After one lap, Jürg Graf's lead is still modest, but then the man from Rheinthal makes short work of it. Especially on the climbs: "With my low weight, I can get up the mountain very well, so the route with the many meters of altitude suited me," explains Graf. However, the leader did not risk everything on the downhill. "I always had the overall standings in the back of my mind. As I don't have a scratch result, I knew that I had to finish every race," says Graf. His main rival Marcel Bartholet did not make it to the finish due to a flat tire. Graf is therefore already the overall EKZ Cup winner.

Bartholet's retirement puts him in serious trouble. Currently in second place overall, he is only five points ahead of his team-mate Silvio Büsser. "Things are going really well at the moment. I'm going to attack again in the final," says Büsser happily. From the chasing group following the two leaders, Manuel Boog established himself in third place over the course of the race. This is a big surprise, as Boog has never been able to ride so far in front before.

In the women's race, Sabrina Maurer is the one who closes the bag. She wins the day's classification ahead of Sabrina Baumgartner and Joana Schönthal. This means that Maurer, like Graf, wins the overall standings early. Sabrina Baumgartner was only beaten by 30 seconds in the "Sabrina duel". The battle for third place comes down to a sprint between Joana Schönthal and Rahel Signer. Schönthal keeps the fresher calves and grabs the last place on the podium.

E-bike instead of motorbike
The race is characterized by the change in the weather that hits Switzerland on Sunday. The youth races in the morning will still be held in dry conditions. In the main categories and the fun categories, the athletes will complete their laps in the rain. "The rain probably cost us a few more registrations from the village, but with over 400 participants we are quite satisfied," says organizing committee boss Klaus Kiessling. In addition to the cozy festival pub and the good infrastructure, Egg has another new feature. "Instead of a motocross bike, an e-bike rider rode in a bike race for the first time today. I think that's a great thing. However, he was under a lot of pressure in the fast categories despite the motor," smiles Kiessling.

A six-minute race report will be broadcast on Sport Szene Fernsehen "SSF" next Tuesday evening. The EKZ Cup Magazine at 7.50 pm will summarize the most important aspects of the race in Egg once again. In addition, further exciting video and photo reports will be available on the social media channels from Monday.www.ekz-cup.ch
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