While the victory of UCI World Champions Dornbirn (Austria) in Sangerhausen was no great surprise, the newly-formed host team of Leon Gebser and Eric Haedicke had secretly been nursing their own ambitions. Despite being entered as a second-division team, the outsiders from Sangerhausen were aiming for a spot in the semi-finals.
"We have prepared ourselves optimally and want to present ourselves accordingly," Leon Gebser had said beforehand. The 25-year-old, who took over as chairman of the club last year, was making his UCI World Cup debut. His partner Haedicke, meanwhile, had already tasted success in 2019 when he won the UCI World Cup round with his long-time partner Max Rückschloß. The pair had been playing as a wildcard team.
But Sangerhausen’s 10th place on Saturday fell short of their ambition. With only one preliminary round victory, they went into the match for ninth place, and had to admit defeat against RV Sulz from Austria (Kevin Bachmann/ Michael Welte) with a final score of 1:3.
Sangerhausen’s tradition upheld
The disappointment was offset by the success of this international tournament, played in front of sold-out grandstands.
Since the 1960s, major cycle-ball events have been held at Sangerhausen, but after the cancellation of the 2020 UCI World Cup tournament due to the Covid-19 pandemic, an important partner for the organisation dropped out. It appeared that this might be the end until the city of Sangerhausen responded, as Mayor Sven Strauss explained: "As a city, we have stepped into the breach and found a sponsor. The tournaments are important for the city and simply belong to Sangerhausen."
Schiefbahn give UCI World Champions a run for their money
With Dornbirn’s victory on Saturday, the team’s goalkeeper Patrick Schnetzer signed his third successive win in Sangerhausen. Along with Stefan Feuerstein, the duo reached the semi-finals as group winners. There, Dornbirn won against the reigning U23 European Championship runners-up Timon and Yannick Fröhlich of RS Altdorf (SUI) with a score of 5:3. In the second semi-final, Schiefbahn (Sven Holland-Moritz/ Marius Hermanns) beat Obernfeld (André Kopp/ Raphael Kopp) 4:0 in the all-German duel.
Then, in the final, Schiefbahn took a 1:0 lead with a four-metre penalty before Dornbirn equalised, then took the lead 15 seconds before the break. In the second half, it remained an even encounter, and no more goals were scored. Third place went to Obernfeld, who beat Altdorf 4:2.
After two of seven qualifying tournaments, the team from Altdorf leads the overall standings with 95 points ahead of Dornbirn (50) and Schiefbahn as well as Darmstadt (GER) with 45 points each. The next tournament is scheduled for Dornbirn (Austria) on 24 June.