Dolomiti Superbike - what a race!
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The 16th Dolomiti Superbike in Niederdorf was ‘THE EVENT’ for sport lovers, fans and photographers: 3 648 explosive racers from 33 nations, radiant sunshine and thousands of fans shook the village for three days long. The recently declared UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Dolomites, did not want to miss out on anyone. They arrived from 33 nations, with certainty the most exotic being the challengers from Australia, Indonesia and Brazil. After Italy, the most participants came from Germany with 263 Bikers, followed by Austria, Belgian, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Spain. The majority of contenders were between 34 and 47 years old, whereas the oldest competitor a formidable 70 years old was there treading pedals.The organisation surrounding OC-Chief Kurt Ploner and his Vice President Karl Egarter, as always was prepared for the event right down to the finest detail “so that one is equipped for a sudden surprise”, said the organisers. Kurt Ploner welcomed the good cooperation between "the five municipalities within the Alto Adige namely: Niederdorf, Prags, Toblach, Sesto and San Candido who always supported us with many volunteers. There's a lot of work and energy behind the organisation and the running of this event. I would like at this point to thank the approximately 500 volunteers”. | |
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The Winner Short Distance 56, 9 km The South Tyrolean Klaus Fontana from Olang won in a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes and 8 seconds over the short Distance of 56, 9 km and at 1 688 m altitude – Triumphant among the women was Theresia Kellermayr from Graz. The Austrian national MTB Marathon Champion Theresia Kellermayr (2:46:34,5) and Klaus Fontana have won the 16th Südtirol Dolomiti Superbike over the short distance. The reigning Italian champion, Marika Covre from the Province of Treviso, after a head-on-head race with less than 15 seconds behind, was second while third place went to Valentina Danese from Vipiteno (Italy). In the men’s race, last year’s winner Andreas Laner with a two minute and 44 seconds backlog came through in second place and third in a time of 2:18:04, 3 went to Lukas Platzgummer from Naturno (Italy). The winner Klaus Fontana despite a fall on the single-track trail went ahead shortly before the end as the clear winner. For him it was "a good decision to have chosen the short distance." He came in with more than two minutes ahead at the finish. With a slight distance between them, the two fastest women contested for a win. Kellermayr overtook Covre only at the last downhill. Earlier, the women's race proved to an exciting duel. Among the fast cyclists in the short distance are the Olympic participants Alessandro Pittin and Christoph Innerhofer. Pittin, the Nordic Combined skier and bronze medallist in Vancouver, keeps fit particularly in summer with mountain bike training. Innerhofer does the same. He came in the 61st place at the finish.
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Long Distance 119, 9 km - Swiss Double Victory Urs Huber 4:50.06, 5 - Victory for the long Distance, the Italian Mirko Celestino landed in second place in front of the Sarentaler Mike Felderer. The Ladies Event ended with another Swiss Victory. Erika Dicht is the winner with a time of 5 hours, 44 minutes and six seconds ahead of Finland's Pia Sunstedt and Britains Sally Bigham. Urs Huber of Switzerland celebrated his second victory and respectively his third one in Niederdorf. He won the Superbike in 2008 and the Bronze medal at the World Championship in the same year. He returned to collect the gold ahead of Celestino and Felderer. “I said yesterday I want to win and I have shown today that I can. Despite the sun and the heat I started 40 km from the finish line to attack and managed to decouple from Mirko Celestino and Mike Felderer, "reiterated the happy winner.”I was surprised this morning how many spectators at 7.30 had already taken up positions for the start of the race which is indicative of good organisation and a fantastic race." Celestino improved upon his fourth position of last year and has moved into second place. Similarly, Felderer has landed in third place. The Sarntaler wanted to be on the “podium" and has managed to do it, "I was leading in the front, but in Silvestro I had to switch back a gear. I would like to have caught up to Mirko as I noticed he was plagued by cramp, but it was not possible. Urs Huber and Mirko Celestino were simply in better form. However, I am totally happy with third place". In the women race the Swiss entrant Erika Dicht was victorious with a time of 5:44.04, 6 followed by the Finn, Pia Sunsted and then Sally Bigham from Britain. The 29 year old from Switzerland cycled in her first race this season because up until now she has been busy with advanced education. All the more reason for the winner to claim it a “super race, but very hard, because I was often alone for long distances." However, Dicht was aware of the strong competition and so the lady from Davos who often trains on the Flüela Pass in summer, left everyone behind. The Finn has during the last few years, always returned to Niederdorf, "if you don’t have a good day, you can’t get to number one. Erika was super today. I ask myself again and again in the middle of this race why I am doing this? I must be crazy to come back here voluntarily every year. The Dolomiti Superbike is one of the toughest races where the bikers have to climb a total of almost 4000 meters." | |
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Scott Junior Trophy 2010 Europe’s biggest MTB-Series for the youth and children in Niederdorf Early to exercise: those who would later hope to take part such as the adults in the hardest Mountain bike Race in the World, the Dolomiti Superbike have today unpacked a bike. Today, 342 children and youth were present at the start. The race operates as the Scott Junior Trophy 2010, an extremely popular, European Mountain Bike Series, sponsored by Milka. At the start today, children and young people aged three to 15 years circuited the courses between one to eight kilometres. As always, two-wheel cycles of every type were admitted. The young talents came in 12 classes and pedalled in true race form.  Cheered on by a jubilant crowd came the biggest as well as the smallest racers towards their goal and were rewarded with great prizes. The strongest category was represented by the seven to eight year olds with a total of 67 participants. Amongst the very young ranging from three and four years were 24 boys and 13 girls. Important of course are the fans on the edge of the track accompanying and cheering the bikers of tomorrow. The Scott Junior Trophy powered by Milka is already an international biking institution and Niederdorf is very excited to be one of two chosen venues in Italy. "We are quite sure some of the young talent in a few years will be at the start of the Südtirol Dolomiti Superbike", said the Vice-President of the Organizing Committee, Karl Egarter, who coordinates the "children's race”. But on Sunday we must deal with one of the hardest routes in general, "tomorrow there is 119.9 kilometres through the bizarre landscape of the Dolomites at 3822 m above sea level or alternatively the 56.9 km at 1 688m altitude. | |
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| Photos made by Bettina Ravanelli | |
Official homepage www.dolomitisuperbike.com  FOR RESULTS 2010 SEE HERE | |
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