Extreme cyclist Christoph Strasser has clinched his third win in a row at the Race Around Lower Austria. The Styrian improved his record to 16:36 hours. Elena Roch from Lower Austria won the women’s category – also with a record.
The fourth edition of the Race Around Lower Austria started on Friday at 4 p.m. in Weitra (district of Gmünd). After two years without spectators due to the pandemic, fans were once once more able to cheer on the 200 participants in the start and finish area.
After his victories in 2020 and 2021, extreme cyclist Christoph Strasser clinched his third win in a row at the Race Around Lower Austria. After 600 kilometers and 6,000 meters in altitude, the 39-year-old from Styria improved his course record from the previous year by almost 20 minutes to 16:36 hours.
“I would never have dreamed that things would go even faster following last year,” was Strasser’s first reaction. “It was an unbelievable race and finally there were spectators once more. That motivated me twice. A big thank you also to the organizers, who once once more put together a great race,” said the six-time Race Across America winner. Second place went to Upper Austrian Sebastian Michetschläger (17:45 hours) ahead of German Robert miller.
Smelled faster by over an hour
Elena Roch was in a league of her own for the women. Born in Hollabrunn, she was able to improve her record from the previous year from 22:18 hours to 21:15 hours – following a cruciate ligament rupture in January. “The knee held and that was the most important thing,” said the 29-year-old. “Everything worked great.”
New records were set in all eight categories at the Race Around Lower Austria. “Cycling has been booming in recent years, the participants are getting better and better at preparing for such a race and are more familiar with it. Of course, the sometimes quite strong tailwind also played a role this year,” says race director Georg Franschitz.
