The fans experienced a rapid start to the local cycling league in Leonding today – to be more precise: the fastest so far. The average speed of 43.2 kilometers per hour set a new record in the opening race. After 153.2 kilometers and 3:32:42 hours, Riccardo Verza and his team from Hrinkow Advarics were the happiest – it was for the team from Steyr the first victory in Leonding.
“Winning here was one of our big goals. We’ve never managed to do that to date,” said Italian Verza, who was one second ahead of Felbermayr Wels pro Riccardo Zoidl.
The two were part of a quartet that had previously broken away in the mountains classification at Scharfrichter Aichberg. Antoine Berlin (Team Vorarlberg) and Jaka Primozic (Hrinkow) finished third and fourth. “The win was clear to Jaka, who launched the attack and did a great job,” said Verza.
Things were clearer for the women: The German Katharina Fox left the field early and crossed the finish line as a soloist after a total of 64.8 kilometers and 1:41 hours. The 26-year-old was 2:18 minutes ahead of the second-placed Czech Nela Slanikova.
Leila Gschwentner was the best Austrian in fifth place. “We experienced a great start to the season,” said Upper Austria’s Rad-President Paul Resch, who thanked the 40 marshals and praised the city of Leonding for the cooperation.
Roglic seized Evenepoel
In the Tour of Catalonia, which is part of the World Tour, Slovenian Primoz Roglic won the exchange of blows with world champion Remco Evenepoel. After another big fight on the Montjuic circuit in Barcelona, the jumbo captain was just behind against the Belgian, but secured the overall victory.
In the final tally, just six seconds separated the dominant duo, who will meet at the Giro d’Italia in May, with two stage wins each. The Waldinger Rainer Kepplinger rendered helper services for Bahrain captain Mikel Landa.
The 85th edition of the classic Gent-Wevelgem was dominated by the Jumbo Visma pros Christophe Laporte (Fra) and Wout van Aert (Bel), who escaped the field about 50 kilometers from the finish. Van Aert, who had already clinched the E3 prize during the week, ultimately conceded victory to his teammate without a fight.
