Rocky Mountain's Alison Sydor & Daniel Gathof Win 2009 TransAlp Challenge
Coming into the 2009 edition of the TransAlp Challenge, nothing was certain for Rocky Mountain’s Alison Sydor and her partner Daniel Gathof.
The first stage was cancelled due to dangerous weather, a first in the events history and a very rare occurrence in mountain bike racing in general. Snow blanketed the high alpine terrain and race organizers decided the chance of hypothermia was too great to risk.
The weather held off for stage two and Sydor and Gathof went to work to show the other teams what they could do. The Canadian-German team crossed the finish in Rotholz after 2:35:42.3 hours, only 0.3 seconds ahead of Anita Steiner and Sepp Fischli from Stoeckli Craft/Fischli Bikes from Switzerland. Daniela Storch and Alexander Stark rounded out the podium as third in a time of 2:46:58.4 hours.
On the third stage Sydor and Gathof confirmed their right to wear the leaders jersey. Both secured their back-to-back win in 3:51:04.7 hours thus extending their lead in the mixed classification as second ranked Stoeckli Craft/Fischli Bikes-riders Anita Steiner and Sepp Fischli from Switzerland lost nine minutes (4:00:14.4). Martin Jochem and Steffi Hadraschek from the German Sebamed team celebrated their first Transalp podium as third (4:01:36.7).
Stage four was dj vu for Sydor and Gathof. They rolled into the finish in St.Christina after 5:09:17.1 hours thus extending their lead on Anita Steiner and Sepp Fischli from Stoeckli Craft/Fischli Bikes, who placed second today again (5:15:04.3),by 5:47 minutes. The Sebamed team consisting of Germanys Steffi Hadraschek and Martin Jochem finished third (5:26:34.3).
They may have added another triumph to their 2009 winning streak in stage five (4:51:48.6), but the Rocky Mountain riders were lucky that things didnt turn out worse as they clinched their fifth victory in an unusual manner. About two kilometresbefore the finish line in Kaltern 26-year-old Gathof had lost his right pedal: I crashed pretty stupidly in the pushing section and rode with only one pedal in the downhill. With only one pedal, I had to run uphill to the finish. Gathof apparently did this quickly enough as Switzerlands Anita Steiner and Sepp Fischli from Stoeckli Craft/Fischli Bikes followed very close with a deficit of less than one minute(4:52:44.2).
Stage six marked the sixth consecutive stage win of team Rocky Mountain with Alison Sydor and Daniel Gathof, who crossed the finish line as first mixed pairing in4:22:51.2 hours. The stage was darkened by the fact that Anita Steiner had to be brought to hospital due to an injury which she had suffered in a crash.
At the end of stage seven and with a lead of 1.5 hours over the second ranked mixed duo, Rocky Mountain riders Alison Sydor (CAN) and Daniel Gathof claimed their first joint title. Although they didnt win their seventh stage win in a row, losing 15seconds, both were all smiles. Its a great feeling to ride in as champions. In order to make this happen we aimed for security today. We didnt take a risk at all and pedalled absolutely focused. We wanted to bring home this title Daniel Gathof said right after the final stage which was won by Daniela Storch and Alexander Stark from Scott Genius-Generation.
