Photo Report Salzkammergut Trophy 2025

In an incredible time of 9:09:18, the exceptionally strong local hero Manuel Pliem from Altaussee claimed victory. In his hometown, the 40-year-old managed to break away from his fellow Styrian escape companion David Schöggl after the first third of the race. Schöggl was further slowed down by a flat tire, which meant that, following his second-place finish last year, he again had to settle for “only” silver. Last year’s winner, Philip Handl from Tyrol, crossed the finish line in third place. Thus, like in 2024, the entire men's podium of the extreme distance was in Austrian hands.
In the women's competition of the premier discipline, Salzburg's Theresa Rinder-Bachl turned an initial two-minute deficit into a victory with a twelve-and-a-half-minute lead after 11:38:06 hours. She was followed by Upper Austrian Sabine Sommer and German Cemile Trommer.

The second-longest marathon distance saw a fierce duel with multiple lead changes, ultimately won by Upper Austrian Jakob Reiter. Wolfgang Krenn from Mondsee fell short in the battle for victory and had to settle for second place. The Pole Wojciech Halejak crossed the finish line at the Goisern marketplace in third place.
Last year’s winner of the A course, Tyrolean Bianca Somavilla, dominated the B distance this year, adding another victory to her collection at the Salzkammergut. Last year’s champion, Irina Fettinger from Bad Goisern, secured a celebrated second place ahead of German Yvonne Kuhnlein.

On the longest of the now three gravel courses, Maximilian Foidl won with an eleven-minute lead over Paul Viehböck from Ottensheim and Salzburg’s Dominik Hödlmoser. The women’s winner was Paula Schmidl, followed by Eva Herzog.

BB: How can one imagine such significant changes in the network of six, no, actually nine, other races and their schedules, feed stations, and dynamics? Is this a collectively managed Excel battle, or does course director Peter Kreutzer have the processes at his fingertips?
GL: Yes, it is a large Excel file, and Peter has it very well under control, as his timing is almost always spot on. However, it's by no means just about intermediate and finish times. You also want to ensure that the faster riders on one course don't catch up with the pack on another, set reasonable time buffers, design town exits well, etc. Moreover, it makes a huge difference whether it's dry or wet, whether it's cold or hot. That often changes the race dynamics completely. Not to mention whether leaders in a group work together or if solo riders lead the race. So overall, significant changes are an extremely complex matter, and we as a team spend many hours pondering how to integrate everything and achieve the best outcome. Ultimately, it's an assumption based on experience, and on race day, it's the moment of truth.

BB: This year, for the first time, there’s a third gravel route. Do you see potential in this area, and will this segment continue to expand?
GL: I still remember the beginnings of this new offering nine years ago quite well because they coincided with my own start at the Trophy. The idea came from Martin Huber, who has always had a good instinct for new trends. Back then, people didn’t really know what to call it: is it Cyclocross, or Gravel? And, of course, we made beginner’s mistakes, such as sending people over the Salzberg, even though there weren’t any mountain-compatible gear ratios for these bikes yet, and everyone was cursing because they really didn’t stand a chance. The topographical conditions of the Salzkammergut are still an issue today because it’s not so easy for us to find routes here that are technically simple and have few elevation changes. But it would be nice to have an additional course of about 120 kilometers with 1,800 meters of elevation gain.

BB: So, if you've found something in this regard, is the next stage of development coming?
GL: The demand is there. And in the industry, this is also a big topic. With the new Gravel Two over 52 kilometers, we’ve now filled the gap between Gravel One and Three and gained about 80 participants. In general, our increase in gravel this year is greater than that in the marathon, and the proportion of women is higher: about 20 to 25% versus 12-13% in the MTB sector. So … (pause) … we’ll see. Whether such a route can be found, or whether a Gravel World Championship could even be a topic in a time frame of five or six years: I don’t know at the moment. And in truth, no one can tell you whether gravel bikes will continue to be as hyped as they are currently. At the moment, they are definitely in demand, and we are working on attractive offers to continuously develop further.

BB: Speaking of tasks: How do you coordinate the incredible crowd of over 1,000 voluntary helpers, and how is the Trophy generally staffed?
GL: We are four people who work part-time throughout the year exclusively for the Trophy, as well as several individuals who hold important roles within the organization. Then we have our so-called guides, who are involved more intensively throughout the year or for several weeks, for example, for trail marking, and some of them invest an extremely large number of hours. But in the end, around 1,000 people contribute to the success of this event: From the fire department, mountain rescue, and Red Cross to clubs that manage specific areas such as the Lost & Found counter, to the many who participate as course marshals, lab station teams, or setup crews. They are coordinated and re-motivated every year by Peter Kreutzer, who manages the helper database.

BB: Does he personally know all of these thousand people?
GL: No, but he knows a lot of them. Of course, we can’t communicate our concerns to each individual. For institutions like the fire department & Co., there are institutionalized contacts, so to speak. For other areas like our lab stations or all the track marshals in Gosau, it's about finding the responsible people who, in turn, take over their specific segment. However, we do strive to maintain personal contact. Especially since successful event management, at least as I have defined it for myself, also means: You need to have the right phone number in your address book so that you can achieve what you want to achieve. Because if, despite all the preparation and alternatives, something goes wrong, you need to know who to call on-site to help solve the problem.

BB: This year, someone who unfortunately can't take his place due to injury is Trophy Devil Thomas Gschwandtner. Yesterday afternoon, however, there were rumors that despite the short-term absence, you found a replacement. What number did you dial? Who do you call when you need a devil within days, or even hours?
GL: Yes, the devil is coming at nine o'clock. But I'll only believe it when he's actually standing there. And this story once again totally embodies the Trophy vibe for me … (pause) … Many people think our devil is an actor we hire. But running around for 16 hours painted red in underwear, possibly even in bad weather, probably couldn't be paid for at all. Something like that can only be done out of passion. In truth, the devil is simply a really great guy who brings his artworks (Editor's note: Thomas creates the ceramic trophies annually, which are used to honor the fastest participants and the last A-finisher) to life. After we learned about Thomas' absence, I honestly had already given up hope of finding a replacement in time because I simply don't have that phone number. But our press and expo coordinator, Peter Perstl, kept at it and was apparently contacted yesterday by a young man who wants to step in. And that is so typical of the intrinsic motivation of the people here. After all, there are surely cooler things to do and no money in it, but he's excited about it and says: I want to do this. You can't plan something like that. You can only hope it happens.