Urs Huber secures his fourth Swiss Bike Marathon Champion title at the Iron Bike Race and thus the overall Bike Marathon Classics victory for the sixth time ahead of Hansueli Stauffer. Konny Looser takes the SM bronze medal. In the women's category, Ariane Lüthi becomes Swiss Marathon Champion for the third time ahead of Esther Süss and Andrea Ming. Süss wins the Bike Marathon Classics ahead of Janine Schneider and Andrea Ming.

Urs Huber made good on his announcement and actually won the Iron Bike Race for the fifth time, which was also the Swiss Bike Marathon Championship and the final Marathon Classics race. After breaking his collarbone in mid-August at the Eiger Bike Classics, the 33-year-old from Mettmenstetten has made an improvement that hardly anyone thought possible. "My tactics worked out perfectly. I reckoned that I would be able to pull away at half the distance on the Spirstock. But Stauffer closed the gap again on the descent. He rode down strongly. So we were together again at Brunni. But I couldn't help noticing that he was struggling with my pace on the uphill. That's why I attacked again on the penultimate climb to Bogenfang and actually got away," Huber summarized the course of the race.

Stauffer struggled to hide his disappointment. He crossed the finish line bent over his handlebars. He had to make do with the SM silver medal for the third time. He said: "I had a great day and tried everything to win the championship title. But Urs was just that little bit stronger on the mountain." Last year's winner and title holder Konny Looser finished third this time. "I had a weakness on the climb to Wisstannen and had to let the top riders go. But I soon realized that there was still a medal in it and threw everything into it again. That paid off. Of course I would have liked to defend the title. But after a long season with so many races, I just couldn't do any more today," explained the man from Hinwil.The women's title fight was decided in the downhill races, where Ariane Lüthi took more risks than title holder Esther Süss. As the winner at the finish, Lüthi was overwhelmed by her emotions and let her tears run free. "I had to give my best today. Esther has been a tough nut to crack for years. It's incredibly hard to win races against her. Especially on the downhill, I pushed from the start to make up time on her. I was finally able to shake her off in the long descent from Spirstock," said Lüthi, recapitulating her tactics. Seven-time SM title holder Süss was initially not at all thrilled with her second place, but paid tribute to her challenger's performance: "Ariane rode a smart race. I had to push hard to keep up with her rear wheel on the downhill. But at some point the risk simply became too great for me and I had to let her go." As in the previous year, Andrea Ming won the bronze medal. She said: "I just need about two hours to warm up properly. After that it went better and better. Of course, I'm delighted that I managed to win a medal again, because that's what I set out to do." Martin Fanger finished fourth ahead of the Romand Adrien Chenaux, who secured third place in the BMC classification.

Among the fun riders, Norbert Amgarten completed this year's Bike Marathon Classics with a flawless series of victories and was delighted with his latest triumph and perfect season.

Frans Claes, who is normally one of the best in the long distance, triumphed in the middle distance. However, the Belgian put his ambitions on hold for once in favor of his partner Ariane Lüthi - and his support staff at her service. Sebastian Breuer from Einsiedeln came second ahead of Bike Marathon Classics leader Fadri Barandun, who once again secured the final classification.

In the women's race, Arina Riatsch came out on top ahead of Tanja Blickenstorfer and Martina Kunz. Blickenstorfer took the final BMC classification.

Results:

Men (101 km):

1. Urs Huber (Mettemenstetten) 4:21:31.
2nd Hansueli Stauffer (Sigriswil) 1:30.
3. Konny Looser (Hinwil) 6:44.
4th Martin Fanger (Geneva) 8:42.
5th Adrien Chenaux (Fribourg) 11:19.
6th Andreas Moser (Madiswil) 12:47.
7th Michael Stünzi (Grüsch) 15:12.
8th Arnaud Rapillard (Saillon) 20:26.
9th Jeremias Marti (Gettnau) 30:28.
10th Norbert Amgarten (Kerns) 30:54.

Women (101 km):

1. Ariane Lüthi (Thun) 5:08:53.
2nd Esther Süss (Küttigen) 6:44.
3rd Maria Nisi (It) 29:03.
4th Andrea Ming (Neerach) 38:08.
5th Janine Schneider (De) 43:02.

Men (77 km):

1. Frans Claes (Be) 3:12:18.
2nd Sebastian Breuer (Einsiedeln) 12:17.
3rd Fadri Barandun (Samedan) 14:35.
4th Simon Brändli (Winterthur) 17:51.
5th Andreas Plüss (Aarburg) 18:49.
6th Benjamin Inauen (Appenzell) 19:28.
7th Martin Solvia (Galgenen) 21:43.
8th Stefan Wüthrich (Uttigen) 23:16.
9th Silvan Kälin (Unteriberg) 23:22.
10th Adrian Jäggi (Lohn-Ammannsegg) 23:36.

Women (77 km):

1. Arina Riatsch (Sent) 4:00:57.
2nd Tanja Blickenstorger (Horgen) 7:12.
3rd Martina Kunz (Zurich) 10:00.
4th Alexandra Lehmann (Oey) 13:39.
5th Meret Zimmermann (Flawil) 20:06.