“Ischgl Ironbike”: Tanja Priller keeps up with the pros

Tanja Priller surprised herself quite a bit.

The mountain biker from Penzberg kept up with well-known competitors in the UCI stage race at the “Ischgl Ironbike”.

Penzberg / Ischgl - Tanja Priller surprised herself quite a bit.

When the mountain biker from Penzberg stood at the start line in the UCI stage race at the “Ischgl Ironbike”, several top riders from the scene were gathered next to her.

These included the Swiss Ariane Lüthi, third in the 2020 MTB Marathon World Championships, the Austrian champion Angelika Tatzreiter and Vera Looser from Namibia, who recently took part in the women's road race at the Olympics in Tokyo.

In the race itself, Priller actually turned out to be a serious competitor for the best.

At the end of the four stages, the woman from Penzberg took fifth place out of nine participants.

"Before that I would never have thought that I could be so far ahead in such a strong international field," said the 24-year-old.

Ischgl Ironbike: Four competitions on four days in a row

The stage race at the "Ischgl Ironbike" includes four different competitions that are completed on four days in a row. Only men and women with a license can take part, as it is part of the official competition calendar of the World Cycling Association UCI. It is categorized as high - as the “UCI S1” race. There are only very few races in the “Hors Category” above this. With her placement, Priller also collected various World Cup points. In the marathon ranking, the woman from Penzberg is currently in 52nd place in the world rankings. In front of her are seven German riders, including MTB professional Antonia Daubermann (46th place), but who she left behind in Ischgl.

The four-day competition in Austria began with an individual time trial (7 kilometers / 250 meters in altitude). Priller finished fifth with a time of 18: 29.1 minutes. As a specialist in marathon and ultra-distances, “I'm not used to driving such short races with such high intensity, but it worked out really well,” reported the sports economics student. The next day the “Hillclimb” was on the program: 1000 meters of altitude had to be overcome over a length of seven kilometers. "I was really looking forward to it, because I know that I'm relatively good on the mountain," says Tanja Priller. With a time of 52: 57.2 minutes (5th place), she clearly distanced the drivers who were behind her in the overall standings. The stage did not start until 8.30 p.m. - an unusual time for Priller to deliver a top performance.“By that time I'm half asleep,” said the driver from the “Edelsten - Reichel Hörgeräte” team with a smile.

Second decision in the overall standings

The “short track” on the third day led over a 1.6 kilometer long circuit with an altitude difference of 60 meters, which had to be driven for a certain amount of time.

The woman from Penzberg described her sixth place as okay: “I didn't lose a lot of time.” After all, there was great anticipation for the final marathon (77 kilometers / 3700 meters in altitude).

"You drive in an unbelievably impressive landscape, even if you hardly notice anything in the race," said Priller.

Among other things, it goes to the Salaaser Kopf and the Idjoch.

The climbs are up to 30 percent steep, so a brutal affair. That was fine with Priller: “That suits me well and I was able to make up time uphill.” On the downhill, however, she lost time to her direct competitor Daubermann and ended up behind her in the marathon with 5:38:03 hours. In the overall standings, Priller held her fifth place: At the end of the day, she had a lead of exactly 4.3 seconds - with a total time of 7:08:16 hours. The overall victory went to Lüthi from Switzerland with a four-minute lead (6:22:28). The world number one got the decisive advantage over her biggest competitor, Kelsey Urban (USA) in the "Hillclimb".

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