Legend Kluge misses medal
Mixed team relay wins bronze after wild ride
08/09/2023, 08:20 am
The German mixed team relay drives with a lot of passion to bronze at the World Cup. “We got the best out of it, the maximum in terms of speed and technology,” praised Maximilian Walscheid. On the track, Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt miss their third Madison title.
Maximilian Walscheid and Co. couldn’t get the smiles off their faces. The wheel giant beamed enthusiastically with his colleagues at the award ceremony on George Square in Glasgow city center when the German mixed team relay received the deserved reward after a wild ride with the bronze medals. Ricarda Bauernfeind, Lisa Klein, Franziska Koch, Jannik Steimle, Miguel Heidemann and Walscheid finished third at the World Championships in the team time trial with start and finish in the Scottish city. The sextet was only beaten by Switzerland and France in 55:07.51 minutes.
“We got the best out of it, the maximum in speed and technique,” said the 1.99 m tall Walscheid after the demanding course over 40.3 kilometers: “We drove very well together and can be very satisfied with bronze.” The gap to world champion Switzerland was 51.31 seconds. The German team was highly concentrated, making almost no mistakes on the winding, narrow course through Glasgow. The competition was different: the Italian team, well ahead of Germany after the half, lost a chain. The ambitious Australia had to cope with a fall.
Medal was the proclaimed World Cup goal
“We came here to drive for a medal,” said former top sprinter and German team boss Andre Greipel: “Third place was the goal and it worked. It was a balanced team, they harmonized well. We have them right driver nominated.”
“We drove our pace,” said Bauernfeind, who only finished ninth overall at the Tour de France Femmes at the end of July: “We knew that other nations were strong, but we also know what we can do.” The young competition seems to suit the Germans. In 2021, Germany had won the gold medal in Tony Martin’s last career race. Walscheid and Klein had already been there in Bruges, Belgium. At the premiere four years ago, the German team secured silver.
First world title for Maike Hausberger
Meanwhile, Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt missed their third world title on the track at the Madison. The experienced duo secured a total of 14 points, the European champions were 20 points short of the bronze medal. 37-year-old Kluge, who ended his long career on the road last year, and Reinhardt (32) drove to the title in 2018 and 2019.
Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich once again presented themselves in impressive form. The team sprint world champions are reaching for the next medals in the sprint competition after each of them made it through to the semi-finals with ease. The exceptional athletes are both at a total of eight World Championship titles. Maike Hausberger won her first. Thanks to a furious final sprint in the scratch, the 28-year-old drove to the gold medal in the para-start class C1. She had previously won bronze in the 500m time trial.