Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Andreas Schillinger won convincingly in Prague

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Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: News 2010

Published on Monday, 27 September 2010 11:22

Written by Luca Salvatelli

268 kilometers, almost 8 hours on the bike, continuous rain and low temperature. Neither the length of the classic race Prague - Karlovy Vary - Prague (UCI 1.2) nor the Czech weather could prevent Team NetApp from winning today. Team NetApp dominated and won convincingly one of the longest one-day races in cycling with impressive teamwork.

"That was a great team performance on our part. Everyone did their job. When a race goes off that well, you just have to win. The whole team deserved the victory. I’m simply delighted," Andreas Schillinger beamed.

"Today we were in the picture the whole time – everything went according to plan. The riders put our tactical instructions into action perfectly. Team NetApp dominated the race. The fact we performed like this in such a classic makes me proud," added a jubilant Enrico Poitschke, Sport Director of the NetApp team.

"I am very proud that we won this race. This was the first victory of Team NetApp in a one-day-race. And winning a race with such a long distance is just impressive. That makes me very optimistic about riding in the ProContinental league next season," says Ralph Denk, Team Manager of Team NetApp.

After only 20 km the expected early breakaway group of ten riders had formed. Team NetApp youngster Michael Schwarzmann was one of them. The field let the group pull away, such that a maximum lead of 16 minutes developed. For Michael Schwarzmann tactics required him not to squander his energy too early in the efforts of the lead group.

At the 100 km mark it turned colder and unbroken rain set in. For the field, led by Team NetApp riders Alexander Gottfried and Cesare Benedetti, this was the signal to begin with the chase. Today Gottfried and Benedetti led almost 150 km at the vanguard of the field and were mainly responsible for the breakaway group’s lead quickly dwindling down to three minutes.

Just before the group was finally caught from the field, Michael Schwarzmann again launched a sole attack and opened up a lead of 90 seconds on the pursuers. As a result of the high speed and attacks in undulating terrain, the field quickly split up 50 km before the finish and a group of 50 riders was able to pull away. Apart from Gottfried and Benedetti, this group included the entire NetApp team. Once this group had drawn level with Schwarzmann, many attacks were launched.

Andreas Schillinger made the decisive attack 20 km before the finish, with only Leopold König (PSK Whirlpool Author) being able to follow. On the final circuit on the twisting streets of Prague Schillinger and König still had a lead of 35 seconds over their pursuers. Just before the finish Stefan Schäfer (LKT Team Brandenburg) moved up close to the two front-runners. But Andreas Schillinger won the race decisively with several bike lengths. Jan Barta’s fourth place rounded off the good team result.

1. Andreas Schillinger - Team NetApp

2. Stefan Schäfer - LKT Team Brandenburg

3. Leopold König - PSK Whirlpool Author

4. Jan Barta - Team NetApp

5. Stanislav Kozubek - PSK Whirlpool Author

...

20. Andreas Dietziker - Team NetApp

26. Eric Baumann - Team NetApp

29. Timon Seubert - Team NetApp

(Gottfried, Schwarzmann, Benedetti - DNF)