At the women’s elite and at the men’s elite the Czech flag was weaving over Schladming, as the athletes of Austria’s neighbouring country won the second stage of the Alpentour Trophy. 55 kilometres from Schladming up to the Reiteralm were on the menu of the second day. While Milena Kalasova was again a class of her own at the women’s, her countryman Lubomir Petrus won surprisingly the second stage of the men. The 32-Year-Old won ahead of Leader Leonardo Paez from Columbia.

“I managed to stay on his wheel for the whole day. Before the last downhill I passed him. I was sure he won’t risk everything, and my plan worked out perfectly”, explained the Czech, who finished two seconds ahead of Paez. The Columbian managed to extend his lead in the overall classification. He is now more than seven minutes ahead of his first pursuer.

“I can be very happy with the day. And I was also happy for Lubomir, who was the only athlete who could follow me today. At the end it wasn’t about the stage victory for my, I had to watch the overall standings”, told the 40-Year-Old. Third place went to his teammate Aleksey Medvedev. On his wheel, the Belgian Frans Claes finished the stage as fourth. The two riders are second and third in the overall standings. The best Austrian of the day was Philip Handl on seventh position.

At the women’s event Kalasova was again a class of her own. She expended her lead in the overall standings and won 15 minutes ahead of German Andrea Böttger. After a narrow first day, there are now bigger gaps in the classification of the women. “Again, I felt very well today and everything was going according to my race plan. I’m a little bit afraid of the last time trial on Sunday, If I be honest”, she said. Behind Böttger Naima Diesner finished third ahead of the best Austrian Marlies Feichtenhofer.

The penultimate Stage is leading over Hauser Kaibling tomorrow, the big final will be again an uphill time trial up to Schafalm on Sunday.