The constellation in the men's race ahead of the final race is clear. Following the withdrawal of Fabian Giger and Julien Absalon, Moritz Milatz and Mathias Flückiger will duel it out for overall victory. Within the top ten, the better result is simply enough.

After the first lap, three BMC and two Stöckli riders form the leading group. However, Ralph Näf put a lot of pressure on them and Mathias Flückiger ran into problems. "I still felt tired from the trip to North America. I should actually be in form by now, but I lost the connection on the mountain of all places, which should actually be my strength," explains Mathias Flückiger.

He is almost able to close the gap that opens up again at the start-finish area, but Näf continues to push full steam ahead. "I wanted to ride really fast in the first three laps so that the field would break up. It was important that Moritz was with me," says Näf. Milatz and Lukas Flückiger only joined in the pace work halfway through the race and so the lead continued to grow. Meanwhile, the tired Mathias Flückiger tries to benefit from team-mate Matthias Stirnemann. "Too bad, but there are still important races to come," says the Ochlenberger.

On the last lap, the BMC trio parted ways at the front and Näf took a well-deserved victory in the sprint ahead of Lukas Flückiger. "It feels good to win a race again. Tracks like this suit me. It's great that we finished as a team," commented Näf on repeating his previous year's victory in Muttenz.Lukas Flückiger admits that he had problems at the start. This was due to problems in his digestive tract, which had been bothering him since Friday. "After one lap, the engine was warm. We all did our lead work, but Ralph deserved to win," says Lukas Flückiger.The first thing Moritz Milatz, who crossed the finish line twelve seconds behind, did was go to his team-mates. "The fact that we tore a small hole opposite Mathias was the optimum case. Ralph worked the hardest, but my legs were also quite good today. As a team, we got the best out of it," summed up the multiple German champion from Freiburg.

Women: Neff ahead of Indergand and Leumann

Jolanda Neff also shone in Muttenz. The Thaler recorded her fifth win of the season in the BMC Racing Cup, her 55th victory in the Swiss series since the start of her career and her first overall victory in the elite category.

The overall World Cup winner fought a duel with Gunn Rita Dahle-Flesjaa in the first of seven laps. As she entered the technical section after the climb, Neff noticed that the Norwegian kept spinning. "I passed her and had a small lead at the end of the passage," Neff explains.

She passed the timer with a seven-second lead over Dahle-Flesjaa. Neff speculates that the record World Cup winner must have had an incident afterwards because she falls behind her closest pursuers Katrin Leumann and Linda Indergand. But that is not the case.

"No, nothing happened. It was clear to me that I wouldn't be able to keep up the pace after so many weeks away from competition," explained Dahle-Flesjaa, who rode with the two Swiss riders for the rest of the race, just like Jolanda Neff, alone at the front and continued to extend her lead. After 42.9 kilometers, it was exactly five minutes in 1:36:55 hours, despite the 21-year-old suffering a puncture on the penultimate lap.

Linda Indergand is also beaming at the finish. In the sprint, the U23 rider easily beat local hero Katrin Leumann and Gunn Rita Dahle-Flesjaa to finish second. This is her best result in the BMC Racing Cup to date. "I struggled every lap on the climb, but I told myself that I absolutely had to be there at the bottom and then I fought," reports Indergand. As a result, she kept up with the rest of the field and relegated Katrin Leumann to third place. She is also very happy with that. "My self-confidence has suffered in recent weeks. That's why I'm very happy that it went so well. I can live with third place in front of my fans," says Leumann.The overall classification goes to Jolanda Neff, who clearly wins ahead of Kathrin Stirnemann, who finished fifth on the day, and Andrea Waldis.

Jolanda Neff: Basel Bike Festival "super cool"

The combination of the BMC Racing Cup and Basel Bike Festival is once again a complete success this year. There is a record crowd and the Schänzli sausages are sold out on both days in the afternoon. Bike journalists consider the festival to be the most diverse of its kind in Europe.

Spectators will be able to enjoy numerous facets of cycling on Saturday and Sunday. And the public will come in large numbers to the horse racing track, which has been converted into a bike arena. They pedaled themselves in the BLKB Bike Challenge, the kids' and fun races, admired the dirt jump contest, the pump track and mini-drome competition, which culminated in a joint super final on Sunday, and had fun in the cycle ball competition. Last but not least, the artistic cyclists with eight-time world champion David Schnabel provided the best entertainment on the exhibition grounds.

"I think it's super cool that they offer such a framework here in Basel, it's great. They really go the extra mile," commented Jolanda Neff on the events surrounding the cross-country races.

"We have improved again this year and increased the number of spectators. That's why our conclusion is positive," said Hubert Schwab. The event's press spokesman points to the volunteer organization. "We want to continue to grow, but we have to do it in small steps," says Schwab.

www.bmc-racing-cup.ch
www.bikefestival-basel.ch