Cycling: Enduro sport is still young and yet it currently dominates the mountain bike market. After the introduction of several racing series, it didn't take long for the Federation of German Cyclists to include the discipline in its programme, so that last weekend the German Enduro Championship was held for the first time. André Wagenknecht and Ines Thoma were happy about their first Enduro championship title after a hard day.
Schöneck in beautiful Vogtland was the venue for the first German Enduro Championship last weekend and was very strong with almost 250 starters. Schöneck has already demonstrated organizational talent in the past with the Roll & Rock and so many of the starters were looking forward to the upcoming event. The format of the event was based on that of the Specialized Sram Enduro series, so on Saturday there was an extensive training day followed by a prologue through downtown Schöneck, which already counted as the first special stage for the overall time.
André Wagenknecht started in Schöneck in front of his home crowd and, despite his injury that healed only a few weeks ago and the rain, was able to finish in a strong time, so that on the actual race day he was already three seconds ahead on the trails. Ines Thoma from the Canyon Factory Enduro Team also left little doubt about her dominance in German enduro sport and the fifth in this year's EWS ranking drove the fastest time to the finish line for the women.
On Sunday, Petrus rewarded the field of riders with the finest autumn weather and lots of sunshine. A total of five stages awaited the riders, which included everything from very pedal-heavy to very steep and technical sections. The majority of the stages were completed in the Schöneck bike park and it quickly became clear that it would be difficult to beat André Wagenknecht at home. Although he lost a few seconds to Tobias Reiser from the Focus Trail Team on stage one, he quickly made up for it on stages two and three.
For the fourth stage of the day, a long transfer of almost 15 kilometers had to be mastered, because the drivers went to the Vogtland Arena, where the most demanding trail of the entire race awaited. A nearly two-minute long stage, which ran parallel to the slope of the ski jump and turned out to be correspondingly steep and treacherous, was the horror of many drivers. However, the real highlight was waiting in the bike park with the final stage five. After all drivers passed the Vogtland Arena, all times were evaluated and the drivers were sent on their way to the finish line in the appropriate order. Andre Wagenknecht was the last driver to leave the track. He already had a seven-second lead and just needed to finish a clean run.
But it was the women who made the start. Ines Thoma was the undisputed leader of the rankings and also drove the best time on the last special stage, with which she secured her first Enduro championship title. She was followed by Sofia Wiedenroth and Raphaela Richter, who at just 16 just barely missed the silver medal.
Gradually, the individual elite drivers flew over the big finish line and the hot seat changed hands almost every minute. Although Ludwig Döhl was able to keep the best time on stage five until shortly before the end, he was unable to make up for the missing seconds on the two Reiser brothers Tobias and Markus. André Wagenknecht went out on the track and literally set a new best time in the ground. He took another five seconds off his teammate Döhl and was the only driver to stay under 2:30 minutes. In the end, his lead of 14.806 seconds helped him to the title. Tobias and Markus Reiser followed in second and third place.
Result lists