Vinzenz Geiger continues love affair with Ramsau am Dachstein
Dec 19, 2020·Nordic Combined
Vinzenz Geiger added another victory at his favourite venue Ramsau am Dachstein to his merit list. The German achieved his first podium here in 2016 and now claimed his fourth World Cup win by beating Jarl Magnus Riiber in a finish line sprint by 0.5 seconds. Lukas Greiderer delighted the Austrian fans with a home podium on rank three (+1.3).
As usual in Ramsau am Dachstein, the jumping round produced a result list without large gaps and with many athletes starting their races at almost the same time.
Jarl Magnus Riiber continued to rule on the jumping hill and claimed the pole position with a jump of 94.5 metres and 132.9 points. He had a 10-second head start on Japan’s Yoshito Watabe (94 m; 130.3 p.), who in turn claimed a narrow lead of 0.3 points or two seconds on Johannes Lamparter from Austria.
Last year’s winner Vinzenz Geiger made his ambitions for another Ramsau-victory known: with 92 metres, the German only had to make up 25 seconds on leader Riiber, a threat that the Norwegian took seriously: “I know that he always has good races here, especially in this altitude. It will be a tough one”, he said after the jumping event.
In total, 17 athletes started within the first minute of the race, including Lukas Greiderer on rank 6 (+0:29), Espen Bjørnstad (+0:30) and Fabian Rießle (+0:41). Fast skiers Johannes Rydzek and Eric Frenzel were a little further back with +1:10 but still within striking distance.
The cross-country race did not disappoint. In typical Ramsau-fashion large trains of athletes formed on the track, especially in the chasing groups.
Jarl Magnus Riiber skied his own race for the first two laps but was caught by a group of fast pursuers on the third lap: Vinzenz Geiger, Johannes Lamparter, Lukas Greiderer and also Fabian Rießle closed the gap to the leading group a little later.
Espen Bjørnstad, Terence Weber and Yoshito Watabe were a trio in between the leaders and a large pursuing group, which did not manage to close the gap to the leaders in the end.
Fabian Rießle was the first to drop out of the race for the podium and Johannes Lamparter also lost contact to the three other athletes on the last lap. Jarl Magnus Riiber led the remaining trio down into the stadium but Vinzenz Geiger used his surplus speed from the last downhill in Riiber’s wind shield to set himself up well for another of his irresistible finish sprints.
Riiber had to concede defeat and be satisfied with the second place today, while Lukas Greiderer was delighted with his first podium result since taking the second place in Schonach in 2019.
Johannes Lamparter finished on another very good fourth place, Fabian Rießle was fifth and Finland’s Ilkka Herola was the fastest mover on the track and skied from rank 36 to rank 6. Jørgen Graabak ended his day with the seventh place, also a marked improvement from rank 34 after the jumping part of the event. Terence Weber was eighth and Eero Hirvonen completed a very good day for Team Finland on position nine. Eric Frenzel was number ten.
