1st Dolomiti Superbike in Niederdorf-Villabassa

9/7/1995

The first edition of the ‘Dolomiti Superbike’ mountain bike marathon in 1995 in Niederdorf-Villabassa

Half a thousand cyclists storm the Dolomites

561 participants set off in glorious sunshine for the 1st Dolomiti Superbike, which took them through the Upper Puster Valley villages of Niederdorf, Toblach, Innichen, Sexten and Prags.
The winner of the gruelling 111-kilometre route was the Austrian Ekkehard Dörrschlag with a total time of 5:06:37.4 hours. A long way behind in second place was Jörg Arenz from West Germany (5:12:10), who nevertheless finished ahead of the Italian Olympic champion Claudio Vandelli (5:14:36.0). Vandelli was unable to sustain the fast early pace and consequently had to let the Austrian and the German pass him in the final stages.

A demanding track

The demanding course – particularly the final climb – pushed the riders to their absolute limits. Those participants who failed to compensate for fluid loss by continuously ‘refuelling’ suffered the most from fitness issues. It was not without reason that the organisers classified the race as the toughest mountain bike race in the Dolomites.

Maria Canins among the frontrunners

Maria Canins’ performance was remarkable; with a time of 5:45:25.7, she would have achieved an excellent 16th place even among the men. The short-distance race, covering 59 km, was won by South Tyrolean Markus Rainer in a time of 2:32:12.7, ahead of Herbert Schönegger and Reinhard Niedertscheider from East Tyrol. The women’s 50 km race turned into a family affair, with the successful biathlete Nathalie Santer finishing ahead of her sister Saskia.

Many young participants

Although the Toproute involved a 3,000-metre climb, it was nevertheless tackled by a number of very young cyclists. When the organisers took stock afterwards, they felt vindicated in every respect. Admittedly, 700 cyclists had not lined up at the start, as had perhaps been secretly hoped for rather than expected. Nevertheless, they were more than satisfied with the turnout, both in terms of numbers and quality. The organisers had succeeded in attracting some of Europe’s best riders to the Puster Valley, and this is seen as a good omen for luring top riders from other continents to the Upper Puster Valley for the next edition – which is sure to follow.

Organisation

According to organising committee chairman Kurt Ploner, there was absolutely nothing to fault in the organisation, apart from a few minor mishaps, which are simply inevitable when venturing into such a project for the first time. The 400 volunteers deserve a huge round of applause. Without their selfless work, the race could never have been staged in such impeccable fashion. “With this event, we have proved that even smaller towns are capable of achieving great things if they look beyond their town boundaries and are willing to work together genuinely.”

TV coverage of the race

It remains to be seen whether the people of Upper Puster Valley have achieved – or will achieve – the promotional impact from this event that they presented as a certainty during the preparatory phase. In any case, one partial success has already been recorded: Italian television broadcast a half-hour recording on its third channel. Similar programmes were due to be broadcast on DSF and ORF, or may already have been shown.

(source: Archiv dolomitisuperbike.com)

1st DOLOMITI SUPERBIKE 1995, Niederdorf-Villabassa/Pustertal-Pusteria Valley - RESULTS

59 km Men Overall

1. RAINER Markus - ITA - 2:32.12,7 h
2. SCHÖNEGGER Herbert - ITA - 2:32.23,9 h
3. NIEDERTSCHEIDER Reinhard - AUT - 2:37.40,9 h

59 km Women Overall

1. SANTER Nathalie - ITA - 3:01.11,5 h
2. SANTER Saskia - ITA - 3:15.22,0 h
3. STEINHAUSER Petra - ITA - 3:22.13,0 h

111 km Men Overall

1. DÖRRSCHLAG Ekkehard - AUT - 5:06.37,4 h
2. ARENZ Jörg - GER - 5:12.10,1 h
3. VANDELLI Claudio - ITA - 5:14.36,0 h
..
7. RINNER Albert - ITA - 5:36.39,1 h
35. PATERNOSTER Marcello - ITA - 6:09.21,1 h

111 km Women Overall

1. CANINS Maria - ITA - 5:45.25,7 h
2. MITTERSTEINER Monika - ITA - 6:46.18,5 h
3. SCHULER Monika - 7:00.57,0 h
4. PINCIN Libera - ITA - 7:04.10,00 h
5. AMBACH-RINNER Johanna - ITA - 7:42.27,5 h

< back 1995