In the first edition of the Granfondo Svendborg on the Danish island of Funen, we saw 1700 riders from 31 different countries showing up for a 23km time trial on Saturday and a granfondo or mediofondo of respectively 157 and 77km on Sunday.
Norwegian Vidar Mehl (M35-39) was the strongest on Saturday, winning the overall time trial in 30m17 and an average speed of 46 km/h. Marcin Karbowy from Poland finished second at 6 seconds while Danish Simon Jul Raben got overall bronze after having opened as fastest at the first checkpoint on course.
The female win was for Trine Andersen (F35-39) in a time of 34m06 and an average speed of 40.8 km/h. Her nearest opponents were Frederikke Asfeldt at 30 seconds and Bianca Christiansen at 1m05 for a complete Danish podium.
The next day, the race started under a cloudy sky which turned into rain showers and hail in the second half of the race. Riders started with a 3 minute interval between most age groups with the older categories combined and a further interval towards the mediofondo start.
Starting in the fourth M45-49 wave, Belgian Dave Bruylandts and Danish Jan Tonnesen bridged the gap towards the M40-44 category and later even towards the M35-39 category who started 6 minutes earlier to finally sprint in that group for the overall win between the two of them with former pro rider Bruylandts outsprinting Tonnesen while Jone Ellingsen from the same fast M45-49 category got overall third at 48 seconds.
In the female race, starting with the men in the same age groups, Dave Bruylandts’ wife Femke Melis (F40-44) from Belgium outsprinted Danish Camilla Pedersen on the uphill finish line. Reigning F35-39 world champion Wies de Jong from the Netherlands finished as third.
In the mediofondo counting as qualifier distance for the men over 60 and women over 50, the respective wins in these categories were for Torleif Roberg (DEN) and Melina Olsen (DEN).
