With the early morning temperature at 30C, riders were already sweating before the first pedal stroke of the 24th Wachauer Radtage in Austria on Sunday. As the thermometer climbed towards 35C, over 2000 dedicated riders started on 176, 102 or 53 kilometer long amateur routes along the scenic Danube river east of Vienna.

The 176km gran fondo came down to a two-man photo finish after almost five hours of racing. It was former pro racer Maximilian Kuen, 31, who had the strongest kick at the last second to beat Christoph Mick by mere millimeters. The pair finished in 4:48:20, followed by Christian Brack (4:50:09).

“It was really extremely hot and a real heat battle…it was brutal,” a breathless Kuen told Radio Niederösterreich. “200 meters from the finish, we were both at the limit. No one could predict who would win in the end.”

Zsofia Toth, who traveled from Hungary to participate, claimed victory in the women’s 176km race with a time of 5:51:19, just ahead Angelika Wrobel (5:53:30) and Barbara Jurkic (5:58:56).

The 102km medio fondo title went to Daniel Szalay (2:40:59), with Martina Putz (2:49:33) earning the same for the women.

Photo Credit: Wachauer Radtage

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