Mitterwallner wins bronze at mountain bike marathon worlds

Tirol cyclist Mona Mitterwallner won bronze at the Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships in San Martino di Castrozza, ORF reported. She finished third after 95 kilometres and 4,000 metres of elevation gain in Trentino.

The three-time world champion completed the race in more than five and a half hours. Switzerland’s Anna Weinbeer won ahead of Italy’s Claudia Peretti, while Mitterwallner finished 8 minutes 19 seconds behind the winner.

Mitterwallner lost contact with Peretti, who eventually finished second, after a mechanical problem on the penultimate climb. She said she had produced her best-ever power figures in a marathon and was satisfied with the bronze, despite entering the race feeling unwell.

“My goal was naturally the title, but I saw that everything simply had to go right for that, and it did not,” the cyclist said. In the men’s race, Germany’s Andreas Seewald won and Austria’s Hermann Pernsteiner finished 33rd.