Luca Ronchi is the new king at Kronplatz

The route immediately demanded everything from the more than 500 athletes at the start: around 800 meters in altitude to the Ritjoch, then chasing the entourage back down the valley to St. Vigil over the extremely demanding Piz de Plaies freeride route. The long flat passage towards Pederü was just the prelude to the first big climb to Kronplatz, 1000 m higher. Up here it was over for the princes, while the Kronplatz King's claimants had to drive back down into the valley towards Reischach before heading back up to the summit. It was 78 km in total and 3000 meters in altitude, after the route was shortened by 3 km at short notice.

Two kings were at the start, Roel Paulissen, ex-world champion, winner of the 2016 edition and, so to speak, local hero (the Belgian lives in Antholz and is one of the KronplatzKing organizers) and Daniele Mensi, last year's winner, the reigning king.

A group of ten led until shortly before the summit, until Francesco Failli and Martino Tronconi pulled away and were the first to pass the checkpoint after 2h28'48'' of racing time. 15 seconds later, the reigning European champion Aleksei Medvedev and the Italian Francesco Casagrande cycled past. Paulissen reached the intermediate time in sixth place. On the downhill route towards Reischach the cards were reshuffled, with Failli and Tronconi possibly missing the path, so that Luca Ronchi from the Soudal LeeCougan Team was able to take the lead, followed by Efrem Bonelli and Francesco Casagrande. And that's exactly what the men's final ranking looked like, with Ronchi as the new Kronplatz King with a time of 4:11.56 hours, Efrem Bonelli came second, 44 seconds behind, ahead of Francesco Casagrande with a gap of +1.11 minutes. The two Belgians Frans Claes (+1.28) and Paulissen (+2.08) took fourth and fifth place. Last year's winner Mensi only achieved eighth place this time after technical problems with the suspension fork.

Esther Süss left all the competition behind and reached the finish line first. © wishhaler.com

Esther Süss puts everyone in the shade This year the Swiss set the tone for the women. Esther Süss, who was already in the lead at the checkpoint at the Kronplatz summit, triumphed ahead of her compatriot Arianne Lüthi and last year's Italian winner Maria Cristina Nisi. On the second lap towards Reischach, the three-time Cape Epic winner Süss was able to go one better, reaching the finish as the new queen after 4:56.31 hours. On the last, strenuous climb, Lüthi (+13.35 minutes) was able to prevail against Nisi (+14.35) and secure the double victory. Benjamin and Ursch are the new “prince couple” With the German Michael Benjamin, the MTB marathon on Kronplatz has a new prince. After 50 km, he was the fastest among the athletes who chose the short distance with a time of 2:40.12. His compatriot Julius Wagler came second, Olanger local hero Manuel Felder came third.

The new princess, however, is Klara Ursch from Tscherms, who won against the Italian Beatrice Brielli and the Ahrntaler Alexandra Oberhollenzer (with a time of 3:27.24. 600 starters from 14 countries Almost 600 athletes from 14 nations took part in this year's third edition of the KronplatzKing MTB marathon, with the goal of Kronplatz summit in mind. Among the participants were the former MTB team boss of Italy and ex-world champion Hubert Pallhuber and the coach of the Italian national snowboard team Meinhard Erlacher from St. Vigil. Both were on the PrinceClassic route. The podium places at the 3rd KronplatzKing: 78 km, 3.200 meters altitude – men 1. Luca Ronchi (ITA) 4:11.56,3 hours 2. Efrem Bonelli (ITA) 4:12.40,6 3. Francesco Casagrande (ITA) 4:13.08,0

78 km, 3.200 meters altitude – women 1. Esther Süss (SUI) 4:56.31,9 hours 2. Arianne Lüthi SUI) 5:10.06,9 3. Maria Cristina Nisi (ITA) 5:11.07,3

47 km, 2.200 meters altitude – men 1. Michael Benjamin (GER) 2:40.12,7 hours 2. Julius Wagler (GER) 2:42.39,1 3. Manuel Felder (ITA/Olang) 2:46.50,0

47 km, 2.200 meters altitude – women 1. Klara Ursch (ITA/Tscherms) (BZ) 3:27.24,3 hours 2. Beatrice Brielli (ITA) 3:43.54,1 3. Alexandra Oberhollenzer (ITA/Luttach) 3:44.46,9

Here go to the full results!

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Luca Ronchi is the new king at Kronplatz

A real crime thriller in the last few kilometers ensures a surprise victory at KronplatzKing. The third edition of the mountain bike marathon was also marked by a Swiss double success among women.

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