Despite the early time in the season Team Stölting has already ridden to several podium placings aboard their new team bike, the STEVENS Xenon. At ”Rund um Düren” (Circuit of Düren) the team celebrated a double victory. The first good results were achieved by Nils Politt at the Kattekoers race (UCI 1.2) in Belgium and team captain Silvio Herklotz at the Istrian Spring Trophy in Croatia.
Politt was quite happy about his third place in the 75th edition of the Belgian race that stretched over 180km (112mls) and included several climbs and cobblestone sectors. ”I am happy that it worked out this year.” 20km before the finish the German U23 Time Trial Champion had broken away from the head group together with Belgians Baptist Plankaert and Joeri Calleuw and after multiple attempts to solo-away eventually finished third.
At the same time Silvio Herklotz was very pleased about his third place in the General Classification of the Istrian Spring Trophy. The 20 year old proved his talent in the mountains and after a good prologue he finished fourth and second, respectively in the following two stages. Within the final five kilometers of the latter he suffered bad luck. After being stopped by a mechanical he made a real effort to come back from 80th to second place. ”I got proof that my form is alright. This makes me optimistic for the upcoming Tour of Taiwan and my favourite races in Italy later in April,” said Herklotz.
Because Herklotz was missing in the Tour of Taiwan due to sickness, Thomas Koep took his place on short notice. In the five stages of the tour he and his team mates Nils Politt, Jan Oelerich, James Early und Jonas Tenbrock were able to leave quite an impression in various break-away groups.
In Herklotz’ ”favourite” races in Italy the Trofeo Piva and Giro Belvedere, two very hilly races in northern Italy during the Easter weekend, the team’s U23 riders Herklotz, Lennard Kämna, Arne Egner, Moritz Backofen und Sven Reuther were at the start. After a tenth place in the Trofeo Piva, team captain Herklotz fought in the mountain to eventually finish 5th in the Giro Belvedere. Lennard Kämna completed the team’s good performance by coming in 9th.
At the Circuit des Ardennes (UCI 2.2) Lennard Kämna was able to keep his form from the Italian races, came in 12th in the second of four stages and finished in a respectable 32nd place in the overall ranking. In the 28km (17.4mls) TTT Tenbrock, Kämna, Herklotz and Oelerich – being only four riders after Egner and Backofen had crashed – managed to come in 14th.
In the youth race of Liège-Bastogne-Liége Silvio Herklotz finished a sensational second. Herklotz was even held back twice, first by a closed railway crossing gate then by being misguided which resulted in a major disadvantage in the finish after 177km (110mls).
Yet shortly after, the team captain celebrated his first win of the season by winning the Eifel classic Rund um Düren and the team a double victory with Nils Politt finishing second. The next race will be the Tour of Carpathia (Romania) from April 28th to May 3rd.
