Hynek and Bigham repeat Int. Alpentour Trophy victories in 2013

15th Alpentour Trophy
Schladming

Freakish weather conditions dominated the 15th Alpentour Trophy 2013 in and around Schladming. The more than 500 mountain bikers from all over the world had to cope with the lot: strong rain, snow and a cancelled fourth stage due to flooding and mudslides. Still in a class of his own in the elite men’s category was last year’s winner from the Czech Replublic, Kristian Hynek. After two consecutive stage wins he claimed the title ahead of World and European Champion Alban Lakata from Eastern Tyrol. In the elite female field, the Vice World Champion from Great Britain, Sally Bigham, won again.

A stage win at the first stage, one at the time trial onto the Schafalm alp on day two and a fourth place at the third stage where enough for the 2012 European MTB Marathon Champion Kristian Hynek to claim his second overall win at the Alpentour Trophy. With such a score he didn’t mind it that the fourth stage had to be cancelled due to safety reasons and the dangerous weather conditions, “Yes of course, I was already looking forward to race against Alban Lakata. But I understand the cancellation, because the safety of all riders needs to be the most important consideration. This Alpentour Trophy threw everything at us – from snow to torrential rain and it was a really tough race. I’m really happy about my second win here.”

The Czech rider took his victory after three stages, 2:03 minutes ahead of Alban Lakata. The rider from East Tyrol had been keen to win the Alpentour Trohpy with a strong performance today, but admitted today that, “If you’re looking out of the window, it’s not surprising that they cancelled today’s stage. I won a stage and am second overall – that’s not too bad, actually. And now I’m in good shape for the upcoming Marathon World Championships in Tyrol!”

Another Czech rider is on the overall podium – Jiri Novak takes out the third place with a gap of 4:50 minutes, followed by the Austrian Christoph Soukup (+8:24 minutes) and the Belgian rider Frans Claes (+ 10:14 minutes).

Olympiasieger Brentjens takes Masters win, Bigham victorious in the Women’s field
In the Elite Masters field the Dutch Olympic Champion Bart Brentjens showed with a strong performance that he is still on top of his game. Like last year the multiple World Champion secured his overall Elite Masters 2 title. In the Elite Masters classification 1 the Austria Georg Koch dominated the field and won.
In the elite women’s field the Vice World Champion Sally Bigham repeats her overall win from last year and had a strike rate of 100% with three consecutive stage wins. The British rider wins ahead of her team mate from Switzerland, Milena Landtwing and the Norwegian rider Kristin Aamodt.

Rider from Salzburg wins Opel Hillclimb and EUR 11,000 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

"Saubermacher" cleaning activities – everything still pristine!
Organiser Gerhard Schönbacher and his team have proven again that as a UCI category S1 event the Alpentour Trophy is one of the four leading stage races world-wide. Not only did they attract a world-class field of racers, but they have also established their race as a trendsetting event with an initiative that saw two mountain bikers follow the peloton of the race, cleaning the race track of any wrappers or other rubbish.

“This activity has been welcomed by the entire Schladming region and the property owners in particular. I also want to thank our partner Saubermacher, who have supported us and the cleaning crew in bringing this initiative to life”, said Schönbacher.

“Saubermacher” translates into “the guys who keep it clean” and that’s what the two riders did. Armed with plastic bags they spent up to seven hours in the saddle, picking up about 15 large garbage bags over the four days. In the horrendous conditions with rain and snow it wasn’t easy to clean the trails across meadows and through the thick Alpine forests they had reported. However, passing the so pristine landscapes daily environment it had also felt good to be an integral part of keeping it that way.