The big news of the weekend came before practice even started. Defending 4X ProTour Champion Tomas Slavik unfortunately had to sit this event out due to an illness that has sidelined him for the last 2 weeks. In addition to Slavik, his teammate Felix Beckeman was still recovering from a severe ankle break earlier this year and Australian Blake Nielsen unfortunately crashed in practice, fracturing his collarbone.
In men's qualifying, the action started early when UK rider Ricky Crompton did a backflip in his run. Everything looked great until he lost control after landing unfortunately dislocating his shoulder.
It was awesome to see Martin Soderstrom back racing 4X in addition to the PumpTrack and FMB events in Winterberg. He qualified in 30th position which was an awesome performance. At the sharp end, it was Hannes Slavik (no relation to Tomas) from Austria who had a perfect run to take the fastest time ahead of Quentin Derbier, with Scott Beaumont in 3rd. Just 2 seconds covered the top 25 riders making this an extremely tight qualifying session.
It was the quarter finals though, where some real shocks came along. Fastest qualifier Hannes Slavik went out in his quarter final.
Jessica Schmulbach won the small final to give her 5th place for the day and the final podium position. In the main final, fastest qualifier Julia Lackas took gate 1, Helene Fruwirth was in 2, Marisa Roth in 3 and Michaela Berakova in 4. Fruhwirth got the snap and led into turn 1. Lackas was close to her and got on her back wheel to settle into 2nd. Roth made a great pass on Berakova to move into 3rd. Lackas hounded Fruhwirth all the way, but just could not find a way past. Fruhwirth took the win from Lackas and Roth.
Results – Women:
1st - Helene Fruhwirth
2nd - Julia Lackas
3rd - Marisa Roth
Derbier took gate 1, Beaumont on 2, Waldburger on 3 and Last on 4. As the gate dropped, Derbier led into turn 1 with Last pressuring from the outside. Then from tight inside Waldburger made his move. The 3 riders came together and in a smart move Beaumont dived even tighter inside. On the exit of the turn it was Derbier from Beaumont. These 2 had a lead now over Last. From here to the finish it was a masterful display by Derbier and Beaumont. Absolutely flat out, tyres on the limit, full gas perfection. They were wheel to wheel and that was the way it stayed. Derbier took the win from Beaumont, Last and Waldburger.
Quentin Derbier was clearly happy with the win: ‘I have had an awesome winter of training and it is paying off right now. I’m stoked to take the win here in Winterberg and leave here with the 4X ProTour points lead.’
Results – Men:
1st - Quentin Derbier
2nd - Scott Beaumont
3rd - Benedikt Last
So that was it from Winterberg and round 1. Some great racing, huge crowds, a few fresh names and the top riders from 2014 again showing they are ready to make a challenge for the 2015 title. The next round of 4X ProTour is in Fort William on June 6th so stay tuned!
Photos: ©
Source: http:// www.4xprotour.com
