Race report by Dennis Biendarra / Team Green'n fit
The first race of the German Cycling Cup for the Green'n fit team was scheduled for Sunday, the Tour d'Energie in Göttingen, now in its twelfth edition. The event was under a somewhat unfavorable omen due to the weather. In keeping with the race day, the temperature display at the start should not exceed 5 degrees. Furthermore, rain and sleet showers had been announced. Fortunately, the predictions did not come true. The entire race could be finished on dry roads.
At 10:25 a.m. the 45 km route started. After a short neutralization, the pace was, as expected, picked up properly for the first time. The pace remained consistently high throughout the race up to the first climb to Mengershausen, but then slowed down significantly due to the strong headwind, so that almost the entire field tackled the descent to Dransfeld as one.
This was followed by the counter ascent and it went up to the Hohen Hagen. An approx. 2,5 km long mountain with an average gradient of 7% should be my executioner. The fire was already opened at the foot of the mountain, and once again I had to realize that with a crate of beer under your stomach and the equivalent of 10 kg too much on your ribs, you can drive up the mountain much more slowly.
Thanks to my relatively good downhill skills, I was able to catch up with the first group of the race on the long descent. This was around 20 people with a total of 4 drivers from our team. From now on, however, we should strictly avoid taking the lead, as our teammate Marco Bastiaansen was in one of the three breakaway groups in front of us and ultimately managed to get a good 6th place. In the later sprint, it should ultimately be about 12th place. The 14th place for me and the 13th place for Jonathan testifies to the good sprint qualities of our team. We'll try to exploit this next week at the next race in Frankfurt.
It is particularly pleasing that our strong joint team effort was rewarded with first place in the team ranking. 3rd place for Manuela Freund and 4th place for Marion Wittler in the women's overall ranking over the long distance of 100 km rounded off the successful weekend.
Once again, the almost perfect organization of the entire event in Göttingen deserves special mention. A breakfast buffet when the numbers are handed out, a perfectly sealed track, a punctual start and an award ceremony are standards that some organizers are happy to learn from! I would love to come back next year...