RADRENNEN CITY NORD
The racing season is in full swing and this particular weekend was a special one as almost the whole team was racing several races in Hamburg. First the road race of the 10th Radrennen City Nord and afterwards the Waterkant Crit. Starting our day early in Berlin we packed all the bikes in one car and the humans in a second car as some of us took their road and track bike. As we arrived in Hamburg the weather was much better than expected, actually the weather was perfect. Time to get dressed, talk through the tactics for the road race and get warmed up.
10TH RADRENNEN CITY NORD
Different than in the races we do most of the time, where we know most of the teams and riders, we didn’t knew anyone here. So our tactic was simple and clear: controlling the field and setting up the final sprint for Bene. With our big engines Silvio and Peter (and undercover brother Maxe) locked and loaded not a single attack was successful and the pace was kept high to stay safe in the front all the time. Five laps to go Alex went to the front and pushed the pace so we could get all set for the final laps. After Alex’ awesome effort it was three laps to go and Silvio got the diesel going and held 450 watts until the last hairpin. Nobody was even thinking about getting close to the front. Job done for him. Maxes turn, he came extremly fast through the hairpin and had a little gap to Peter who is Bene’s last lead out man. Shouting at Maxe to keep going and maintain his gap they still needed to do their thing as it wasn’t sure if Maxe would make it. So Peter launched Bene who then came in with 63km/h making sure to hold off everybody else but not overtaking Maxe for a perfect 1-2 finish with Peter still having enough speed to come in fourth. What a great race. What an incredible team effort!
WATERKANT KRIT - WOMEN'S RACE
Time for the fast ladies. Fortunately a big number of women signed up for the race so the ladies had their own race which happens to rarely in our opinion. So this was the first win. Then it got serious. After warming up all the riders set up at the starting line and were ready to rumble. 3, 2, 1, go. Marion was super fast from the start and quickly formed a breakaway with friend and rival Johanna from the Why be normal team. They soon opened a gap that could only be bridged by Kim of the St. Pauli Track Team. Now being three they found a good pace and rhythm and it was clear that the winner will come from this group. A couple laps to go Kim attacked and soon had quite a gap to Marion and Johanna. But being strong enough to not panic the two just needed two laps to roll her back in. Then it was the bell lap and they were still together. Marion came first through the headwind section and held it to be first into the final hairpin. She kept her speed perfectly and launched her sprint to the line holding off Johanna for the win. What a thrilling final! Great racing.
WATERKANT KRIT - MEN'S RACE
Around 100 men signed up for the 2016 edition of the Waterkant Crit. That’s a huge field, stacked with international competitors. So this was going to be one hell of an exciting race. You could feel the tension before the start, nobody was here to play games. And so weren’t Eike, Peter and Alex. Off they go. Full throttle from the start. Jan from Fixedpott (Standert sponsered, for those who didn’t know) did his thing with grabbing the first lap prime. From then on it was real racing. The front set a super high pace and strung out the field with Eike sitting in the first positions all the time. Still it needed some time until a breakaway formed. But then a super strong group of six went and put an initial gap between themselves and the main field. Eike was in the group putting in an huge amount of work to make the break work. Also in it Jojo, Maxe, Jörn, Bram and Jan. In a very strong move Stafan and Max from Fixedpott managed to bridge the gap and join the lead group, which now had three Fixedpott riders in it. Like this the breakaway worked well together and extended their lead. Eike was looking good and comfortable throughout the whole race and even attacked the group with a couple laps to go, which unfortunatly did not stick. The lap count went down and fortunately the 69 overlapped riders were taken out with three laps to go. All clear for the fast guys in the front fighting it out. On the last back straight Max Höflich set a strong attack with Maxe closing up going into the last hairpin. Eike right behind them in the mix. As Jan unfortunately overcooked it in the hairpin, put his pedal on the floor and forced Maxe into the barricades. The riders behind also had to react, lost their momentum and Max Höflich of Fixedpott (Standert sponsered, for those who didn’t know) was gone for the win. Eike was caught behind the crash and lost his chances for the podium but still finished a very strong 5th place after an incredible race. Peter came in with the main field finishing 13th. This was so much fun to watch, such a high level of bike racing. Thanks for racing!
