At 8:30 a.m., the elite men lined up with three Canyon Northwave riders. The best of the team was Martin Stošek, who conquered the 80 km long track with an elevation of 2,900 meters in 3 hours, 13 minutes and 50 seconds and won the race. He broke away from his rivals at the 40th kilometer, created a small lead and increased it until the finish.

"The race went well for me right from the start. I managed to get off to a good start and set the pace on the first climb. Quite a long time went a large group of about 10 people. At about 1.5 hours of the race, Andreas attacked and we left in 4 people with Wout Alleman and Fabian Rabensteiner. Andy looked strong, but the tempo could be sustained. Then it slowed down a bit around the feed zone and they caught us from behind again. But I was already going to try to test them in the next and one of the most difficult climbs of the race at the 40th kilometer. I started from first place and picked up the pace. I was surprised that a gap formed more or less immediately and Wout only held on for a while. But even that fell away quite quickly and when I saw it, I decided not to wait for anything. It was not a plan, I thought we would attack after passing Capoliveri, about 10km later. But I rode well, so I leaned into it even more. Since then, I've been riding alone and just increasing the lead. I kept pushing, uphill and flat, I didn't want to miss out on this victory when I felt it was real. I went down the hill safely because of my shoulder, which fortunately did not limit me significantly," Martin Stošek said about the race.

German champion Andreas Seewald finished the race in 5th place. Marc Stutzmann suffered a puncture in the front and rear wheels in the race and eventually arrived at the finish in 24th position.

As for the next racing program, the Canyon Northwave MTB Team is clear. On Saturday, May 13, the first part of the newly established World Marathon Cup will take place in Nové Město na Moravě. The Canyon Northwave MTB Team will start in a full line-up - Martin Stošek, Marc Stutzmann, Andreas Seewald, Stefanie Dohrn and Petr Vakoč, who is stretching the season after the Cape Epic in the team's colors.

The track of the elite marathon race in NMNM will measure a total of 120 kilometers. The circuit with a length of 60 km with an elevation of 1250 meters will also include the more difficult technical passages that Vysočina offers. Competitors on the World Cup marathon track will go 2 times, the total length of their race is 120 km.

Kristián Hynek, team manager, acknowledges the creation of the World Cup for marathoners: "I am very happy that the World Cup in marathon was created. Of course, we have high expectations, but so far a lot of things are unclear and we are looking at how the system works. Let's hope that the first World Cup and the following ones will turn out well, but we also have to count on some development in the coming years. It would be naïve to assume that everything will be great right from the start. But it's definitely a step in the right direction and I think it could take our discipline a little bit further. In terms of ambition, with a team we can no longer have anything other than the highest. Today we have three guys who are among the absolute top marathons, so the ambitions are victorious. I hope that everything goes well, we want to go around the whole World Cup including the race in Snowshoe in the USA. I am also glad that we will meet competitors from the cross-country scene and, for example, in Finale Ligure also with enduro riders, which is also interesting," said Kristián.

Photo: Alessandro Billiani, Daniele Anichini