MUENSTER - Better late than never, a few lines on the final German Cycling Cup race of the 2008 season: the 3rd Muensterlandgiro. An event that changes its course every year and this time we went west of Muenster for what - unfortunately - meant quite a boring circuit of no less than 146 km! On the upside, it was one big lap, on the down side it was pancake flat, windy and the roads went straight ahead as far as the eyes could see..
The perfect recipe for some good old-fashioned bunch crashes, but let's stay positive. I kept myself out of trouble, which also meant that I lost touch with the frontrunners somewhere. Halfway through the race the group was still at least 200 riders thick, and when all the guys of the 110km event joined our course one had a tendency to get claustrophobic. At the end of the day, I came home safely in 114th spot and happy the long season was over. Before the race I knew I would still lose a few places in the overall GCC ranking due to some top guys having Muenster as their seventh event (it was my eighth and only the best seven results count for the final ranking). So, I ended the GCC in 8th place with 1998 points, which certainly makes me feel good. I would have signed for that back in March, especially given I am not a sprinter type. Moreover, I finished on the podium (3rd) in my age group (Masters 1) so that makes for a great conclusion of the 2008 season!
Poor guy Mike McManus, though. Leading the GCC for nearly the entire season and eventually only fifth and off the podium in the final ranking. Mike didn't participate in Muenster, and his results in the seven previous races apparently didn't make up for it. The GCC finally went to Thomas Kapuste of the Radon Cyclepower Team. Kapuste is a former elite rider who has recently found his old passion back. Second place went to Christian Schroth, who not so long ago was still riding for Germany in the U23. Third spot overall was taken up by Andreas Bollessen.
The final German Cycling Cup ranking.
No comments:
Post a Comment