Last Saturday, the biggest fixed gear crit in Germany, the 8Bar Crit, was held. The race is located at Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin which is one of the biggest former landing strips in the world. Thus, the organisation had full freedom in creating a technical challenging course. This resulted in a 1k circuit with various technical corners. On top of this, the organisation implemented a material zone in which riders were allowed to switch material. Next to the technical course, the weather conditions proved to be another challenging factor, alternating between sun and rain with heavy wind. A lot of top fixed gear crit riders from Northern Europe travelled to Berlin for the race, and with around 150 cyclists competing, the crit was both quality and quantity wise from a high level. It were David van Eerd from 8Bar and Tanja Erath riding for Fixedpott who turned out to be the fastest of them all.
Photography: Stefan Heahnel
The crit started with qualification heats in which the 16 fastest riders, ranked accordingly, automatically qualified for the finals. Those who didn’t qualify in the heat still had the chance to do so in the Last Chance Race.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXbPKDtH5EC/?taken-by=silja_ketelsen
Men’s Race
85 riders qualified for the main race in which Bram Linnartz, who won his qualification heat and had the overall fastest time, started from pole postion. It was Bram who also took the first prize of the race, the first lap prime. Despite several aggressive attacks and the high speed no break-away could be established which might be due to tactical manoeuvres and smart teamwork. In the sprint it was David van Eerd who proved to have the fastest legs and out-sprinted his teammate Tim Ceresa with Edwin van Kerkhof from Team FAST taking 3rd place.
Women’s Race
The women had luck with the weather in their final as they could race on a dry circuit. Silja Ketelsen started the quickest and took the prime lap. The strongest riders in the field quickly set off and gave the spectators along the track an exciting cat-and-mouse game with tactical position changes and explosive attacks, which ultimately culminated in a final sprint, which Tanja Erath of the team Fixedpott won before.
Men’s Podium
1. David van Eerd – 8Bar
2. Tim Ceresa – 8Bar
3. Edwin van Kerkhof – FAST
Women’s Podium
1. Tanja Erath – Fixedpott
2. Tamika Hingst – Canyon Rad Pack
3. Sami Sauri – The legor enve unicorn
