth with a gap of 1:44 behind the Dutch rider Hans Becking and double-World Champion Roel Paulissen.

“Today was my first mountain time trial and my legs felt great. Right from the beginning I found my rhythm and was able to keep up a good pace”, said the happy reigning Italian MTB Marathon National Champion Longo at the finish. At the 2009 Alpentour Trophy the rider from the Trentino region finished in third and since has proven his talent at numerous Worldcup races. In contrast to Longo’s strong performance was the Columbian Paez’ race today, “Today I rode at my limit. My legs were heavy from yesterday’s stage.” The old-hand Roel Paulissen from Belgium faced a quarrel of a different kind: a technical mistake right at the start slowed him down and caused him a third spot in the overall classification behind Longo and Paez (33 seconds gap), “I should have checked out today’s track beforehand. The ascents were so steep and lighter tires would have been a big advantage.”

Pernsteiner in top form

The young Austrian Hermann Pernsteiner completed a very ambitious stage once again, “Sure, I still felt tired from yesterday’s first stage, but after the first steep initial climbs I got into it today. I’m absolutely content with my result and hope that I’ll be able to defend my top-five overall placing until Sunday.”

Female stage winner from Belgium

The reigning Belgian National Champion Githa Michiels was unbeatable today. She won with a gap of 1:15 minutes ahead of the Ukrainian overall women’s leader Yana Belomoina. Third was the Swiss rider Milena Landtwing. In the overall classification the Ukrainian National and European Champion as well as World Cup winner Belomoina is ahead of Landtwing with an impressive lead of 7:17 minutes and 8:43 minutes ahead of Michiels. “I lost my chances to win the race overall yesterday, because of bad stomach cramps. I’m racing for the second overall place now. Unless Yana still has a really bad day I think the top spot is out of reach now”, said the Belgian stage winner Michiels today.

Stage 1

Columbian victory kicks off 16th Alpentour Trophy – World Champion Paulissen places 2nd

The first stage winner of the 16th Alpentour Trophy is the Columbian rider Leonardo Paez. Paez claimed the victory 40 seconds ahead of double-World Champion Roel Paulissen from Belgium who came in second. Hermann Pernsteiner from Lower Austrian was the best local finisher in the stage that took the riders high up onto the Hochwurzen Mountain and the Giglach Lakes.

Day one at the 16th Alpentour Trophy provided its competitors with ideal weather conditions. The first stage of the four-day event ran for 59km and 2,900m of elevation up to the Hochwurzen Mountain and continued across the snow-covered Giglach Lake plains and back to Schladming. The strongest rider of the day was the 31-year old Leonardo Paez (COL), who was 28th at the Olympic Games in the cross-country event and who won the bronze medal in last year’s Marathon World Championships. The Columbian rider dominated the entire first stage in Schladming together with Paulissen and today’s third, Tony Longo from Italy, before he was able to break away just before the finish. “It was very hot and the snow near the lakes, where we had to push our bikes, was quite the different. I really happy with my result and definitely want to push on hard toward an overall win”, said Paez after the race.

The double-World Champion Roel Paulissen was pretty content also with his second place, “Leonardo was just too strong today. I’ve known him from many previous races, he’s just a top athlete.” The Austrian Hermann Pernsteiner from Lower Austria was also happy with his fifth place, “I’ve trained very hard for the Alpentour Trophy this year and my legs felt good. Today was an extremely difficult stage and I hope that I’ll be able to improve my overall position during tomorrow’s time trial.”

Also the Brazilian National Champion, who’s bringing a bit of the Soccer World Championship-flair with him to Schladming, showed a strong performance today: Henrique Avancini placed as eighth in the elite category.

Ukrainian wins the Elite Women’s race

The Ukrainian rider Yana Belomoina had been one of the major favourites for this year’s Alpentour Trophy already ahead of its start in the elite women’s category. And the Ukrainian National Champion, European Champion and World Cup winner confirmed that status very impressively today. In 2010 she raced her first Alpentour Trophy and with four second placings she claimed the overall second place then. Today she finished the first stage in 3:32:07, ahead of the Swiss rider Milena Landtwing who came in with a gap of six minutes. Third was the Slovakian rider Janka Keseg.

Further category winners

Well-known names dominate some of the other categories: The former road racer Andreas Dolling won the Elite Masters 1 class, the Styrian Peter Lammer came in ahead of the former MTB-super star Bart Brentjens (Olympic and World Champion) in the Elite Master 2 category.