Lisa Brennauer retains her German Time Trial Title for 2022

Lisa Brennauer successfully defended her German National Time Trial title for 2022 in Sauerland.

Lisa Brennauer had a successful day in Marsberg, Sauerland retaining her German National Time Trial title, winning in the most dramatic of circumstances ahead of Lisa Klein and Hannah Ludwig. 

The 27.5km race against the clock wasn't the typical of time trial courses, the 2022 Champion explained in her post race press conference saying, "it was a super hard course; the two hard long climbs and they were been steep too. I can’t remember if I've ever done such hard time trial, where I had to start in my small chain ring. But still it was in my favour after my long-forced break [due to COVID-19]. The on and off all the time it was something I could handle well. You needed a very good tactic to win this jersey today."

This was Brennauer's 5th national time trial title in her career, but it isn't a given despite being one of the best in this discipline, "something like that [to win a 5th title] is never routine and I always work really detailed towards the championships. The national championships are always important to me, no matter what discipline and this year it is more special, because the way to get here was even harder and I had to climb over some obstacles. I am not used to this, normally I do not miss any races to sickness. Due to this it is even more special to win again."

The winning margin was 00'14" but it was a dramatic finale for Brennauer who crashed in the finale due to taking a corner too fast and pushing her limits. Brennauer explained post race what had happened, "Before the last corner there was a gutter in the street, and I got caught in the gutter. I knew it was tight between us, so I went over the limit. I should have known better but this corner it was just too fast." 

With adrenaline running high, fast reactions were crucial "in this situation I was not thinking I was just reacting. I checked my bike, it wasn’t working so I started running. I was just functioning and wasn’t thinking at all."

Franziska Brauße finished in 7th position 1'17" down on teammate Brennauer who came into this championship after suffering some illness, whilst Lana Eberle finished 7th in the U23 category.

All attention now turns to the German National Road Race Championships on Sunday, where Lin Teutenberg and Clea Seidel will join Brennauer, Brauße and Eberle.