Defending champ Sauser opens Trans Germany with stage win

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Reigning marathon world champion Christoph Sauser (Specialized) brought the home best possible start for his mission of securing the three-peat. As the favorite, he mastered the opening and so-called 73km queen's stage of this year's edition from Sonthofen to Pfronten in 3:05.48 and was 1:12 faster than surprise runner-up Matthias Bettinger (Team Centurion-Vaude). David George (Nedbank Team 360life) rounded out the podium in third.

After his wins in 2010 and 2011, Sauser seems to be well-prepared to write Trans Germany history. So far, no mountain biker has ever won the overall ranking of the four-day event three times in a row.

However, the 2000 Olympic bronze is facing some strong competition. Today, he had to close the gap to George over almost half of the distance of the Allgau leg; George had outpaced the field in the first climb to Imberger Horn and thus taken over the lead in the best climber category for the green jersey.

"It was pretty tough today," said Sauser right after the finish. Just like last year, I had some problems on the first ascent. But fortunately, I get better and better as the race goes on."

At the second food station, Sauser and last year's third ranked Markus Kaufmann drew level with George. Thereafter, Sauser was able to - after later on runner-up Matthias Bettinger had also caught up - break away at the final climb up to Edelsberg. "At this point, I finally was able to outdistance them. Now, it'a all about defending the yellow jersey and riding tactically."

Disappointed King

Other than Sauser, George was - understandably enough - not so pleased with the result as the Cape Town resident had to content himself with the third spot after being in the lead for quite a long time.

"Of course I'm a little bit disappointed. Maybe I should have gone a bit easier on the first climb. But I wanted to see how strong the other guys were and also to isolate Christoph," said George.

Although "King George" is now already a bit behind, his tactic remains the same. "I will keep on attacking and take every opportunity I get."

It will be interesting to see if Bettinger will be able to mix it at the top again as the fastest German in the field was pretty surprised by himself. "I never thought of anything like that although I did train very well over Whitsun. But anyway, I didn't think of being that strong. We'll see how it goes on the next days."

Women: Landtwing puts defending champion in her place

In the women's category, Milena Landtwing, who had finished the Trans Germany in third in 2010 and 2011, took over the pink leader's jersey for the first time. Despite a flat, the Swiss woman cranked the pedals for Centurion-Vaude into Pfronten, finishing in a time of 3:43:13, 1:45 ahead of last year's winner Pia Sundstedt (Craft-Rocky Mountain).

"I'm pretty surprised. I had to be careful not to over pace during the race," said Landtwing.

Sundstedt was handicapped by some stomach problems and could not recharge her batteries properly at the food stations.

Silke Schmidt (notebooksbilliger.de) came in third in 3:47.14.

Masters 40+: Strobel saves one second in the master category

Among the 40+ racers, Garmisch-Partenkirchen resident Andreas Strobel finished things off with a bang. After the Centurion-Vaude rider had gained a lead of some two minutes over the course of the stage, he lost nearly all of it again to his strongest pursuer Carsten Bresser (Craft - Rocky Mountain); in the end, the 40-year-old crossed the finish line after 3:14.31, only one second ahead of the reigning champion.

"I felt very strong in the beginning and really enjoyed my time keeping up with the elite racers," said Strobel. "But then, Rupert (Palmberger) had a flat tire, and I was all alone out there. You never know how big the advantage would have been with a strong teammate at my side."

Austria's Heinz Zoerweg of Team Factory Cube came in third in the master's category.

Masters 50+: Perkmann best super master

Among the 50+ racers, South Tyrolean Walter Perkmann clinched the Trans Germany stage opener and thus took over the green leader's jersey in 3:40.16. The Craft and Friends team member now has a decent lead of some nine minutes on his pursuers.

Henrik Cohen (Team Geels) and Werner Hoepperger (Team Tiroler Zugspitz Arena) have to hope for a mistake of the leading senior in order to put Perkmann under pressure over the course of the three remaining stages.

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