Alban Lakata wins second stage as Karl Platt wraps up overall lead in Trans Zollernalb 2011
Topeak-Ergon Racing team’s Alban Lakata showed a superior performance in the second stage of Trans Zollernalb 2011 on Saturday, September 24 between Balingen and Albstadt.
The Austrian cross country Champion set the fastest time of 2 hours, 48 minutes and 19 seconds to cover the distance of 82 kilometres. Karl Platt of Team Bulls was in second spot with the same timing of Lakata.
After winning the stage Lakata told Cyclingnews.com "I did not have the very best legs today, but I could keep with the top group. I'm happy with my first stage win, and tomorrow I will try everything take the jersey."
In the final kilometres, the group of three cyclists made their first breakaway lead including, Andreas Kugler (Multivan-Merida Biking Team), Tim Bohme (Team Bulls) and Balz Weber (BMC Mountainbike Racing Team). All of them worked hard and gained an advantage
of a few seconds over the peloton while Andreas Kugler showed good sprinting abilities and took the first sprint.
With 41.4 kilometres to go, Tim Bohme was the last man who followed Kugler and launched an attack to take the second intermediate sprint. The top chasers were in good form and built a gap of two minutes to Kugler.
Lakata made a fault in the last corner so he lost the chance to gain a lead while Kugler took the third sprint of the stage. With few kilometres to go, the chaser successfully caught Kugler and Lakata work hard and quickly crossed the finish line ahead of
the other riders to take the victory.
Bulls’ rider Karl Platt took the overall lead with a time of 4 hours, 34 minutes and 35 seconds while stage winner Lakata was down two seconds and took runner-up spot.
Alexandre Moos was in third spot with a difference of five seconds ahead of Robert Mennen (Topeak-Ergon Racing Team) and Hannes Genze (Multivan-Merida Biking Team).
In the Women’s category, Ann-Katrin Hellstern (BQ-Cycling-Team / RIG Freiburg) retained her stage victory while Gabi Stanger (Centurion) was in second spot with a difference of one minute and 39 seconds.
Ivonne Kraft (Team Nutrixxion) was unable to hold the pace and finished third with a huge difference of 16 minutes and 1 second. Hellstern took the overall lead with a time of 5 hours, 36 minutes and 16 seconds while Stanger was in second spot losing by
a difference of 6 minutes and 26 seconds. Kraft finished third ahead of Katharina Albert (Best-Bike-Parts).
The final stage will start in Albstadt and finish in Hechingen as all the cyclists will cover the distance of 78 kilometres. It will be interesting to see who will wear the final yellow jersey.
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