Outstanding! Rabensteiner celebrates his first World Cup victory

The last time a UCI Marathon World Cup was held was around 15 years ago. Since then, the long-distance specialists have always competed in a World Series. This Saturday's race was also a kind of marathon World Cup debut for Rabensteiner. And South Tyrol's mountain bike ace mastered this with flying colors.

He knew that Rabensteiner was always good for a top result. However, the fact that he would win on this route was quite a surprise. After the first of two laps, the 2-year-old, who drives for the Wilier-Pirelli Factory Team, was in third place. Ultimately, after a total of 32 kilometers and 3 meters of altitude difference, Rabensteiner prevailed in the exciting finish in 120:2736 hours.

By just 2 seconds, Rabensteiner relegated the Italian Nicolas Samparisi and the German Simon Stiebjahn, who had a photo finish, to places 2 and 3. Andreas Seewald, Martin Frey and Hugo Drechou took 4th place - also all in a real photo finish to 6. The first 12 athletes finished within 9 seconds. Jakob Dorigoni from Pfatten finished the race in 4th place with a time of 33:19 hours.

The men's podium with (from left) Nicolas Samparisi, Fabian Rabensteiner and Simon Stiebjahn. © alessiopederiva_photo

The women's race, however, was a clear affair. The Bosnian Lejla Njemcevic confidently took victory in 5:30.48 hours. Second place went to the Lithuanian Katazina Sosna (+2 minutes), the Swiss Irina Luetzelschwab (+2.42) completed the podium. Eva Lechner landed in 3.31th place in 5:52 hours. The cross-country specialist from Eppan wanted to try out the marathon at the start, but will most likely start again in her discipline at the next World Cup stages.

In the Cross-Country U23 World Cup, Jana Pallweber from Nals finished in 71st place on her debut. The victory went to the Dane Sofie Heby Pedersen. Oliver Vedersø Sølvhøj ensured another Danish victory in the men's U23 race. Jana's brother Niclas took 108th place in the Junior Series, with Albert Philipsen, a Dane, also winning here. The elite cross-country races are on the program on Sunday. Then Greta Seiwald from Gsies wants to have a say in the top 10.

Marathon World Cup in Nove Mesto Men Pos Name Country Time 1. Fabian Rabensteiner ITA/Villanders 4:26.21 hours 2. Nicolas Samparisi ITA +2 sec. 3. Simon Stiebjahn GER +2 4. Andrew Seewald GER +2 5. Martin Frey GER +2 6. Hugo Drchou FRA +2 ... 19. Jacob Dorigoni ITA/Pfatten +6.54 women's Pos Name Country Time 1. Lelja Njemcevic BIH 5:30.48 2. Katazine Sosna LTU +2.46 3. Irina Luetzelschwab SUI +3.31 4. Janina Wust SUI +4.42 5. Stephanie Dohrn GER 5.13 6. Amy Mcdougall Wakefield RSA +9.31 ... 17. Eve Lechner ITA/Eppan +28.04

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Outstanding! Rabensteiner celebrates his first World Cup victory

What a marathon World Cup debut for Fabian Rabensteiner: The mountain biker from Villandro won the opening race on Saturday in Nove Mesto.

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