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Glorieux/Michels with third TOUR Transalp stage win | Nothegger/Obwaller with incredible pursuit to second
Press Release / 01.07.2017
Belgian riders Frederic Glorieux and Bob Michels have prevailed in the sixth stage of the 2017 TOUR Transalp and are now, thanks to their third win in total, close to their first Transalp title. Team Prostyle-Grinta! mastered the 120.74 km and 2,365 metres of climbing from Aprica to Pieve di Ledro, which celebrated its stage town debut, in 3:43.57,5 and therefore extended their overall lead on the best masters duo notably.
Mathias Nothegger (AUT) and Hans Peter Obwaller (AUT) of www.nom-training.com crossed the finish line as overall second after a sensational comeback (3:49.44,2) and are now – just like 2015 – close to come out as best racers of the category for the male teams with a combined age of 80+.
However, both well-experienced athletes had to work hard for this good position.
From start in Aprica on, the route went steadily downhill over the first 45 km with the top of the field keeping the pace brisk.
Right at this time, Nothegger and Obwaller, who were only 5,1 seconds behind of the Yellow Jerseys prior to today's stage, got thrown back by a technical defect. "Almost the whole field passed us. That's a bummer as our goal was to battle for the stage win today," explained unlucky sort Obwaller who had to change his front wheel.
Meanwhile and facing 20 °C, the fastest teams had already reached the entry to the climb up to Passo Croce Domini (1,895m) which was to be conquered for the first time in the 15-year-long history of the TOUR Transalp.
Former road cycle pro Udo Boelts (GER) of Team Easton shook a leg in the first turns before he asked for some support. "After a few kilometres he turned around and told us that it would be our turn now," said Frederic Glorieux who then took over the lead with Michels and slowly broke away from the rest of the group.
The two Belgians were able to keep their good rhythm despite another harsh change of weather with strong rainfall and hail. "It wasn't a problem in the climb but it got tough when we were descending. I was trembling in every limb. We took it easy and no risk as the streets were pretty narrow," summed up Glorieux.
While the top favourites for this year's title sew their third stage win up in style, Nothegger and Obwaller fought their way through the field back to the top again.
After both had summited Croce Domini in third position already, the Austrians were also able to pass the second fastest masters duo of the 15th Transalp edition with Stefan Oettl (GER) and Bart Bury (BEL).
In the end, Team corratec 1 secured the third rank of the overall results (3:50.45,) in a photo finish against Team Imst Tourismus 2 consisting of Daniel Pechtl (AUT) and Thomas Gschnitzer (ITA) who clocked in a 3:50.46,0. "For me, it was a chequered stage. I couldn't go as fast as I can due to back problems. And the bad weather didn't help neither. The descent was pretty tough due to the rain and hail. This is by far the most challenging Transalp I have ever competed in," commented Oettl the sixth race day after stage four and five had fallen victim to the severe weather situation in the North of Italy already.
In the other categories, the respective leaders were able to continue their impressive performances.
Bernd Hornetz and Erwin Hickl from German Team corratec 3 didn't show any weakness in 4:00.53,6 in the grand masters classifier, while mixed leaders from Austria, Daniela Pintarelli and Andreas Traxl of Team MooserWirt – traxlradsport.at earned their fourth consecutive stage win in 4:03.52,8.
And also the fastest women team in the field of montura garda trentino maintained their course to victory as Italian racers Letizia Grottoli and Marcellina Dossi were unbeatable for the fourth time in a row, too (4:33.55,9).
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