Warsteiner BIKE Marathon Garda Trentino

1/5/1999

New record at the Warsteiner BIKE Marathon at Lake Garda: 1800 bikers from all over the world at the start

Summit meeting at Lake Garda: 1500 mountain bikers from all over the world, including celebrities such as Jan Erik Ostergaard, Ned Overend, Gary Fisher, Klaus Peter Thaler and Olympic champion Paola Pezzo, went to the start of the legendary Warsteiner BIKE Marathon Garda Trentino on 1 May, which was held as part of the 6th BIKE Festival in Riva del Garda.

The Ronda Extrema with 117 kilometres and 4100 metres of altitude placed the highest demands on the participants. Glorious winner in 1999: Mauro Bettin from Italy. He completed the route in a time of 5:33.04.4 hours and received prize money of 1500 Marks. Second place went to Transalp-Challenge runner-up Ekkehard Dörschlag from St. Johann (A) (5:42.02.6 h), followed by Alessandro Fontana from Follina, Italy (5:49.38.8 h). Women's power: The women's race was won by Andrea Michels-Smith from Germany (6:54.03,2) ahead of Luisa Santello, Italy and Silke Lukat, Germany.

The mountain bikers had the choice between three routes: The Ronda Piccola with 38 kilometres and 1358 metres of altitude, the Ronda Grande with 79 kilometres and 1202 metres of altitude and the Ronda Extrema with 117 kilometres and 4100 metres of altitude. The highlight of the Warsteiner BIKE Marathon: Depending on their physical condition, the participants could decide during the race which route length they wanted to ride. The winner of the short loop was Mathias Brooks, 19, from Bielefeld, with a winning time of 1:50.28.9 hours. The Ronda Grande was conquered by 22-year-old Italian Marco Bui in 3:33.42.8 hours. In the women's race, Olympic champion Paola Pezzo was unbeatable on the Ronda Grande. She took the victory in a time of 4:09.15.2 hours ahead of the German Birgit Jüngst (4:19.46.9 h) and Carolin Rahner from Munich (4:30.16.2 h).

This year, the marathon had a new route: many trail kilometres, fantastic panoramas and few pushing sections. The three laps were arranged in a cloverleaf shape around the finish in Massone, so that the spectators had several opportunities to cheer on the bikers.