Schlagwort-Archive: Max Brandl and Luca Schwarzbauer

Bundesliga Gedern / MTB Grand Prix Obertraun: Brandl and Schwarzbauer trump

At the second Bundesliga race of the season in Gedern, Max Brandl and Luca Schwarzbauer have given the Lexware mountain bike team a double victory. David List came in twelfth and Thore Hemmerling took two second places in the junior sighting in Hesse.

Riders in the U23 category rarely have a privilege of a direct comparison with Elite racers. Thus it is difficult to judge one’s standing in advance and therefore Max Brandl’s statements were very respectful. Accordingly, the performance of Max Brandl and Luca Schwarzbauer over the courseof six laps on a 3.7 kilometer loop (plus 1.8km start loop) in Gedern was rather surprising. At least that they were „in their own league“, as third-placed Simon Stiebjahn admitted after the race.

Luca Schwarzbauer already tore a small gap after the shortened start lap. His team-mate Max Brandl therefore tried to control the pace in the chasing group, but after round two the cards were shuffled again. „My plan was to start defensively and when Luca was in front, I didn’ try to close the gap,“ said Brandl about this initial situation. However, he noticed that his companions in the chasing group had some trouble in the uphills. Thus he was able to close the eight-second gap to Schwarzbauer alone. The pursuers around Simon Stiebjahn (Titisee-Neustadt), Julian Schelb (Muenstertal) and Ben Zwiehoff (Essen) were able to catch up again, but then Brandl attacked once more in the uphill – only Schwarzbauer could follow.

„For me, it was too fast in that moment, but I knew it would probably be decisive and so I really pushed hard,“ Schwarzbauer commented on the events in round three. It should indeed pay off. The two friends worked together until the penultimate round, extending the lead over a four-man chasing group to one minute. „Then Max was able to open a small gap rather unspectacularly and off he went,“ said Schwarzbauer. „I felt fine today, but not great. It’s really remarkable that we’ve all left the elite riders behind. “

Max Brandl, who had seen the Bundesliga race rather as a stopover on the way to next weekend’s World Cup in Albstadt, pointed out that one had „experimented with the drive-train“. „This really worked well and saved me some grains in the uphills. Also, I know the track since the U11. Even though I have not raced here for the past three years, I think I have some cool lines here, „Brandl said with a grin after his second win of the season. He won in 1:09:49 (race was shortened due to threatening thunderstorms), 35 seconds ahead of Schwarzbauer.

List with chooses wrong material, bad luck for Egger
David List finished in 12th place (+3:27). He had decided to race on his Scott
hardtail, speculating on a muddy course. But the rain did not set in until after
the event. Thus „a fully would certainly have been better,“ List acknowledged.
Also he said he ”did not feel super fresh after training last week, but it was OK
so far.”

Georg Egger quit the race due to a tire defect just after passing the technical
zone on lap five. By then he was in seventh place, just behind former national
champion Markus Schulte-Lünzum, who finished fourth. Egger had the second
fastest time on lap four. Lars Hemmerling had bad luck too. He fell ill a couple
of days before the juniors race and had to pass his start.
Junior sighting: Hemmerling „definitely satisfied“

In the junior sighting race, Thore Hemmerling was able to finish second after
four laps. The Lexware rider from Saarland was only seven seconds behind the
winner Louis Krauss (Neckartenzlingen, 39:51). „I’m definitely happy with
second place,“ said Hemmerling, who already finished second the day
before. In the new Skills Competition he came in 1.4 seconds behind Thorben
Jost (Grünberg).

In the female youth race, Lina Riesterer demonstrated improved form
compared to the prelude in Hausach. The girl from Breitnau finished fifth after
a rather modest start („that’s my problem since this season“), 2:02 minutes
behind Luisa Daubermann (Gessertshausen, 39:27). After the 1.8km start lap,
Riesterer was in ninth position and consistently gained positions in the
remaining course. „That was definitely better than Hausach,“ Riesterer
nodded. In the race on Saturday she came in 6th, just missing a better place,
because she laid a rollover at the last (pallet) obstacle.
MTB Grand Prix Obertraun: Zurnieden just past points

Jannick Zurnieden looks back to the race weekend with mixed feelings.
Satisfied with his performance, but a little disappointed that he could not take
home points from Austria. After racing in the junior class last year, he was in
19th place for quite some time, but then the race – and the level in general –
was a little too high for the youngster. With 10:43 minutes on Winner Martin
Loo (Estonia, 1:34:13) he finally came in 26th. „The performance was a lot
better than recently, but in the end my foot started hurt. Maybe I did not
warm-up long enough, „Zurnieden said.

Lexware Mountainbike Team_Haiming_Schaan_Kempten_Solingen Report

Ötztal Bike-Festival Haiming / Swiss Bike-Cup Schaan / Marathon Kempten:
Double Bedroom winners

Max Brandl and Luca Schwarzbauer of Team Lexware Mountainbiking were able to win the U23 race at the Ötztal Mountainbike-Festival in Haiming, Austria. Georg Egger with strong performance in the Elite race. Matthias Bettinger misses victory in Kempten only by a tiny little.

During the three weeks at the World Cup and the training camp in South Africa Max Brandl and Luca Schwarzbauer were sharing a double bedroom. Seemingly they have grown together – at least it took until the second round in the U23 race of the Ötztal Mountain Bike Festival, before the two riders from the team from the Black Forest got separated. But this was at a stage of the race, where the rest of the competition was already distanced. And this competition was not a bad one at all including e.g. Neilo Perrin Ganier (Fra) who finished third at the Stellenbosch WC.

Luca Schwarzbauer had led the field into the longest climb, Max Brandl was able to follow. Leading at the top of this hill, they were able to increase the lead to 25 seconds by the middle of the second lap.

„I thought, either you went way too fast now or you’re in a really good shape,“ Schwarzbauer said after the race. He really was in a pretty good shape – although he could not keep up with his team-mate in the technical passages.

„I realized that I was able to go faster in some places, so I passed Luca hoping that he could follow my flow,“ Brandl said. „This indeed worked out until the middle of the second lap, but then there was a gap and I tried to control the ride with constant pacing.“ This had already been his strategy before the race. With 1:34 minutes ahead of his Lexware team-mate Luca Schwarzbauer and 2:09 minutes ahead of Frenchman Clément Berthet, Brandl was able to win for the first time in the season. With 1:19:17 he set a new course record.

The doublebe room was blown up, but Luca Schwarzbauer was able to keep up his pace and even gain some time against his followers. „I really had a wonderful start, but got some technical difficulties later on. Max was better in these sections. The last part of the race was hard but I never needed to go beyond my limits. I’m really happy.”

The German Junior Champion David List came in seventh (+3: 40). This is also a remarkable success for the Lexware rider from Friedrichshafen. After a strong start but “had to pay tribute for that and get off the gas“ List said. From then on he tried to keep his own rhythm, without losing too many positions. „Fortunately, that worked out quite well“, he was commenting on his result, which was also satisfying for the German national coach Peter Schaupp.

Teammate Jannick Zurnieden finishing 16th (+9: 39) did not disappoint,
Vinzent Dorn did not start.

Elite race: Egger finishes as best German rider
In Nals there was already some indication that Georg Egger’s shape was in
upward trending. But race as good as delievered in Haiming was not to be
expected. Egger had a good start and was in the leading group after lap
one. Although he “had to breathe pretty much” he was able to continue on
a high level. After World Cup winner Sam Gaze from New Zealand had to
give up, Egger was lonely on fourth place by the fifth of seven laps. „The last
one or two laps were extremely hard“ said Egger, who had to let the two
Austrians Karl Markt and Gregor Raggl (both Möbel Märki) pass. Also,
Marco Fontana (Bianchi-Countervail) passed Egger, but the third of the
German National Championships remained mentally strong. „I still had some
gas in the tank and could finally boil down Fontana in the last climb,“ Egger
said. This is even more remarkable, because Egger had serious doubts before
the race: Sitting problems had caused a „tight back“. It was not optimal in the
race either. All the more surprising that he finished as Germany’s best rider
with 3:48 minutes behind Maxime Marotte (1:31:57). The podium was stacked
with world class riders only: Marotte, his French compatriot Stephane Tempier
and European champion Florian Vogel.

Bettinger only beaten in the sprint
At the marathon in Kempten, Matthias Bettinger from Breitnau finished strong
with a second place, just as in the previous year. And again he only had to
give in to German ex-champion Markus Kaufmann (Meckenbeuren). Also like
last year, the duo reached the finish area together. Kaufmann won the sprint
(2:21:49 hours) before Bettinger, who was only one second behind. A really
satisfying result for the Lexware rider, who came in 42 seconds ahead of
Roger Jenny from Switzerland.
Schaan and Solingen

In Schaan (Liechtenstein) Lars Koch from Furtwangen did not have an optimal
day in the U23 race and completed the race in 27th place, 4:44 Minutes
behind San Joel Roth (Switzerland).

In Solingen, Thore Hemmerling reached a strong third place behind two
Belgians in the U17 category. The rider from Saarland finished 41 seconds
behind Jarne Vandersteen. His brother Lars came in on the 10th position in the
junior race, 3:51 minutes behind Tim van Dijke from the Netherlands.
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www.lexware-mountainbike-team.de
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