With 3414 meters of climbing, 92 kilometres, beastly ramps and great mountain views, the third stage has been spectacular in all respects. After an exciting photo finish the Italian Marco Rebagliati and the Norwegian Champion Ole Hem (Wilier 7C Force) won their first stage and moved up in the overall ranking to the third position. Second place goes to Urs Huber and Simon Stiebjahn (BULLS), followed by Jochen Käß and Daniel Geismayr (Centurion Vaude)
Eggental, 16 July 2019. When the best three teams sprinted across the finish line, it wasn’t clear who came first on the first look. All the more, Rebagliati and Hem have been celebrating their first stage victory. “We really wanted to win today, but we also wanted to close the gap to the fourth and win the third podium in the overall ranking”, explained Hem. In the end they managed both and overtook Martin Frey and Hansueli Stauffer (BULLS), who finished fourth today with a gap of more than three minutes.
Overall, it was a good day for Wilier 7C Force: Also Dax Jaikel and the former World Champion Massimo Debertolis could extend their overall lead in the Masters category with another stage victory after a final sprint against the German Jürgen Scholtes and Sascha Schwindling (Herzlichst Zypern). Third came the Italians Ivan Degasperi and Pierluigi Betelli (Dolomiti Paganella Bike cicli Taddei).
Stefanie Dohrn and Philip Handl (Centurion Vaude) extended their overall lead in the mixed classification once more.
The range of age of the participants is wide. The youngest are just 18 years old, the oldest rider will turn 70 in December. Camden Gillis and Samuel Kearley from Colorado are the youngest team that just graduated high school. They have never experienced a race of this length and strength before. The great transalp adventure is a treat for their graduation and a present for Samuel, who celebrated his 18th birthday a few days ago.
Camden has been dreaming of the BIKE Transalp for many years since he accompanied his dad at the race. Turning 18 in 2019 it was time to fulfill this dream – and convincing his mate Samuel wasn’t hard at all. After the first stages they had coped with a broken spoke and a little crash, but they did not lose their good mood. The guys always have time for a joke – after stage 2 the boys have already been know “as the two boys, chatting all the time”, Camden says.
Also the oldest participant, Dieter Seifert, got some scratches after a crash, but he is still in the saddle. “This is the last race of my life – probably”, says the 69 year old who lives near Salzburg and started mountain biking just five years ago. “But I have always been very sporty”, he explains his fitness level. “I always wanted to take part in the race, but never found a partner. Since you can ride solo, I thought: It’s time to give it a try!”
