Cycling: World Champion Alexandra Engen from Sweden and Simon Stiebjahn from Titisee-Neustadt won the Eliminator Sprint on Saturday evening at the start of the third station of the KMC MTB Bundesliga in Schopp.
There is no way around world champion Alexandra Engen in the Bundesliga sprint. The 2013 overall World Cup winner took the lead in the final of the top four on the 722-meter-long course right after the start and in the technical section she managed to gain a sufficiently large lead that she was no longer endangered on the home straight in the Rad-Stadion could.
“I'm glad that I have so much pressure in my legs a week before the Swedish championship. I think the track here is cool, it has a technical section and you can overtake”says Engen.
Two drivers from the Black Forest Lexware Junior Team took second and third place on the podium. Lena Wehrle took the first corner in front of the Norwegian Elisabeth Sveum and doggedly defended this place to the finish. For Wehrle it was the first final participation in a Bundesliga sprint.
"I've made it my goal to do everything right from the start in the final. I was able to pull it off and am really happy now. Being second behind the world champion is great”, commented Wehrle.
Her only 16-year-old team colleague Kim Riesterer, who was fourth at the German Championships, showed fighting spirit. Already in the semi-finals she seemed hopeless, but came back strong on the home straight. She also succeeded in the final, so that she was able to catch Sveum in the finish.
"I thought that if I'm already in the final, then I'll fight for every meter. The home straight, that seems to be my strength. I am eternally happy that it made it onto the podium”said the woman from Breitnau.
The strategy that brought Alexandra Engen the success also worked in the men's final. The German sprint champion Simon Stiebjahn (Team Bulls) got off to the best start and was first into the first corner.
Behind him, Marco Schätzing pushed off the Bulls driver Martin Frey from Bad Urach in the battle for second place and Sascha Weber slipped through on the inside. Meanwhile, Stiebjahn was chasing the 100 meter climb in first place. He didn't let himself be endangered on the technical passage either.
Behind him, cyclocrosser and road rider Sascha Weber, who rides his MTB for Lexware, defended second place. In the preliminary heats he was still able to develop quite a bit of pressure on the home stretch, but in the final he was no longer strong enough to endanger Stiebjahn.
“I was still a bit afraid that Sascha would come. I'm glad my physiotherapist got the muscle in my knee so good that it held. I'm super happy that I was able to land a Bundesliga win here in Schopp.", said Stiebjahn, who was also able to extend his lead in the overall standings of the KMC series.
Sascha Weber was “happy about a nice result” in the very first sprint of his career. “I drive four to five hours on the road, one and a half minutes here, that's something completely different. After all, Stiebjahn is German champion in this discipline. I didn’t have the strength for the last 150 meters”, said Weber, who was also at the start at the instigation of his buddy, co-organizer Frank Dressler from Wheelsport.
Marco Schätzing stayed in third place, "with a guilty conscience", as he said, because he had taken all of Martin Frey's chances with his action. "A big sorry, that was not intentional. I'm glad I made it to the final because I have exams at the moment and little time to train.", said Schätzing.
Frey was disappointed. “It went very well for me today, but after Marco's action I had to brake hard and didn't have a chance anymore. The ones before me weren't bad ones."said Frey.
Text: Erhard Goller