First and foremost, Emma Eydt, despite being new to the U19 category, she already won the second race of the MTB-Bundesliga and due to her 12th rank in the first race has also taken the overall lead in this series. One week later at the ALB GOLD Juniors it was her again to celebrate the victory – this time in an international event! Emma won in superior fashion after a 1:03 hour solo ride ahead of Simone Roßberg und Monika Kucerova (CZ).

Her brother Markus also delivered a good performance in the Juniors race. Except for a few riders the whole Junior World Series field was at the start line. With consistent lap times Markus secured 16th place after 1:08 hours in a very strong field.

Christian Pfäffle though, had to abandon the Albstadt race due to sickness. In Nove Mesto he found back to his form. Christian started the race on his Sonora SL from position 67 and survived the crash-riddled early phase. ”Luckily I was able to brake right in time to dodge the crash in front of me. At the end of lap one I was still in the exact same 67th position I started from,” Christian said after the race.

This year the course had been shortened by two climbs, which resulted in an even higher pace. Christian used it to advance consistently: In the following laps he improved by nine, then 12 places and advanced from an intermediate 46th position to place 37. Christian after the race: ”I am very pleased with my race, now that I can prepare well without being sick and when I get a good start, everything will be going well.” His next race will be the Swiss Cup in Gränichen.

For Antonia Daubermann both World Cup races in the U23 Women’s category did not work-out as planned. In Albstadt she was in a promising situation but crashed which damaged her handlebar so she could not continue. In Nove Mesto a flat tire made her fall behind and eventually forced her to abandon the race early.

At the Gonso MTB Klassik-Marathon in Albstadt, Pirmin Eisenbarth delivered an equally good performance as in the Lake Garda Bike Festival marathon race where he had finished second. On the 46km (28.6mls) course with lots of gravel, Pirmin was part of a head group from the very beginning. He finished a superb second overall and even first in his age category.

Franziska Koch meanwhile – after the XC Worlds early in the season and qualifying for the European Championships by finishing fourth at the UCI Junior World Series in Obertraun, Austria – focussed on the national Bundesliga road series. Following her win in the second race of the Bundesliga in Karbach, the U19 German Champion also found herself in an early head group in the Albstadt race through the Merdingen Vineyards.

She soon went ahead with another four riders. In the fifth lap she increased the tempo even further and – like before in Karbach – only Hannah Ludwig could follow. They collaborated well and increased their lead to one minute. Also like in Karbach Franziska dominated the final sprint and took her second road win of the season on her Stevens Ventoux.

On Top and All the Way Down
Enduro riders Veronika Brüchle and Alessandro Sepp also were successful: In the second run of the Cannondale Enduro Tour in the Vosges Mountains 300 riders had to tackle a 37km (23mls) course with 1,600m (5250ft) of climbing distributed over five stages. On the quite slippery but fast trails Alessandro only made two mistakes at the beginning which both resulted in a crash. In the remaining stages he delivered several good performances on his STEVENS Whaka Carbon, each worth a top-15 placing, to eventually finish a respectable 21st place. He was pleased with this result as well as with his improving form.

Veronika won all stages except for the first where she crashed – which resulted in the overall win for the day. ”After the crash in the beginning I was happy to be first at the finish. To finally stand on the top of the podium gives my confidence a big boost for the upcoming races,” she said after the race.