No leisurely roll-in at this year's Eiger Bike Challenge: the two Bulls team riders Hansueli Stauffer and Urs Huber set such a fast pace in the first few kilometers that a leading group of just five riders had already formed by the time they left the village of Gindelwald. Soon, however, only Classics leader Martin Fanger was able to keep up with them. The trio gave each other nothing over the entire 82 kilometers. The decision was only made on the final climb up to the finish on the Bärplatz in Grindelwald. Fanger has the better end for himself. Second place went to a visibly perplexed Urs Huber, who had unsuccessfully tried everything to shake off his opponent on the way. Hansueli Stauffer is not entirely unhappy in third place.

When asked what Huber would do differently next time, the rider from Mettemnstetten replied: "No idea. I attacked three times on the climb to Kleine Scheidegg and didn't get away. I knew then that the final would be tough." On the descent back to Grindelwald, he then took a lot of risks and actually lost a few seconds. But Fanger was able to re-establish contact just as the final climb began. "One kilometer before the finish, at a point where I was able to leave two other competitors behind in previous events, I tried again with an attack," recaps Huber. But Fanger stayed on and eventually outpaced him.

"When Urs was able to pull away slightly on a gravel road in the first part of the final descent, I thought for a moment that he had won. But I didn't give up and concentrated on the descent. Suddenly he came back into view," said a delighted Martin Fanger. Hansueli Stauffer was also satisfied: "I had very good legs today. But Martin and Urs were simply stronger. Third place is fine for me, because I haven't had any tangible results so far this season. Today's race showed me that my form is improving again."

The women's competition ended with a start-to-finish victory for Estelle Morel, who was competing in Grindelwald for the first time. "That was tough! Very long and sometimes steep climbs. But I found a good rhythm." Second-placed Esther Süss reached the finish shaking her head. She said: "First I had cramps, then my feet started to hurt too. This meant I could no longer enjoy the descents and had to slow down because you're standing on the pedals and can't take the strain off your feet. It was a vicious circle." That's why she was happy with second place.

Third-placed Alexandra Zürcher was still suffering from a rib contusion she sustained in a fall two weeks ago. She said: "I deliberately reduced the risk in the descent from the field and therefore lost the connection to Esther. I actually still had good legs but today I just couldn't do any more. I'm happy with third place."

Tobias Lüthi took his third victory in the fun riders' category and has an unassailable lead in the classics classification with two races to go. Irina Lützelschwab and Emilien Barben won the middle distance. Peter Andres and Alexandra Musy remain the Classics leaders

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Results

Men (82 km):
1st Martin Fanger (Geneva) 4:31:16.
2nd Urs Huber (Mettmenstetten) 0:16.
3rd Hansueli Stauffer (Sigriswil) 4:33.
4th Jeremias Marti (Willisau) 24:10.
5th Pascal Nay (Zizers) 30:41.
6th Damian Perrin (Bern) 32:29.
7th Tobias Lüthi (Walliswil bei Wangen) 34:23.
8th Andreas Kleiber (De) 35:23.
9th Pascal Kiser (Giswil) 40:31.
10th Fabian Heinzer (Schwyz) 50:13.

Women (82 km):
1st Estelle Morelle (Fr) 5:47:50.
2nd Esther Süss (Küttigen) 10:16.
3rd Alexandra Zürcher (Oey) 19:12.
4th Evelyne Trepte (Horgen) 50:56.
5th Beatrice Herrmann (Rotkreuz) 1:16:35.

Men (50 km):
1st Emilien Barben (Chez-le-Bart) 2:35:38.
2nd Micha Klötzli (Tramelan) 2:22.
3rd Livio Camenzind (Schwyz) 4:14.
4th Simon Brändli (Winterthur) 5:55.
5th Lukas Bertle (De) 6:30.

Women (50 km):
1st Irina Lützelschwab (Wallbach) 3:16:31.
2nd Letizia Strimer (Scuol) 2:37.
3rd Daniela Höfler (Fläsch).
4th Stefanie Zahno (Bürchen) 16:38.
5th Sue Tanner (Stans) 16:48.

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