Rider from Salzburg wins the Opel Hillclimb support race and 11,000 EUR car

Christoph Zaller from the Lungau valley in Salzburg surprised everyone at the Opel Hillclimb support race, which was put on for the first time at the 15th Int. Alpentour Trophy: The 29-year old leader in the amateur classification rode up the Planai hill the furthest and snatched away the main prize from favourites Kristian Hynek and Alban Lakata – a brand-new Opel Adam, valued at 11,000 Euros.

Alpentour Trophy organiser Gerhard Schönbacher came up with something very special this year together with new sponsor Opel: the Opel Hillclimb competition. Originally the plan had been for an Opel 4WD to drive up the steep Planai hill to set a goal and for the mountain biker that manages to ride up and reach the car to actually win an Opel Adam car. 20 mountain bikers had been selected, amongst them the leading racers in the various categories, plus the best Austrian and four randomly drawn riders. However, because of the rough conditions on the wet and steep Planai terrain not even the 4WD could drive up. So the organisers took the 4WD about 300m up from the finish area via a firetrail.

“In the end there were about ten riders who took the challenge and Christoph Zaller rode up the furthest. He managed to ride about a bike length further than David Schöggl, another amateur rider in our race”, said Schönbacher

“This is a huge surprise for me and I have never ever won such a big prize! I am over the moon about the new Opel car and it’s perfect timing, because my girlfriend needs a new car anyway”, beamed the overwhelmed physiotherapist Christoph Zaller from St. Margarethen in the Salzburg county. The passionate mountain biker wants to claim the overall title in the amateur classification at this year’s Int. Alpentour Trophy, one of the four biggest UCI mountain bike stage races in the world. He dominated many favourites today, including the current overall leader and last year’s winner Kristian Hynek, the World-, European and today’s Champion Alban Lakata as well as Olympic Champion Bart Brentjens, who is currently leading the Elite Masters II category.