In rainy weather the men’s field in the Epic format was disarranged today at the Perskindol Swiss Epic. The Swiss BiXS Pro Team with Konny Looser and Oliver Zurbrügg won the stage with a time of 4h 31min and took the lead rather surprisingly, despite a flat tyre.
Andri Frischknecht of the Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team had to give up the race this morning due to a hand-injury after a crash yesterday. His team partner Matthias Stirnemann rode today’s stage alone as training, but out of competition. The Swiss favourite team is therefore out of competition at an early stage.
The winners of the prologue, Centurion Vaude with Daniel Geismayr and Jochen Käss could have had a better race today: Käss wasn’t able to ride on his top level due to a stomach problem, so the Austrian-German duo only took 3rd place today, but defended their overall 2nd place.
The just newly combined Team Texpa-Simplon, with Christoph Soukup and Michael Stünzi, rode on second place despite a technical defect. Both of their original team partners crashed during the training for the prologue on Sunday, so the remaining team members joined together as a new team. The Austrian and the Swiss remain on 3rd overall, despite the fact that they haven’t raced with each other before. With all these new situations, the experienced BiXS Pro Team with Konny Looser and Oliver Zurbrügg has now definitely taken a favourite’s role now.
The Swiss Epic Women
In the women’s category, the long distance favourites of Team Meerendal CBC, Esther Süss and Jennie Stenerhag, won clearly today, and, with a time of 5h 26min, also took the leader’s jersey. Ariane Lüthi and Alice Pirard, Team Spur – Wallonie, became second.
SWISS EPIC Men: Today’s Podium
1. BiXS Pro Team, Konny Looser & Oliver Zurbrügg, 4h 31min
2. Team Texpa-Simplon, Christoph Soukup & Michael Stünzi, 4h 36min
3. CENTURION VAUDE, Daniel Geismayr & Jochen Käss, 4h 37min
SWISS EPIC Women: Today’s Podium
1. Team Meerendal CBC, Esther Süss & Jennie Stenerhag, 5h 26min
2. Spur – Wallonie, Ariane Kleinhans & Alice Pirard, 5h 41min
3. DMK Trek n’AMK BikeZone, Lisette Rosenbeck Christensen & Maj Schneider Thomsen, 5h 49min
SWISS EPIC Men: Overall Ranking
1. BiXS Pro Team, Konny Looser & Oliver Zurbrügg, 5h 26min
2. CENTURION VAUDE, Daniel Geismayr & Jochen Käss, 5h 29min
3. Team Texpa-Simplon, Christoph Soukup & Michael Stünzi, 5h 30min
SWISS EPIC Women: Overall Ranking
1. Team Meerendal CBC, Esther Süss & Jennie Stenerhag, 6h 33min
2. Spur – Wallonie, Ariane Kleinhans & Alice Pirard, 6h 46min
3. Scott Womens – R’adys, Cornelia Hug & Florence Darbellay, 6h 58min
SwissEpic 2017