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United States | Midwest | Ohio >> Meyer and Senni fastest at the 42nd Otztaler Cycle Marathon

Meyer and Senni fastest at the 42nd Otztaler Cycle Marathon

The Otztaler Radmarathon is considered as the most demanding in the Alps. Nearly 5,000 racing cyclists set themselves the goal of reaching the finish line again this year

Meyer and Senni fastest at the 42nd Otztaler Cycle Marathon

Photo: Meyer and Senni fastest at the 42nd Otztaler Cycle Marathon Credit: @oetztalerradmarathon

The Ötztaler Radmarathon is one of Europe's toughest Granfondo's, at 238km long with over 5,500m of climbing in the Tyrolean alps along the Austrian-Italian border. The Granfondo starts and finishes in the town of Sölden, which featured in the James Bond film Spectre.

The Ötztaler Radmarathon cycling marathon is widely reagarded as the world championship for amateur cyclists in Europe!

The route of the cycling marathon from Sölden to South Tyrol traverse 4 Alpine passes, the Kühtaisattel, Brenner Pass, Jaufen Pass and the mighty Timmelsjoch, with gradients of up to 14%.

In order to complete this demanding route, absolute top performance is demanded by all participants who train relentlessly in the spring. The fastest  cyclists will make it to the finish line in a record time of just over seven hours. 

This year the Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road was temporarily closed to allow safe passage of all 5,000 participants.

In the women's race German Janine Meyer, 45, set a new women’s course record in time of 7h 27m 47s ahead of well-know Italian cyclist Samantha Arnaudo (7h 47m 26s)  in second place, last year’s champion Catherine Rossmann (8h 12s) from Germany was third.

In the men’s race, 31 year-old former Giro d’Italia pro Manuel Senni, 31, soloed to the finish line in a time of 6h 49m 18s, almost three minutes ahead of former MTB World Champion Alban Lakata (6h 51s 59m) and 021 Otztaler champion Johnny Hoogerland (6h 53m 13s) in third place.

Manuel Senni said afterwards “Last year, I took sixth place in my first start at the Ötztaler Radmarathon and my first victory today. It was an incredibly beautiful race with such a great atmosphere and many spectators."

The 43rd Otztaler Cycling Marathon is scheduled for September 1st 2024.

Link to 2023 Otztaler Cycling Marathon Results: https://www.datasport.com/live/ranking/?racenr=25423