National championships are overshadowed by soccer World Cup
Tony Martin did what he wanted to do in Sangerhausen, Germany, and won the national time trial title. He de-throned teammate Bert Grabsch, a former World Championships winner in this discipline. The women’s road title went to Charlotte Becker, who beat time trial champion Judith Arndt.
Martin scored the incredible time of 35’15 on 34.5km long course – an average of almost 60km/h! He was 38 seconds ahead of his HTC-Columbia teammate Patrick Gretsch and 43 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Jens Voigt. Grabsch was almost a minute behind in fourth place.
The winner had a difficult start to the year, but things are turning around. “I am very happy that my form is coming along again,” Martin told Radsport News. Due to some over-training he had to stop early in the season, but then came on strong in the Tour of California, where he won the time trial. “That’s where I gained the mental strength that you need to win.”
Martin also beat Fabian Cancellara in the Tour de Suisse last week, finishing sixth overall. While the Tour de France is a season highlight for the young German, he and his team play down his overall ambitions.
Becker prevents Arndt double victory
Charlotte Becker won the women’s road title, edging out Judith Arndt and Trixie Worrack. Arndt had already won the time trial championships race the day before, Becker was second then. On Saturday’s road race, the two swapped the podium spots.
That the race outcome came as a surprise to many was reflected by the post-race interviews with Radsport News. “I am extremely pleased, this is a total surprise to me,” said winner Becker. “The final climb was just perfect for me, but couldn’t have been any longer.”
Arndt was also frank. “I am really very disappointed,” she said. “Charlotte has been riding well all year, although it doesn’t always get noticed, because she is so team-oriented. She absolutely deserved to win today. I just wasn’t good enough.”
Third placed Worrack, who was 14 seconds back, didn’t want to take advantage of the situation. “I didn’t have my best day. The others did most of the work, so I stayed away from the final.”
The three had escaped half-way through the race and created a large gap. The peloton was back by a large margin and was led home by defending champion Ina-Yoko Teutenberg.
Men’s road race impacted by soccer
Traditionally, the men’s road race on Sunday is the highlight of the German Championships. But even the main event has to take a back seat to king soccer. With the all-important knock-out game of Germany versus England played at 4pm in the soccer World Cup in South Africa, the organizers decided to safe the cycling event from obscurity by moving the start time up and cutting one lap of the race.
The race will now get underway at 10:30 rather than 11am and the initially planned 21 laps have been cut to 20 or 194km, down from 204.5km. The race should thus finish by 15:00 rather than 16:00. This will hopefully leave enough time for spectators to go home or at least find a public viewing spot for the soccer match. There is no question which sport is number one in Germany.