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Mountainbiker Jochen Käß (Multivan-Merida) has wun the German championship mountainbike marathon in Garmisch. Team Bulls racers Tim Böhme and Stefan Sahm took the silver and bronze positions.

The track was set at 99 km with 2.900 metres altitude gain and further description by Karl Platt (Team Bulls) before the start of the race: "It's a track asking for a good condition and is filled with irregular and long climbs."

"You needed to claim your spot at the start.", said Böhme after the race, "At seven kilometres from the start, there was a narrow single trial towards the Eibsee and when you're in the back of the pack, there could well be a leading group without even you knowing."

Before the race, eyes were set on two teams: Team Bulls and Multivan-Merida. At the first technical zone (28 km) there was still a leading group of 20 racers until Bulls and Multivan-Merida were changing shifts to maintain a high rythm upon which the leading group scattered.

On the following climb of the Eckbauer, there was an attack of Käß where only Böhme, Sahm and Torsten Marx (DS Rennsport) could follow. This group stays together until the first passage of the finishline at 65 km.

But Käß was holding on to the high pace and was making the difference, only Tim Böhme was able to stay close. "The Esterbergalm afterwards was just too much.", confesses Tim Böhme, "I could stay close for a long time, but he was just too strong."

"On that climb, I lost around 30 seconds and took risks in the following downhill, trying to get hold of the title.", explains Tim. But also in the final 7 km on flat sections, Böhme wasn't able to close the gap and finished 33" later, a silver position.

Results of the German championships marathon in Garmisch on June 6th 2008:

Source: Press release by Team Bulls.
More information: www.bulls.de