Stefan Reimer wins first Pottcrit in Bochum

admin | 24. August 2014 | Events, Featured, Fixedpott, Goodtimesroll, Kriterium | No Comments

Less than a week to go until Red Hook Crit in Barcelona. Just the right time to check out, how the other riders are doing. Who is riding strong, who is still looking to find his pace. The Pottcrit, which was organized by the Fixedpott guys as part of the open city championship in Bochum, was just perfect race for this.

The race course was closed off anyway, so that the Fixed riders had the best possible chance to have a good race. The riders and the way they rode (no brakes/fixed gear) did result in some head-shaking by old-fashioned road bike riders and the following comment: “The all look pretty dangerous.”

The only “dangerous” thing was the course itself, because it consisted of two things: a descent on which the riders reached a top speed of around 60 km/h and a climb to the finish line that had around six percent gradient.

That climb was responsible for thinning out the field right away, just after Jan Hoffmann from Team Fixedpott took the prize for First Lap Prime and other fast riders such as Stefan Reimer (Fixedpott), Stefan Vis (Amsterdam) and Thibaud Lhenry took over the lead. The last two have both been able to win a Red Hook Crit in the past, Stefan Reimer rode into the spotlight this year with victories in Rotterdam and Hamburg.

Tough course and three Stefans on the podium.

Some riders had massive problems with the course and withdrew due to a technical defect or simply gave up after having to ride the steep hill again and again. What made it even more difficult was the fact that cobblestone lay on a huge part of the course.

The three girls in the field has to fight the cobblestone, too, but only for 15 laps. The men were supposed to do 25. Both lap counts were corrected during the race, because the riders had been separated quite a bit and winner would be made out between two riders: Stefan Reimer and Stefan Vis. In third place Stefan Shot from 8bar followed with a huge gap between him and the two fastest riders.

As Natalie Simeons from Nijmegen took first place in the girls race, the guys still had some laps to do. In a head to head finish Fixedpott rider Stefan Reimer was able to gain the extra centimeter at the finish line and with the first Pottcrit!