Soon after the start, it became clear that a duo would dominate the competition on the slippery terrain in both the men's and women's races. In the men's race, cross-country World Cup rider Fabian Giger and former Swiss bike marathon champion Konny Looser soon pulled away from the rest and completed their laps together at the front. A difficult situation for Sven Olivetti, who was around 20 seconds behind the leading duo for the longest time - "but with no chance of closing the gap", as he later commented at the finish line, which he reached in third place.

The two front runners initially made common cause, but then fought each other tooth and nail in the finale. Looser attacked one last time on the final loops before the finish, but was counterattacked by Giger and then no longer had the freshness to stand up to Giger on the finish line. Looser said: "The last lap was brutally hard. Fabian tried to pull away twice. I was able to close the gap each time with my last ounce of strength. In a way, my attack was an escape to the front - in the knowledge that Fabian was in a good position." I had actually hoped that I would be able to pull away in the technical part of the course. But Fabian held his own. He simply had more reserves at the end. "But it was a cool battle," praised Looser.

"Mandatory victory" for Giger

The question to Giger as to whether this was a must-win was answered with a clear "yes": "I had hoped that I could compete for the win. But it wasn't easy. Konny rode strongly. It was good that we were lucky with the weather. The rain only started again on the last lap." He had expected Looser to attack in the final, said Giger. The victory was confirmation of his good form. Next week he will continue with a race in Germany. Six days later, the Swiss Cup at the Bike Days in Solothurn will follow before the World Cup starts.

The two-rider lead in the women's race also developed out of the race. Winner Lara Krähemann explains: "Vera was a little stronger than me on the climbs. But I was able to make up ground on the downhill trails." Vera Adrian was not particularly disappointed about missing out on victory: "It was a close race and the terrain is not necessarily one of my favorites, as are the cool temperatures. I am therefore satisfied."

Despite the capricious weather, 257 bikers at the start

Once again, the EKZ Cup opening race in Schwändi showed just how tough mountain bikers can be. The weather god Peter was on the side of the morass specialists and brought wintry temperatures, rain and even scattered snowflakes alternating with temporary sunshine. 257 bikers were not deterred by the nasty conditions. "It was great to ride a mud race again. I was also looking forward to the EKZ Cup," said Khalid Sidahmed, for example, after winning the U15 mega riders' race. Khalid had previously competed in the EKZ Cup six times. The seventh time was finally enough for his first victory. "I like it when it's slippery and you're challenged in terms of riding technique," explained Sidahmed and was delighted with his first triumph.

"In terms of the weather, we got off lightly," said OC President Hansueli Marti. "I had expected ten centimeters of fresh snow in the morning. Surprisingly, the sky was even blue at six in the morning. The weather only deteriorated over the course of the day, but then even turned sunny for a moment around midday. With a good weather forecast, we would certainly have had around 100 more riders at the start. But the most important thing for us anyway is that we didn't have any serious accidents."

www.ekzcup.ch