The men gave the audience in Christophstal in Freudenstadt an exciting performance. A five-rider strong group was formed, with all the riders expected to be there.

The Frenchman Maxime Marotte (Cannondale Factory Racing), the Swiss Matthias Stirnemann (Möbel Märki) and Reto Indergand (BMC Racing) and the New Zealander Anton Cooper (Trek Factory Racing). Ben Zwiehoff (Bergamont) was allowed to compete with these four bikers, all of whom have already ridden into the top ten in the World Cup. And he played a very good role.

"It was very tactical for a long time. Nobody wanted to do anything too early," explained Matthias Stirnemann. It was then Ben Zwiehoff who seized the initiative at the start of the penultimate of seven laps.

He picked up the pace on the steep and unpleasant climb. It was the tired Maxime Marotte and then Anton Cooper ("I don't feel quite fit yet") who opened up a large gap that they were unable to close.

Reto Indergand also had a few meters gap to the Zwiehoff/Stirnemann duo, but he was able to close it again in a downhill. On the final lap, it was Stirnemann who set the pace on the climb. Indergand burst away again and once more he rolled up to the two rivals.

"Then they stepped on the gas again," said Indergand, "then I had no chance."

The duel between Stirnemann and Zwiehoff was ultimately decided on a flat section. Stirnemann took a few meters lead out of a technical passage.
Then I pulled through," said Stirnemann and Zwiehoff admitted at the finish that he had "lacked the steam". In the end, 13 seconds separated him from victory, while Indergand was 32 seconds behind in third place.

"But second place is okay, this was no walk in the park," said the German runner-up. "I showed that I can be in the mix when I start in the same line as the guys," he said, referring to his starting position in the World Cup.
Ahead of the final race in Titisee-Neustadt, three riders are now within ten points of each other. Ben Zwiehoff has taken the lead with 107 points, two points ahead of Reto Indergand and ten ahead of Matthias Stirnemann.
Anton Cooper finished fourth (+1:10) ahead of Maxime Marotte (+1:32).

Women: Ronja Eibl repeats last year's success

Bundesliga title defender Ronja Eibl repeated her success on Sunday afternoon, winning in 1:22:05 hours, 1:33 minutes ahead of Anne Terpstra from the Netherlands and 3:04 minutes ahead of Laura Stigger from Austria.

In the second lap, a three-person lead group formed with the three riders who had been ranked the highest. Even though another world-class athlete, Linda Indergand (Switzerland, Superior XC), had signed up. Indergand hadn't been back from overseas for long and doesn't really like routes with such long, steep climbs.

Anne Terpstra (Ghost Factory Racing), Laura Stigger (Specialized) and Ronja Eibl (Corendon-Circus) tore a considerable gap. But Stigger was already riding with a handicap. The junior world champion had lost a contact lens on the first lap and was therefore very cautious on the downhills.
"I wondered why Laura was so slow on the downhill and thought maybe she had a flat tire," explained Eibl later.

The world number one and the 20-year-old U23 World Cup winner from Grosselfingen battled it out until the penultimate round. Eibl then managed to ride the last part of the climb before the first downhill to open up a larger gap.

"I realized that I was a little faster on the downhill and always attacked to be the first to go in. This time I had a gap and was able to ride away," said Eibl.
She went into the last lap with a 20-second lead and extended it significantly.
"It felt the same again after the infection at the World Championships," nodded Eibl, happy to be back to her old form.

Anne Terpstra, who had not really trained since returning from the World Cup final, was aware that she would "no longer be at one hundred percent". "But it's okay," said Terpstra. "I have to keep my form going until the Olympic test race in Tokyo and I think the races are good for that. It was definitely cool and I think I still made it exciting."

Laura Stigger didn't want to use the lost lens as an excuse. "No, the others were stronger and I could tell right from the start that Ronja wanted something today," explained Stigger, who had only arrived from an award ceremony in Vienna at 11 p.m. the night before.

She then fought a duel with her Austrian compatriot Elisabeth Osl and was able to relegate the former overall World Cup winner to fourth place (+3:12), Nadine Rieder (Rotwild Factory Team) finished fifth (+3:21).

Markus Eydt (Stevens MTB Racing) took his first win of the season in the junior race of the MTB Bundesliga in Freudenstadt. Eydt won a close race six seconds ahead of German champion Lennart Krayer, who won the sprint for second place against Swiss rider Jean-Luc Halter and thus extended his lead in the overall standings.