Patrick Schnetzer and Stefan Feuerstein secured overall victory in Großkoschen (Germany) on Saturday, marking a seventh overall win for Schnetzer.
After five successes with Markus Bröll and following his first overall win in 2012 with his then partner Dietmar Schneider, the goalkeeper secured this success for the fourth time in a row, representing RV Dornbirn with his new partner Feuerstein. This latest title came just a few days after his 28th birthday.
And as an encore, there was also the Glass Cup for the victory of topping the UCI World Ranking for 2021.
Online fans watch streamed revenge match
This latest success was won in front of empty stands. Because of the current precarious situation in Germany with the Covid-19 pandemic and the efforts to counteract it, the 2021 UCI World Cup Final in Großkoschen had to take place without spectators. However, fans worldwide were able to follow the tournament via a live stream.
And they were offered the hoped-for match, setting up an opportunity for revenge for the thrilling UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships just a few weeks ago. Third placed in the UCI Worlds, Schnetzer and Feuerstein were to meet the UCI World Champions Gerhard and Bernd Mlady from RMC Stein/Germany in the final.
Both of these favourite teams had come through the preliminary round unbeaten in their groups.
Dornbirn played their semi-final against the UCI World Championships silver medallists Severin and Benjamin Waibel (RMV Pfungen/Switzerland). In a tight match, the score was 2:2 after regular playing time, so there was a penalty shootout to decide the result. And there Dornbirn took the advantage, completing the victory with a 5:4 scoreline in the shootout.
It was a more straightforward progression for the Mlady cousins, as they defeated the Swiss runners-up Lukas Schönenberger/Andreas Zaugg (RMV Mosnang) with the final score of 7:4.
And so to the final, where Schnetzer/Feuerstein finally came through with a narrow 6:5 victory against Stein.
Indoor Cycling Austria reported on the overall UCI World Cup victory for Patrick Schnetzer and Stefan Feurstein on social media, describing it; “A mad game against the reigning World Champions ends deservedly 6:5 for our boys! Great World Cup revenge!! In addition, Patrick / Stefan won the UCI ranking in 2021. Congratulations to both teams and the whole support team for this great success!”
Brothers at their best
In the third place play-off, the bronze medal was secured by the Waibel brothers of RMV Pfungen who got the better of the Swiss duel with a 9:5 win against RMV Mosnang.
Another pair of brothers – the local twins Tim and Eric Lehmann from the host club RSV Großkoschen – were also performing well, treating their fans to a respectable performance. In the qualifying round, they were tied on points with the second-placed Mosnang, but were defeated 2:5 defeat in the direct duel. Then in the match for fifth place, the young wildcard starters lost to the 2019 German national champions, Obernfeld (André Kopp/Raphael Kopp), 3:8.