Everyone / MTB-News: The Austrian duo Hermann Pernsteiner and Daniel Geismayr from Centurion Vaude 2 were able to celebrate their second stage win in a row at the BIKE Transalp today. Again they were able to relegate the still yellow Topeak Ergon Racing 1 duo to second place by a few seconds. For the third time on the third day, Karl Platt and Urs Huber from Team Bulls also took the remaining podium place.
The roles of favorites at this year's BIKE Transalp are now clearly divided and the three dominating teams of two quickly took over today's stage from Scuol to Livigno. The six drivers set the pace for most of the time and distanced themselves from the field and their pursuers with every kilometer driven. For a long time it looked as if the three duos would cross the finish line together with only a small gap, but at the final Passo Trela Karl Platt slumped and the Bulls team lost 2:40 to their competitors.
While the lead between the two leaders is shrinking a bit with each passing day, the cushion is still somewhat reassuring at just under 40 seconds - although caution is advised, as Topeak Ergon Racing 1's Kristian Hynek points out: “Both [Pernsteiner and Geismayr] are pretty strong and there are four days left. A lot can still happen and there is still a lot of work ahead of us.”
Lennard and Alexander from Team Velomotion bite through
It was a difficult day again for Lennard and Alexander, who started as Team Velomotion and had to settle for 31st place today. Like yesterday, Alexander had health problems again and the conclusion is still positive so far:
"Marmot says hello every day - that's how I already feel on the third stage of the Bike Transalp. Nevertheless, it's great fun to stand in the starting block every day and tackle the upcoming stage with hundreds of other mountain bikers. But it's a lot of fun with one of these mountain bikers and that's my teammate Lennard - he pushes me every day to keep going, pushes me when it's not that easy anymore and often has a good tip ready for you makes the race easier. I always try to do my best so that Lennard's efforts are not in vain. So today I gave everything despite the migraine. The first climb was extremely tough for me and I tried to stay in the group, which was only possible with Lennard pushing me. Due to the increasing headaches, it was very difficult to concentrate on the descents, which meant that I could only rarely admire the beautiful landscape.
Tomorrow it will be a similarly beautiful stage and the same good weather, so I must not forget the sunscreen tomorrow.”