The Red Bull Velodux is not a cyclo-cross race in the traditional sense. Although it incorporates the traditional elements of this sport, it challenges the participants in ways that are unfortunately no longer found in today's cyclo-cross sport. In addition, the Velodux is ridden as an Americaine in teams of two.

The route rides from the shores near the harbor into Estavayer-le-Lac over sand, then across the meadow into the old town. Up steep stairs, over a step-up jump deeper into the heart of the old town, past historic walls through narrow alleyways, over the pump track and a large steep wall curve to the descent over the 104 steps of the staircase. From this test of courage, it's back to the start and finish area where the rider hands over to his colleague.

The route in Estavayer is extremely challenging compared to the modern and fast cross-country routes. Photos ©Redbull Contentpool

Le Mans start followed by chaos
The starting shot is fired and the horde races off. There is a real scramble among the riders - some even crash. 300 meters further on, the Velodux participants continue the ride on their cross bikes. Right from the start, the Flückiger brothers, junior world champion in mountain biking and cyclocross Simon Andreassen and his partner Carstensen Fini (DEN) and the duo of Nicola Rohrbach and Lukas Winterberg fight for the lead. Lap after lap, they alternated in the top three positions.

After 60 minutes of racing, the final lap is rung in and Rohrbach makes the decisive attack: instead of sending his colleague into the race, he rides through and gains important meters on the sandy start-finish straight. However, he had to go down on the final lap and was only able to maintain a small lead. "It got really tough after that, because the other two riders were a bit fresher, coming out of the break." But Rohrbach successfully mobilized his last reserves and rode home to victory. "Winning is always nice, but it's especially fun like this," said his partner Lukas Winterberg happily.

It is also worth mentioning the two enduro specialists Francois Bailly-Maitre (FRA) and his partner Florian Golay. The two BMC riders skillfully steered their cross bikes through the lanes and left many a cross-country and cyclo-cross team behind them. They finished in a respectable seventh place.

The fastest women's team is Lara Krähemann and Sina Frei. "The long downhill was extremely tough," admits Sina Frei, "the decisive factor was that we stayed crash-free and were able to ride consistent laps. So we had the race under control."
As with the men, the women taking part come from different areas of cycling. In addition to cyclocross and cross-country specialists, there are also some from the road and enduro disciplines. From the latter, for example, the twins Anita and Carolin Gehrig, for whom the Red Bull Velodux is their first experience on a cross bike. However, they put up a respectable fight and achieved fifth place on the unsprung bikes.

Rohrbach rides home the victory for himself and his partner Lukas Winterberg. The rookie, open, women's and elite podiums Photos ©Redbull Contentpool

Stars on the Velodux
Staying crash-free is the goal of Pascal Richard, 1988 cyclo-cross world champion and 1996 Olympic road champion, who is back on a cyclo-cross bike for the first time in over 20 years. The field of participants reads like an overview of the disciplines of cycling, represented by top national and international athletes: The world's top mountain bikers are well represented by the aforementioned top teams, as well as Florian Vogel, Martin Gujan and other World Cup athletes. Ralph Näf is riding his first race as an ex-professional, or hobby rider as he says, in a duo with road rider Michael Albasini. Swiss road champion Danilo Wyss is one of several other asphalt specialists at the start. From the track comes the newly crowned world champion Stephan Küng, who forms a team with his team colleague Silvan Dillier.

www.redbull.com/velodux