While stage races have long since established themselves in road sports and enjoy international attention, recent developments show that such races are also becoming increasingly popular in mountain biking. The best examples of this are the Cape Epic in South Africa or the Trans Germany of our German neighbors. From next year, the Tour-Grischa will also be a major event in Switzerland that could attract national and even international attention.

Objective
The Tour-Grischa is intended to offer a week of biking enjoyment at the highest level and put Graubünden at the center of attention as a biking region. While the top athletes on the mountain bike scene compete for UCI world ranking points, fun bikers should also be able to enjoy the Grisons mountains. Silvio Bundi emphasizes that it will not simply be as tough a race as possible, but that the focus will be on the unique experience of nature and the high quality of the event. To ensure these quality standards, the number of participants is limited to a maximum of 800 athletes in the first year. The participants should come back with enthusiasm. In addition, the positive response should attract new participants. This is the only way to ensure a recurring event, says Bundi. For subsequent years, the organizers have set an upper capacity limit of 1200 participants. The Tour-Grischa is intended to strengthen the Graubünden tourist region as a mountain bike Eldorado in the long term.

Timing
The chosen date (September 17 to 22, 2012) is ideal for long-distance specialists in particular, as the Marathon World Championships will take place in Ornans (France) two weeks later - the perfect yardstick.

Course
A time trial will kick off the Tour-Grischa. The 15-kilometer course will be completed in the Flims area and will generate the start list for the first stage on Tuesday. From Tuesday to Saturday, five stages of 60 to 90 kilometers and 1500 to 3000 meters of altitude difference will be ridden. In contrast to many other stage races in Europe, where the kilometers are often covered on wide forest roads, the Tour-Grischa should be varied and offer many single trails.

Registration and details
The registration portal will open on 11.11.2011 on the website www.tour-grischa.com. To date, only an information page is online. However, a detailed homepage is set to follow at the end of October.

www.tour-grischa.com