Näf wins by one second ahead of Lejarreta, Absalon
Osl takes victory in women's race
Ralph Näf repeated his 2009 victory at the 24th edition of Bundesliga - Internationale Frühjahrsklassiker in Münsingen. The Swiss Multivan-Merida rider took the win in first round of German Bundesliga by beating Orbea racers Inaki Lejaretta and Julien Absalon. Austrian Lisi Osl (Central Pro) won the women's crown ahead of Blaza Klemencic and Elisabeth Brandau.
This year's edition was the most exciting in the history of the race. Several thousand spectators came out to watch the women's race, which was not decided until the final of six laps.
With a brave effort, Brandau assumed the lead in the first lap. She got a small gap but was caught by Osl and Klemencic during the third lap.
By then, World Champion Irina Kalentieva had already abandoned the race. The Russian had a small crash in which her handlebar impacted her stomach. "I tried to continue but I got heavy cramps in my belly," she said with a pained expression on her face.
That left Brandau, Klemencic and Osl as the lead trio to fight for the win. On lap five, a suffering Brandau lost contact with the other two. Then with a few kilometers to go, Osl attacked and dropped Klemencic. So the defending World Cup overall winner rode to her first victory at Münsingen victory, nine seconds ahead of Klemencic.
"Elisabeth had a lot of power, but in the technical parts, we would close on her. I'm happy to get the win here also because it was the first time on my new bike," said Osl.
"It is my best result ever at Bundesliga," said the Felt-Ötztal-X-Bionic rider Klemencic.
"I knew that I had the power, and the technical skills are coming by racing. More and more I've been having fun at the cross country races," said Brandau.
Five contest the men's race on the final lap
"It was a question of the mind," said Ralp Näf after jumping off his bike upon winning the race by just one second ahead of Inaki Lejaretta and two seconds ahead of Julien Absalon.
On a very fast track in the German middle mountains, the Swabian Alb, Näf took the solo lead from the start, with about a 10-second advantage. Then Lejaretta jumped on Näf's wheel and the two extended their joint lead up to 30 seconds.
Absalon attacked out of a four-man chase group and closed on the two leaders within half of a lap. Moritz Milatz and Jose Antonio Hermida soon followed although the later had some trouble with his chain.
With two laps to go, there were five men in contention for the win. They stayed together for a lap, then Milatz accelerated in a flat, technical section. Absalon followed and so did Lejaretta. A small gap opened to Hermida and Näf but this was not the end of the game for Näf.
Hermida and Näf pulled them back and then attack after attack followed. Last year's winner Näf knew the key to winning the race. "I know how to ride this race, and I went in front at the right moment. Then they weren't able to pass me again."
"I like the race here and in my home country (Switzerland), there is nowhere near this kind of crowd cheering like this. Thank you Münsingen", Näf said, before noting that Lejaretta was riding strong, perhaps even stronger than himself.
Absalon was not too disappointed. "It's difficult to make the difference on this fast course. But that's good for the spectators, and the show. I think it was good preparation for the World Cup opener."
Näf also won the Centurion sprint race on Saturday, as he did in 2009, and therefore is the unofficial champion of Münsingen. Alexandra Engen won the women's sprint competition.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Ralph Naef (Swi) | 1:40:52 |
2 | Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spa) | 0:00:01 |
3 | Julien Absalon (Fra) | 0:00:02 |
4 | José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) | 0:00:06 |
5 | Moritz Milatz (Ger) | 0:00:28 |
6 | Fabian Giger (Swi) | 0:00:42 |
7 | Rudi Van Houts (Ned) | 0:00:44 |
8 | Henk Jaap Moorlag (Ned) | 0:00:46 |
9 | Robert Mennen (Ger) | 0:01:05 |
10 | Karl Markt (Aut) | 0:01:06 |
11 | Karl Platt (Ger) | 0:01:24 |
12 | Alban Lakata (Aut) | 0:01:35 |
13 | Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spa) | 0:02:11 |
14 | Jochen Kass (Ger) | 0:02:17 |
15 | Bas Peters (Ned) | 0:02:21 |
16 | Emil Lindgren (Swe) | 0:02:24 |
17 | Torsten Marx (Ger) | 0:02:56 |
18 | Klaus Nielsen (Den) | 0:03:18 |
19 | Jimmy Tielens (Bel) | 0:03:40 |
20 | Thomas Litscher (Swi) | 0:04:19 |
21 | Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) | 0:04:24 |
22 | Sepp Freiburghaus (Swi) | 0:04:58 |
23 | Andreas Kugler (Swi) | 0:05:02 |
24 | Andras Parti (Hun) | 0:05:03 |
25 | Benjamin Wittrup Justesen (Den) | 0:05:07 |
26 | Sebastian Szraucner (Ger) | 0:05:10 |
27 | Tim Bohme (Ger) | 0:05:21 |
28 | Stefan Sahm (Ger) | 0:05:22 |
29 | Anders Ljungberg (Swe) | 0:05:55 |
30 | Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) | 0:06:34 |
31 | Christopher Maletz (Ger) | 0:06:44 |
32 | Marco Schätzing (Ger) | 0:06:53 |
33 | Bjorn Brems (Bel) | Row 32 - Cell 2 |
34 | Matthias Pfrommer (Ger) | 0:06:55 |
35 | Pascal Meyer (Swi) | 0:07:21 |
36 | Guido Thaler (Aut) | 0:07:39 |
37 | Frank Beemer (Ned) | 0:07:44 |
38 | Heiko Gutmann (Ger) | 0:08:54 |
39 | Pascal Hossay (Bel) | 0:09:20 |
40 | Joris Massaer (Bel) | 0:09:51 |
41 | Balz Weber (Swi) | 0:09:58 |
42 | Steffen Greger (Ger) | 0:10:13 |
43 | Volker Ordowski (Ger) | 0:10:32 |
44 | Sebastian Bergmann (Ger) | 0:10:51 |
45 | Pierre Lebreton (Fra) | 0:11:22 |
46 | Sebastian Mordmuller (Ger) | 0:11:40 |
47 | Casper Saltoft (Den) | 0:11:43 |
48 | Rick Evers (Ned) | 0:13:33 |
49 | Christian Dörfler (Ger) | 0:13:52 |
50 | Wilko Rochow (Ger) | 0:16:48 |
51 | Uwe Hardter (Ger) | Row 50 - Cell 2 |
52 | Robert Michaelis (Ger) | Row 51 - Cell 2 |
53 | Michael Rieder (Ger) | Row 52 - Cell 2 |
54 | Michael Hutter (Swi) | Row 53 - Cell 2 |
55 | Gerrit Rosenkranz (Ger) | Row 54 - Cell 2 |
56 | Vero Lüscher (Ger) | Row 55 - Cell 2 |
57 | Lutz Babilon (Ger) | Row 56 - Cell 2 |
58 | Marcell Gruener (Aut) | Row 57 - Cell 2 |
59 | Thomas Pfrommer (Ger) | Row 58 - Cell 2 |
60 | Severin Schweisguth (Ger) | Row 59 - Cell 2 |
61 | Olaf Rochow (Ger) | Row 60 - Cell 2 |
62 | Kai Kautz (Ger) | Row 61 - Cell 2 |
63 | Benjamin Oesterle (Ger) | Row 62 - Cell 2 |
64 | Rumen Voigt (Ger) | Row 63 - Cell 2 |
65 | Markus Ziegler (Ger) | Row 64 - Cell 2 |
66 | Daniel Aspacher (Ger) | Row 65 - Cell 2 |
67 | Sascha Schwindling (Ger) | Row 66 - Cell 2 |
68 | Markus Lang (Ger) | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
69 | Janosch Bühler (Ger) | Row 68 - Cell 2 |
70 | Kasper Busk (Den) | Row 69 - Cell 2 |
71 | Sascha Nething (Ger) | Row 70 - Cell 2 |
72 | Rene Wilbers (Ned) | Row 71 - Cell 2 |
73 | Mathias Veit (Ger) | Row 72 - Cell 2 |
74 | Stefan Schairer (Ger) | Row 73 - Cell 2 |
75 | Sascha Burghardt (Ger) | Row 74 - Cell 2 |
76 | Samuel Rosenkranz (Ger) | Row 75 - Cell 2 |
77 | Jochen Coconcelli (Ger) | Row 76 - Cell 2 |
78 | Christophe Schuldt (Ger) | Row 77 - Cell 2 |
79 | Dene Van Rijn (Ned) | Row 78 - Cell 2 |
80 | Markus Moeller (Ger) | Row 79 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Elisabeth Osl (Aut) | 1:28:05 |
2 | Blaza Klemencic (Slo) | 0:00:09 |
3 | Elisabeth Brandau (Ger) | 0:00:48 |
4 | Anja Gradl (Ger) | 0:02:31 |
5 | Hanna Klein (Ger) | 0:02:39 |
6 | Laura Turpijn (Ned) | 0:03:39 |
7 | Sabrina Enaux (Fra) | 0:04:00 |
8 | Adelheid Morath (Ger) | 0:05:05 |
9 | Monique Zeldenrust (Ned) | 0:05:51 |
10 | Sandra Santanyes Murillo (Spa) | 0:06:42 |
11 | Tatjana Dold (Ger) | 0:07:12 |
12 | Katrin Schwing (Ger) | 0:08:20 |
13 | Maaike Polspoel (Bel) | 0:08:44 |
14 | Silke Schmidt (Ger) | 0:09:22 |
15 | Karin Groen (Ned) | 0:10:04 |
16 | Barbara Kaltenhauser (Ger) | 0:10:19 |
17 | Alexa Hüni (Ger) | 0:10:36 |
18 | Tereza Hurikova (Cze) | 0:12:23 |
19 | Catherine Lohri (Swi) | 0:14:05 |
20 | Almut Grieb (Ger) | 0:15:21 |
21 | Sandra Bloomer (USA) | Row 20 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Markus Bauer (Ger) | 1:30:20 |
2 | Martin Fanger (Swi) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
3 | Jelmer Jubbega (Ned) | 0:00:46 |
4 | Tim Lemmers (Ned) | 0:01:21 |
5 | Andy Eyring (Ger) | 0:01:35 |
6 | Sebastien Carabin (Bel) | 0:01:46 |
7 | Erik Groen (Ned) | 0:01:57 |
8 | Marcel Fleschhut (Ger) | 0:02:08 |
9 | Marcus Schulte-Luenzum (Ger) | 0:02:58 |
10 | Giancarlo Sax (Swi) | 0:03:02 |
11 | Niels Wubben (Ned) | 0:03:14 |
12 | Ruben Scheire (Bel) | 0:03:19 |
13 | Mattias Wengelin (Swe) | 0:03:32 |
14 | Paul Van Der Ploeg (Aus) | 0:03:38 |
15 | Martin Gluth (Ger) | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
16 | Laurent Mineur (Bel) | 0:03:51 |
17 | Olof Jonsson (Swe) | 0:04:06 |
18 | Irjan Luttenberg (Ned) | 0:04:43 |
19 | Fabian Strecker (Ger) | 0:04:49 |
20 | Manfred Reis (Ger) | 0:05:23 |
21 | Mattias Nilsson (Swe) | 0:06:17 |
22 | Dries Govaerts (Bel) | 0:06:37 |
23 | Maximilian Holz (Ger) | Row 22 - Cell 2 |
24 | Marcus Nicolai (Ger) | 0:07:01 |
25 | Matthias Hoi (Aut) | 0:07:19 |
26 | Tom Ettlich (Ger) | 0:07:20 |
27 | Philipp Ziegler (Ger) | Row 26 - Cell 2 |
28 | Timo Modosch (Ger) | 0:07:21 |
29 | Benjamin Buchi (Swi) | 0:07:53 |
30 | Simon Gegenheimer (Ger) | 0:08:04 |
31 | Ludwig Döhl (Ger) | 0:08:08 |
32 | Julian Schwendemann (Ger) | 0:08:21 |
33 | Christian Bickel (Swi) | 0:08:22 |
34 | Andreas Kleiber (Ger) | 0:08:27 |
35 | Rens De Bruin (Ned) | 0:08:32 |
36 | Jonas De Backer (Bel) | 0:08:41 |
37 | Marcel Braun (Ger) | 0:08:42 |
38 | Sascha Weber (Ger) | Row 37 - Cell 2 |
39 | Titouan Perrin Ganier (Fra) | 0:09:03 |
40 | Daniel Eymann (Swi) | 0:09:11 |
41 | Anselm Wüllner (Ger) | 0:09:16 |
42 | Manuel Weissenbacher (Aut) | 0:09:28 |
43 | Johannes Közle (Ger) | 0:09:35 |
44 | Vincent Bakker (Ned) | 0:09:42 |
45 | Valentin Fiderer (Ger) | 0:09:44 |
46 | Rick Reimann (Swi) | 0:09:45 |
47 | David Simon (Ger) | 0:09:53 |
48 | Simon Stiebjahn (Ger) | 0:09:57 |
49 | Patrick Titus (Ger) | 0:09:59 |
50 | Philipp Maximilian Daum (Ger) | 0:10:31 |
51 | Bert Luca (Bel) | 0:10:36 |
52 | Robin Roelofs (Ned) | 0:10:51 |
53 | Lysander Kiesel (Ger) | 0:10:58 |
54 | Oliver Vonhausen (Ger) | 0:11:08 |
55 | Björn Herrmann (Ger) | 0:11:11 |
56 | Frank Demuth (Ger) | 0:11:17 |
57 | Andreas Muckenhirn (Ger) | 0:11:19 |
58 | Michael Wanski (Ger) | 0:11:23 |
59 | Adrian Sauer (Ger) | 0:11:24 |
60 | Steve Scheffel (Ger) | 0:11:39 |
61 | Alexander Huber (Ger) | 0:11:57 |
62 | Mario Waibel (Ger) | 0:12:32 |
63 | Lukas Schuon (Ger) | 0:12:41 |
64 | Timo Häfner (Ger) | 0:13:06 |
65 | Tommy Galle (Ger) | 0:13:24 |
66 | Tobias Trautmann (Ger) | Row 65 - Cell 2 |
67 | Felix Günter (Ger) | 0:16:07 |
68 | Yannick Burkhardt (Ger) | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
69 | Thomas Weschta (Ger) | Row 68 - Cell 2 |
70 | Lukas Holtkamp (Ger) | Row 69 - Cell 2 |
71 | Lukas Helminger (Aut) | Row 70 - Cell 2 |
72 | Barry Hayes (Ger) | Row 71 - Cell 2 |
73 | Tobias Reiser (Ger) | Row 72 - Cell 2 |
74 | Marcel Pöter (Ger) | Row 73 - Cell 2 |
75 | Lionel Vujasin (Bel) | Row 74 - Cell 2 |
76 | Fabian Obrist (Swi) | Row 75 - Cell 2 |
77 | Julian Kress (Ger) | Row 76 - Cell 2 |
78 | Pierre Happel (Ger) | Row 77 - Cell 2 |
79 | Vinzenz Bader (Ger) | Row 78 - Cell 2 |
80 | Marius Christian (Ger) | Row 79 - Cell 2 |
81 | Florian Grafmüller (Ger) | Row 80 - Cell 2 |
82 | Florian Thaller (Ger) | Row 81 - Cell 2 |
83 | Steffen Weisenseel (Ger) | Row 82 - Cell 2 |
84 | Thomas Desonay (Bel) | Row 83 - Cell 2 |
85 | Stefan Braun (Ger) | Row 84 - Cell 2 |
86 | Dominik Ziegler (Ger) | Row 85 - Cell 2 |
87 | Matthias Reichart (Ger) | Row 86 - Cell 2 |
88 | Alexander Fischer (Ger) | Row 87 - Cell 2 |
89 | Danny Neumann (Ger) | Row 88 - Cell 2 |
90 | Benjamin Merkel (Ger) | Row 89 - Cell 2 |
91 | Mirco Zürcher (Swi) | Row 90 - Cell 2 |
92 | Carlo Maschek (Ger) | Row 91 - Cell 2 |
93 | David Schiel (Ger) | Row 92 - Cell 2 |
94 | Ahmed-Ridvan Reichling (Ger) | Row 93 - Cell 2 |
95 | Jonathan Roth (Ger) | Row 94 - Cell 2 |
96 | Jonas Weber (Ger) | Row 95 - Cell 2 |
97 | Markus Chrost (Ger) | Row 96 - Cell 2 |
98 | Patrick Müller (Ger) | Row 97 - Cell 2 |
99 | Raphael Bauer (Ger) | Row 98 - Cell 2 |
100 | Etienne Bouvy (Bel) | Row 99 - Cell 2 |
101 | Jakob Breitwieser (Ger) | Row 100 - Cell 2 |
102 | Christian Weiner (Ger) | Row 101 - Cell 2 |
103 | Christian Lindner (Ger) | Row 102 - Cell 2 |
104 | Andreas Peter (Ger) | Row 103 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Alexandra Engen (Swe) | 1:16:59 |
2 | Rozanne Slik (Ned) | 0:02:38 |
3 | Anne Terpstra (Ned) | 0:02:57 |
4 | Mona Eiberweiser (Ger) | 0:04:01 |
5 | Sarah Bosch (Ger) | 0:07:10 |
6 | Vanessa Mosch (Ger) | 0:07:12 |
7 | Jennifer Fischer (Fra) | 0:07:35 |
8 | Gesa Bruchmann (Ger) | 0:09:20 |
9 | Nadine Rieder (Ger) | 0:12:35 |
10 | Luisa Moser (Ger) | 0:19:55 |
11 | Aline Brüstle (Ger) | 0:21:47 |
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
'He can be on the podium of a Grand Tour' - Matteo Jorgenson finds a perfect fit at Visma-Lease a Bike
USA rider talks Grand Tour potential and the difference between racing at Movistar to super team -
Best smart bikes 2024: Hit your training goals without leaving home
Our experts test the best smart bikes, with in-depth comparisons and advice on choosing the right one for you -
Andrey Amador retires after not racing since being run over by a truck in May
Costa Rican says retirement 'wasn't planned' after 16 seasons -
Strava plan to restrict third-party apps has users in an uproar
Fitness application makers say move will only affect a 'small fraction' of users