At the road wheel World Cup in Rwanda, the German Mixed Team relay drove quite well past a medal.
In the absence of the sick Maximilian Schachmann and the Liane Lippert, who was unusual at short notice, the young team had to be satisfied with fifth place in the 41.8 km long team time trial in Kigali.
Jonas Rutsch, Miguel Heidemann, Louis Zort, Franziska Koch, Antonia Niedermaier and Justyna Czapla could not repeat the silver coup from last year. The victory went to Australia in a second thriller.
France finished second with just five seconds – the third -placed team from Switzerland around the top stars Stefan Küng and Marlen Reusser, which was braked decisively by a defect, were missing ten seconds. The German team was 1:33 minutes behind the winning text.
“Of course I would have hoped for a little more”said Heidemann afterwards. “It is nothing special, but not bad underground”said Rutsch.
Lippert failed at short notice
Shortly before the start, the association announced that the Lippert ended for the mixed relay. The 27-year-old, who was part of the German Silver Team last year, missed the race due to discomfort in the morning.
For Lippert, who continues to start on Saturday in the street race, Czapla moved into the team.
“Nothing changes in our goal of driving on the podium”said delegation manager Falk Putzke, but in the first time the three German men were already 39 seconds ago. On the tricky route with a total of 740 meters of altitude, they could not keep up with the very quick times afterwards.
Over a minute behind – too much for Koch, Niedermaier and Czapla
The German men remained behind their expectations. The mood only dampened seventh behind last year’s winner Australia. The women sent the slide and Heidemann into the race with over a minute behind the medal ranks – unfortunately, unfortunately, had already fallen back. Koch, Niedermaier and Czapla struggled to be more difficult, but could no longer catch up.
The most prestigious World Cup decisions are due at the weekend: on Saturday (women) and on Sunday (men) it is about the rainbow jerseys of the world champion and the world champion in the street race.