June 13, 2007 – Today, the top athletes Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm underlined in an impressive way, why “Team Bulls” is wearing the Yellow Leader Jersey. Right at the first ascent of the fourth leg, which led from Frammersbach to Bischofsheim a. d. Rhoen, both pros attacked and gave the rest of the favourite teams no chance at all. After 83 kilometres and about 2,000 metres of elevation gain, both reached the stage finish in a time of 3:00:23.

The bikers from “Rothaus-Cube” came in second (3:03:08) and are now almost four minutes behind the leaders of the overall classification. Frank Lehmann and Thomas Nicke from Saxony had left third placed “Stevens Racing Team” (3:04:26) at the track up to the “˜Kreuzberg’ behind.

That “Team Bulls” would attack that early was clear in Thomas Nicke’s mind before the start: “I knew that both would push it really hard. We weren’t able to keep up with them at all.” His team mate from “Rothaus Cube” Frank Lehmann added: “They pulled off without mercy.” Stefan Sahm, who celebrated his second day victory together with Karl Platt, explained why: “We entered the first hill with dash and recognised that there was immediately a gap to the rest. Then, we put the hammer down.” Platt affirmed: “So far, we contained ourselves. But today we tried to find out in what kind of shape we and all others are. In addition, we wanted to be more secure with our lead.”

A task which both fulfilled successfully in the Rhoen in pouring rain: After the first half of the CRAFT BIKE TRANS GERMANY, Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm were able to enlarge their overall lead on “Rothaus-Cube” up to almost three minutes and 57 seconds.

“Sachsenteam von Welt” enlarges lead in the master category

Like the days before, Robert Novotny and Milan Spolc triumphed once again. Today, both Czechs required 3:16:21 hours for the 83 kilometres. Now they lead the ranking by about 40 minutes on “Scott Racing Team Heilenmann”, which also came in second once more (3:30:07). Although they get the status of the “˜eternal runner-up’, Robert Eder hasn’t lost courage yet. “It’s better to place second than being third all the time”, Eder grinningly said. “We haven’t got a single chance to get the Czechs. Both race in another league. Ralf Opel and Andreas Schmidt of team “Ktm/Ast-Bikes.De” finished the fourth stage of the CRAFT BIKE TRANS GERMANY with 3:33:26.

“Fiat-Rotwild” also not to beat on day four in the women category

Once again, Kerstin Brachtendorf and Danièle Troesch can celebrate their fourth victory in a row like the leaders of the master and mixed classification. The German-French duo crossed the finish line in 3:54:41 hours. “Team Cube Wls” biked on the second rank (3:56:57) ahead of Sandra and Peggy Klose of team “Zwillingscraft” (4:04:26). Thus, Kerstin Brachtendorf stated after the race: “The long ascent up to the Kreuzberg was very nice and proved advantageous. Furthermore, the fantastic atmosphere this morning motivated us to push the pedal as hard as possible.” And the effort paid off: Both bikers increased their lead in the ranking up to 26.5 minutes.

Alison Sydor and Carsten Bresser plough a lonely furrow

The German-Canadian duo “Rocky Mountain/Haywood” has secured its fourth win, too. Today, the fastest mixed team came in right after the top four of the master category (3:36:10). The former Bronze medallist of the Marathon MTB-World Championships said: “We took it easy today because we don’t have the pressure to hold the speed on a very high level. We had a good group today and enjoyed our time on our bikes.” Two teams who never made it on the podium before rounded out the podium: “Zwillingscraft 2″ (4:06:16) and the Polish-Swiss squad “Craft — Right to Play” (4:14:18).

“Taunusgazellen 106″ strikes back

Yesterday, “Team Sherpa” catched up to the leaders of the grand master category due to their victory. But today, the bearers of the Green Leader Jersey answered the best possible way: After 3:52:57 hours, Wolfgang Hauck and Reinhard Doerr made it to Bischofsheim a. d. Rhoen and now sit on a comfortable lead of ten minutes again. Today’s second placed team is “Vo Dr Alb Ra” (3:55:23) which was exactly two minutes faster than the third team on the podium “Die Finisher”.