Sports Management Philipps Bike Team – Yvonne is world champion

After winning the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring and Race Around Austria 1500, Philipps Bike Team’s sporting director, Yvonne Margraf, went one better at the end of the season: she won the 24-hour time trial world championship in California.

She covered 747.38 kilometres at an average speed of 31.38 km/h. It was yet another feat of willpower, with only 6 men out of 58 (!) finishing faster than her.

Swiss ultra-cycling specialist Isa Pulver was in the lead for a long time, as Margraf had predicted before the start, given that the Swiss cyclist won the Race Across America in 2023 – the toughest and longest ultra-cycling event in the world.  “You can never recover on the flat course, there are no downhill sections. The dust also bothered me and I choked while drinking. At the beginning of the night, I had to fight my way through a low point, but then I realised: there’s still more to come. So I gritted my teeth and made up time lap after lap. That motivated me incredibly and gave me extra energy. Finishing ahead of Isa and standing on the podium above her feels absolutely surreal… but also pretty good,” beamed the newly crowned world champion.

Even though Yvonne had to pedal alone, the victory was a team effort. Björn Runge was Yvonne’s only supporter on site and also kept going for 24 hours. Equally helpful on the way to victory was the carbon cockpit he specially developed. ‘We were able to adjust the handles and pads to me with millimetre precision in all planes. Not only did this help aerodynamically, but we were also able to trim the seating position to make it “bearable”.’

Margraf is now heading back to Heusenstamm and her job as a nurse. 

Philipps Bike Team’s season starts on 21 February in Santa Ponsa/Mallorca, where we will once again celebrate Yvonne Margraf in style.