Seven of the approximately 210 kilometers in total in the men's road bike race of the "European Championships" led through the area of the city of Starnberg on Sunday.
The field of around 170 athletes was gone in a few minutes, but had hundreds of spectators.
Percha/Wangen
– In Wangen, alphorns rang through the village, a helicopter circled, in Percha hundreds stood at the side of the road, in Berg even the mayor: the men’s cycle race as part of the “European Championships” on Sunday broke the holiday break somewhat.
There weren't any major problems, it was basically over after a few minutes.
The entourage of around 170 cyclists plus a larger number of escort vehicles was faster than organizers and the police had expected.
The column got into the district about 15 minutes earlier than expected - the police, fire brigades and traffic safety companies were prepared.
As early as 12:15 p.m. they blocked the route from Allmannshausen through Berg and Kempfenhausen to Percha and then on to Wangen and on to Olympiastraße in the direction of Munich.
After about 45 minutes everything was released again, summarized Oliver Jauch, traffic officer of the police and responsible for the operation, after the race.
There weren't any major problems, and not a single car had to be towed away because it was blocking the racetrack.
There was a need for discussion about the barriers,
The officials were also able to let some motorists through – and there was a special solution for cyclists: They were allowed to continue on the cycle path between the district border and Percha while the racing cyclists came towards them on the road.
That took some of the pressure off because there were a lot of recreational cyclists on the road.
Some drivers, Jauch reported, ignored the blocking of the B 2 exits from Starnberg to Percha and from the Autobahn in the direction of Dreieck.
But then they stood at the next barrier at the main crossing in Percha and couldn't get any further.
The exits were blocked with beacons and vehicles - apparently not enough.
"It was a whole swing that said the barriers don't apply to them," said Jauch.
In Wangen, too, police officers had to contend with bystanders.
The interest of the public was surprising for the police.
Dozens of spectators lined the streets in Berg and Kempfenhausen, several hundred in Percha and more than 100 in Wangen. Some had flags with them.
The last cyclist, who cycled through Percha a little behind the peloton, received the most applause.
Numerous spectators also cheered on the cyclists along the Olympiastraße in Wangen, who at the time still had about 93 kilometers to go to the finish line in Munich.
The two breakaways Lukas Pöstlberger from Austria and Silvan Dillier from Switzerland were still well ahead of the field at the time, but were to be caught by the peloton with 27 kilometers to go.
The Wangen alphorn players Elisabeth Appel, Angelika Nestroy and Bernd Appel entertained the audience until the athletes arrived.
At around 12.45 p.m. the cyclists were through and continued towards Munich.
You can read more about the “European Championships” in the national section.
The women's race next Sunday does not go through the county.
ike/ps