Christopher Sauser wins the opening stage of the Trans Germany 2012
Christopher Sauser of Team Specialized wins the opening 73.1 kilometre stage 1 of the Trans Germany 2012.
He completed the chase to Pfronten in a quickest time of 3 hours, 5 minutes and 8 seconds to bag an important victory.
Matthias Bettinger of Team Centurion Vaude fell 1 minute and 2 seconds behind and achieved the second position.
David George of Team Nedbank Team 360Life, Thomas Dietsch of Team Bulls and Daniel Geismayr of Team Centurion Vaude achieved the third, the fourth and the fifth positions respectively.
The 36-year-old was delighted after the stage victory and briefed that he struggled during the first climb of the race but managed to recover in time and secured the top podium position.
He briefed, "It was pretty tough today, just like last year, I had some problems on the first ascent. But fortunately, I get better and better as the race goes on".
Christopher Sauser, Markus Kaufmann and David George levelled during the second food station but Christopher managed to take the lead over his main rivals.
"At this point, I finally was able to outdistance them. Now, it’s all about defending the yellow jersey and riding tactically".
David George was disappointed with his third place finish and noted that he should have tried harder on the first mountain of the race.
"Of course I'm a little bit disappointed,” George cited.
“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".
On the other hand, Milena Landtwing of Team Centurion Vaude succeeded during the women’s category of the race.
She completed the race in a quickest time of 3 hours, 43 minutes and 13 seconds and occupied the top podium spot.
Pia Sundstedt of Team Craft-Rocky Mountain finished 1minute and 46 seconds behind at the second position with Silke Schmidt, Elisabeth Brandau and Mona Eiberweiser achieving the next three spots respectively.
Andreas Strobel of Team Centurion Vaude, Carsten Bresser of Team Craft-Rocky Mountain Team and Heinz Zorweg of Team Factory Cube were the top three cyclists at the Masters 40+.
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