Carinthia 200 draws 2,000 riders to debut amateur race
Sunday 20th September 2026 on 19:00 in
Austria
About 2,000 riders from 24 countries took part in the new Carinthia 200 amateur cycling race in Villach on Sunday, ORF reported. The course followed closed roads through 11 municipalities in the Gail Valley, over the Windische Höhe and through the Drau Valley.
The winners in the main 197.4-kilometre race, which included 2,731 metres of climbing, were decided in sprints. Carina Ziegler of Heartland Cycling won the women’s race in 5:33:44.9, finishing eight tenths of a second ahead of Valerie Rupitsch. Corina Vorraber was third.
Wolfgang Krenn of the 1OF1 Cycling Team won the men’s race in 5:05:27, finishing in the same time as three-time mountain-bike marathon world champion Alban Lakata. Thomas Garber placed third, two seconds behind.
The shorter Carinthia105 race covered 105.7 kilometres and 1,304 metres of climbing. Franziska Zuder of SC Mirnock won the women’s event in 2:51:16.9, ahead of Anna Bäuchler and Marlies Feichtenhofer. Arno Kaspret, riding for the Carinthian club Special Bike Pörtschach, won the men’s race in 2:45:09.6, narrowly beating Michael Kanduth and Michael Rieger.
Riders chose their distance during the race. After the first loop in Villach, they could either finish in the Carinthia105 event or complete a second loop through Bad Bleiberg and over the Windische Höhe.
About 600 volunteers supported the event, alongside volunteer fire brigades, sports clubs, local groups, police, emergency services and authorities. They staffed refreshment stations and 16 crossing points along the route.
Former elite athletes including snowboarder Sabine Payer and skier Nicole Schmidhofer also took part. Organiser Julius Rupitsch said the race was approved to use closed roads and aimed to establish Villach as the home of Austria’s largest amateur cycling race.
The event was scheduled after the main tourist season. Its programme ran from September 17 to 21 and included social rides, an expo and an ambassadors’ evening. Organisers said it generated about 6,000 overnight stays in the region. Carinthia’s tourism board described Carinthia 200 as part of its strategy to promote the province as a cycling destination, while organisers have already announced a return in 2027.