Carinthia200 in Villach: Highlights on video

On 20 September, Villach celebrated the inaugural Carinthia200. The biggest draw of the cycle race was the fact that the roads were closed to traffic. Just over 1,400 men and women lined up at the start, some of whom did not know how far it was to the finish. Thanks to the flexible format, they were able to decide during the race which distance they wanted to ride. After the first loop in Villach, they could either head straight for the finish line or add a second loop via Bad Bleiberg and back over the Windische Höhe. The organiser has now uploaded a video summarising the highlights:

Local press reports on angry residents

The closed roads allowed participants to cycle without being endangered by motorised traffic. Giving up their cars for a few hours once a year does not seem to be easy for all residents. A few residents complained about the restrictions. The website 5min.at reports on angry residents in the lower Gail Valley. In the Gail Valley, the road had to be closed for one to two hours, and between Windischer Höhe and the Drau Valley for three to four hours. “If we want to leave on Sunday, I suppose we’ll have to take a helicopter,” one woman is quoted as saying. The organiser emphasises the event’s high economic value. According to a press release, the event weekend generated around 6,000 overnight stays in the region.

Winner from Austria at Carinthia200

Wolfgang Krenn emerged victorious in the inaugural Carinthia200. The Austrian won after a tactically contested race in which the leading group was whittled down on the second lap. In the women’s race, Carina Ziegler of Austria took the win. In the shorter 105-kilometre race, Arno Kaspret of Team Special Bike Pörtschach won the men’s event in 2:45:09.6 hours. In the women’s race, Franziska Zuder of SC Mirnock claimed victory in 2:51:16.9 hours. Carinthia’s cycling coordinator Paco Wrolich and former biathlete Julian Eberhard took part in the Carinthia105. Sports ambassadors Nici Schmidhofer, Elisabeth Görgl, Andreas Goldberger, Christoph Sumann, and Sabine and Alexander Payer also completed the race. There was no age-group classification for the event.