GDR road cycling championships 1957
The road cycling championships in 1957 were held in the disciplines of individual road races for men and women and 100 km team time trial. As a master were Gustav-Adolf Schur , Elfriede Vey and the SC DHfK Leipzig determined.
Individual race (men)
In contrast to previous years, the men's singles championship was decided by just one race in 1957. This took place on August 25th in Dresden in the form of a 14.2 km circuit that had to be tackled twelve times. The route had three difficult climbs to the " Wilder Mann ", to Boxdorf and three kilometers from the finish on what was then Hammerstrasse, plus numerous acute-angled bends. 61 drivers started the 170.4 kilometer race at 8:30 a.m. in sunny but stormy weather, which was followed by over 50,000 spectators. During the second lap, a top group of three formed on the Boxdorfer Berg with Günter Oldenburg , Bernhard Trefflich and Siegfried Hunger, who temporarily gained a lead of 30 seconds. After 35 kilometers the three were caught up by an 18-man chasing group, 15 more drivers joined them after 45 kilometers. At kilometer 48, three drivers, among them Gustav-Adolf Schur, ran into a stationary motorcycle and only Schur was able to continue the race. He was now behind the peloton, but despite a hand injury he managed to catch up with a newly formed leading group after half the distance. This now consisted of twelve men, followed by seven other drivers. The rest of the field had meanwhile been eliminated. From the tenth lap on, only nine active players formed the top group, including the defending champion Erich Hagen had since retired. With that Schur had lost his last team-mate, while SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt was still in the race with four drivers. They tried to shield Schur in order to let Bernhard Trefflich go away. However, Schur broke the bolt and pulled in a sprint 500 meters from the finish that none of his opponents could follow. In the end, he won with a lead of 1:09 minutes over the Karl-Marx-Städter Manfred Weißleder . Only 17 drivers got through the race.
| driver | team | Time (h) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Gustav-Adolf Schur | SC DHfK Leipzig | 5:05:31 |
| 2. | Manfred Weißleder | SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt | 5:06:40 |
| 3. | Egon Adler | SC Rotation Leipzig |
all the same time |
| 4th | Horst Kappel | SC unit Berlin | |
| 5. | Peter Härtel | SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt | |
| 6th | Günter Schulz | BSG Lok Dessau | |
| 7th | Johannes Schober | SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt | |
| 8th. | Bernhard Trefflich | SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt | |
| 9. | Günter Oldenburg | SC unit Berlin | |
| 10. | Erwin Wittig | SC unit Berlin | 5:09:30 |
| ... | |||
Individual race (women)
The women's championship, which took place on the same day, was held over a 42-kilometer distance on the same course that the men had ridden. With a clear lead of almost four minutes, Freiberg defending champion Elfriede Vey won ahead of her club mate Karin Hansel. The defending champion was able to show her strengths on the climb in Hammerstrasse.
| driver | team | Time (h) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Elfriede Vey | BSG unit Freiberg | 1:26:17 |
| 2. | Karin Hansel | BSG unit Freiberg | 1:28:23 |
| 3. | Ingrid Kramer | BSG Motor Karl-Marx-Stadt | 1:28:28 |
| ... | |||
Team time trial (men)
The 100 km time trial led on Sunday, September 1st, 1957 from Wittenberg through the Düben Heath to Pratau and back. The mountainous terrain of the heather and the stiff wind demanded good stamina from the teams of six drivers each. In the favored teams, Lothar Meister II from SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt had to pay tribute to the difficult challenge after only 20 kilometers and fell behind. Ten kilometers later, Helmut Zirngibl from SC DHfK Leipzig also let his team go. Nevertheless, both teams were in the front at the turning point in Pratau, but the DHfK, driven by the individual champion Gustav-Adolf Schur, had already gained a lead of almost three minutes. However, this was in danger when Wolfgang Grabo suffered a fit of weakness. Although he was brought back to the team several times by Schur, he too had to be torn down after 85 kilometers. Since at the same time the Karl Marx townsperson Bernhard Trefflich could no longer keep up, the SC Wismut did not take advantage of the situation by decimating the Leipziger. The time gap between the two teams remained almost unchanged until the finish, so that the SC DHfK Leipzig with its drivers Erich Hagen , Roland Henning , Gustav-Adolf Schur, Rolf Töpfer as well as Wolfgang Grabo and Helmut Zirngibl could be crowned the new team champions.
| team | Time (h) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | SC DHfK Leipzig I | 2: 29: 37.4 |
| 2. | SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt I | 2: 32: 46.8 |
| 3. | SC Dynamo Berlin | 2: 34: 57.0 |
| 4th | SC unit Berlin | 2: 35: 10.0 |
| 5. | SC DHfK Leipzig II | 2: 36: 43.9 |
| 6th | BSG Stahl Riesa | 2: 37: 08.4 |
| 7th | SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt II | 2: 39: 13.9 |
| 8th. | BSG Post Berlin | 2: 31: 50.7 |
| 9. | SC Rotation Leipzig | 2: 44: 13.9 |
| 10. | BSG Rotation Berlin | 2: 45: 34.4 |
| ... | ||
literature
- Cycling Week , No. 35, 36/1957
- Berliner Zeitung , edition of August 27 and September 3, 1957