Gold for the tireless Roger Kluge and his loyal partner Theo Reinhardt, bronze for the women’s foursome: the German track cycling aces also shone on the second day of the European Championships in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.
From the perspective of the Association of German Cyclists (BDR), the highlight on Thursday evening was provided by the former world champions Kluge and Reinhardt, who became European champions in two-man team cycling for the third time in a row. In a thrilling Madison decision, the duo prevailed with 59 points ahead of the French Thomas Boudat and Donavan Grondin (55).
For Kluge from Eisenhüttenstadt, who will be 38 years old at the beginning of February, it was the fourth Madison title – he won his first in 2009. On Wednesday, the German team sprinters won the first BDR gold in Appeldorn.
On Thursday, the track foursome with the three Olympic champions Franziska Brauße, Lisa Klein and Mieke Kröger as well as Laura Süßemilch made it to the podium. The quartet gave Ireland no chance in the small final and prevailed by almost seven seconds.
Last European Championship medal for men’s foursomes in 2014
The BDR quartet had already won bronze at the 2023 European Championships with an identical line-up. The last European Championship title was in Munich in 2022, when the gold line-up from Tokyo with Brauße, Klein, Kröger and Lisa Brennauer, who subsequently resigned, started.
In Apeldoorn, the German team clocked 4:14.768 minutes, around ten seconds slower than their world record in Tokyo (4:04.242). In the final, the British women, who had beaten the BDR foursome in the semi-finals, were slower than the German foursome in the bronze run in 4:15.950 minutes. Gold went to Italy (4:12.551).
In the men’s team pursuit, the German quartet of Tobias Buck-Gramcko, Felix Groß, Nicolas Heinrich and Tim Torn Teutenberg clearly lost the race for bronze against Italy and finished fourth. The last European Championship medal for the men’s foursome was in Baie-Mahault on Guadeloupe in 2014.
Hinze challenged in the deciding run
The day after their opening gold in the team sprint, Lea-Sophie Friedrich and Emma Hinze set course for the next German medals in the individual sprint. Defending champion Friedrich and her predecessor Hinze survived the first four rounds on Thursday and are now in the semi-finals on Friday – the decision in the premier discipline will also be made on the same day.
Friedrich won confidently in two runs against the Dutchwoman Hetty van de Wouw in the quarterfinals. Hinze had to go into the deciding race against British European Championship third-placed Sophie Capewell, but was the stronger driver there. In the semi-finals, the two Germans avoid each other, meaning a gold duel between Friedrich and Hinze is possible.
In the individual time trial over the 1000 m, the two German starters missed out on medals. Maximilian Dörnbach came fifth, 0.403 seconds behind the Italian winner Matteo Bianchi (1:00.272), Marc Jurczyk (+1.963) came eighth.