Beni Huggel is well known among football fans. Until 2012, the Basel native was a very successful professional footballer, winning numerous titles with FC Basel, playing for Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Bundesliga for two years and making over 40 international appearances for the Swiss national team. Since retiring from professional sport a good four years ago, Beni Huggel has worked as a football pundit for Swiss television and as an independent coach. And: he has enjoyed riding his mountain bike ever since. So much so that he is riding the last two stages of this year's Perskindol Swiss Epic in the short "EPIC 2 Day" format.

"This is my first mountain bike race - as a professional footballer, I never had time for something like this," says Beni Huggel about his new plans. "But I still love doing sport and love trying out new things! I also have a fondness for our Swiss mountains. Perskindol Swiss Epic is therefore the perfect challenge for me - even if I have great respect for the task!" Who his race partner will be is still open at the moment: "I'm still working out. It definitely has to be a team player," says Beni Huggel. When asked whether and to what extent his past football career could help in bike racing, Beni Huggel is clear: "As an athlete, I know my body very well. That also helps in other disciplines. I've also built up a certain capacity for suffering as a professional athlete - this helps me in every competition." So we are excited to see how the ex-footballer performs when the round doesn't have to roll into the square for once, but the bike does on the trail.

www.benihuggel.ch
www.swissepic.com