June 16, 2007 – Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm have won the final stage of the Craft Bike Trans Germany, which run from Schoeneck to Oberwiesenthal today and thus also took home the Champions Ring. The top athletes of the first ever mountain bike stage race across Germany secured their sixth day victory within a time of 3:00:02 hours. All in all, “Team Bulls” needed 28:52:41 hours for the 836.79 kilometres and 18,313 metres of elevation gain.

Today’s podium and the overall ranking was rounded out by “Rothaus-Cube” (3:01:52) with Frank Lehmann and Thomas Nicke as well as “Team Fiat Rotwild (3:04:20) consisting of Andreas Strobel and Silvio Wieltschnig.

But after 30 kilometres, it seemed that the “Scott Racing Team” could make the decision for the third overall rank a much closer one. Sickmueller/Birkenfeld attacked and only “Team Bulls” and “Rothaus-Cube” were able to follow. But until the Fichtelberg, “Team Fiat Rotwild” catched up again and defended its third spot in the men’s table. “We cycled very tactically today and just reacted to secure the third rank. So, we made it back to the leading teams again,” explained Austria’s Silvio Wieltschnig.

At the final ascent up on the roof of the Craft Bike Trans Germany, which started in St. Wendel in the Saarland and ended in Oberwiesenthal in the Erz Mountains, “Team Bulls” underlined their outstanding performance and showed why they bore the Yellow Jersey quite rightly. “We wanted to win at all costs. That it worked out is like a dream comes true,” said Stefan Sahm. Looking back on the whole week, Karl Platt added: “It was a very special experience, to get to know Germany in an absolute different way. Biking from west to east of the country was nuts!”

“Team Cube Wls” secures day victory and women ranking
Denmark’s “Team Cube Wls” has won the overall women ranking besides today’s leg. From Schoeneck to Oberwiesenthal, the Norgaard sisters needed 3:41:51 hours. Both finished the whole race (35:36:55) with a lead of almost one hour ahead of today’s second placed “Zwillingscraft” (3:56:15) consisting of the twins Sandra and Peggy Klose.

“We hoped to finish within the top five. It’s sheer madness that we won! It was an amazing experience,” said Kristine Norgaard. Her younger sister Anna-Sofie was all smiles, too: “I came here with almost no preparation. It worked out very well. I’m proud of our performance.”

“Team Knowledgepark” came in third this Saturday (3:58:05) and thus made it on the podium for the first time. Overall third “Team Bad Steben” followed on fourth place with a gap of almost five minutes.

Eight out of eight — “Sachsenteam von Welt” wins also last leg
Robert Novotny and Milan Spolc have also won the last stage of the Craft Bike Trans Germany and thus kept their clean slate. The “Sachsenteam von Welt” needed 3:12:33 hours for the shortest part of the stage race across Germany. Summed up, the Czech bikers pedalled 30:45:19 hours.

No wonder that Novotny was very pleased with the result: “The week in Germany was very hard due to the weather. It was very exhausting. But we are very glad that we won the premiere.”

Second in Oberwiesenthal and therefore overall fourth was team “Belli” with 3:29:58 hours. “Ktm/Ast-Bikes.De” came in third (3:33:46) and finished the master category on the same spot. Overalls second ranked “Scott Racing Team Heilenmann” ended fourth today (3:34:43).

“Rocky Mountain/Haywood also unbeaten in mixed classification
Alison Sydor and Carsten Bresser also have triumphed in eight out of eight stages. Today, the Canadian-German team made it in 3:31:28 hours into the finish. Right after the race, Carsten Bresser said: “It was a pleasure and honour for me to bike together with Alison. I really enjoyed the whole week. It was very nice how all stage towns welcomed us and send us back on the track. I didn’t expect this at all. It was a perfect premiere of the Craft Bike Trans Germany.”

“Zwillingscraft 2″ ended up second today (3:54:44). Indeed Kluessendorf/Steck were able to catch up seven minutes to today’s third duo “Bobteam.Info” (4:01:52). But in the end, they had to accept the third overall rank behind of Maas/Behr.

“Die Finisher” bring home Green Jersey
Erich Stephan and Eugen Roehrle have secured the triumph on the last stage (3:42:29) besides the Champions rings (36:36:49). “Die Finisher” thus relegated “Vo Dr Alb Ra” on a close second rank (3:43:52). Josef Loeffler and Hans Juergen Ammann therefore ended as third in the overall table of the grand master category. Team “Deutsche Post” came in third (4:00:16). Fourth placed “Taunusgazellen 106″ (4:04:16), which led for the first days, kept their second spot of the overall ranking.