Shortly after the start, a trio of favorites Martin Fanger, Frans Claes and Marc Stutzmann were able to pull away from the rest and steadily extend their lead to the finish. While Stutzmann had to let his two rivals go on the climb to La Forclaz in the second half of the course, Claes for his part increased the pace on the way to the final culmination point on Béplan and was able to distance Fanger slightly. The Belgian champion wants to break the course record set by Johann Tschopp in 2015: 3:10:20 hours.

However, he has not reckoned with Martin Fanger. Thanks to a more direct line choice and more risk in the final descent, Fanger was able to overtake Claes and win the Raid Evolenard FMV for the second time. However, he missed the course record by one minute. "Frans was very strong today and was even able to distance me slightly on the mountain. I had the faster line downhill," summarized Fanger. Claes was less happy: "I had great legs and lost the race downhill. That annoys me a bit." Marc Stutzmann ran out of energy on the second half of the course: "I felt good at first. But then, for some inexplicable reason, I couldn't keep up with my two rivals. At least I was still able to finish in third place," Stauffer summed up.

In the women's race, Estel Morel lived up to her role as favorite. In place of Irina Lützelschwab, who withdrew from the race, Bettina Janas kept up Morel's pace for a while. At the first culmination point on L'Etoile, Morel was already alone in the lead with a 90-second advantage. By the finish it should be over six minutes. Morel was correspondingly satisfied: "After the good result at the European Championships, I expected to win here." Bettina Janas said: "I knew the course from previous starts. But it's still surprisingly tough every time  - even though I like it when it's steep uphill and steep downhill. My ambition was to stay with Estelle for as long as possible and then ride at my own pace. That worked out quite well." Alexandra Zürcher was the third fastest woman to reach the finish line in the Evolene bullring.

O OC President Stéphane Chevrier also drew a positive balance: "With almost 650 participants over the entire weekend and a top-class line-up in the main race, the Raid Evolenard continues to gain in importance. The Swiss Championships, which will be held in Evolene for the third time next year, will allow us to build on this success. The feedback from the participants was very positive across the board, which makes me very happy."

Results

Men (62 km): 1. Martin Fanger (Geneva) 3:11:17. 2. Frans Claes (Be) 3:13:19. 3. Marc Stutzmann (Rüfenacht b. Bern) 3:20:16. 4. Emilien Barben (Chez-le-Bart) 3:22:54. 5. Hansueli Stauffer (Sigriswil) 3:24:32. 6. Fabian Heinzer (Schwyz) 3:27:04. 7. Roger Jenni (Küblis) 3:27:58. 8. Adrien Chenaux (Fribourg) 3:29:47. 9. Micha Klötzli (Tramelan) 3:30:01. 10. Tobias Lüthi (Walliswil b. Wangen) 3:33:47.

Women (62 km): 1. Estelle Morel (Fr) 4:04:31. 2. Bettina Janas (De) 4:10:55. 3. Alexandra Zürcher (Oey) 4:37:18. 4. Greete Steinburg (Est) 4:41:27. 5. Stefanie Zahno (Bürchen) 4:46:06.

The races of the Bike Marathon Classics 2023

#1 Raid Evolénard, Sunday, June 18, 2023
#2 BerGiBike, Sunday, July 2, 2023, Bulle
#3 Summer Bike, July 16, 2023, Château-d`Oex
#4 Eiger Bike Challenge, Saturday, August 12, 2023, Grindelwald
#5 Grand Raid, Saturday, August 19, Verbier - Grimentz
#6 BikeSide MTB Festival, Sunday, September 24, 2022, Einsiedeln

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