Four riders remain in the leading group after the fourth of eight laps in the rain in the Schänzli stadium, after Marcel Wildhaber leaves the front due to a defect. Shortly afterwards, Reto Indergand was also forced to abandon on the climb. In the end, he confidently wins the U23 classification in seventh place overall.

Lukas Flückiger briefly loses contact with the front runners when he can no longer really get into the clipless pedals after a run section, but last year's world championship silver medallist has enough energy to catch up again. Ralph Näf did the same, attacking on the singletrail on the penultimate lap before the descent, but then risked too much and crashed. By the start of the last lap, the Eliminator World Champion had closed the 15-second gap again. "I didn't think I could win then. Nino always put a lot of pressure on the mountain, but I wasn't left behind either," says Näf.500 meters before the finish, still in third position, Näf rides past Flückiger and Schurter and pulls off a long sprint that brings him his first win of the season.
"Nino came back on the home straight and I had to hold on again. It's great to win the final here in Muttenz, especially seven days before the World Championships," said a delighted Näf, who probably made the better tire choice than Schurter for the slippery terrain. "Ralph always made up time there, which I had to make up. But I'm happy, I think I was the strongest on the climb," says Nino Schurter, who is also taking a positive feeling with him to the World Championships in South Africa.

Schurter also wins the overall standings of the BMC Racing Cup ahead of Julien Absalon. The Frenchman misses the connection in the position battles on the first singletrail, so that there is no duel with Nino Schurter. He then fails to ride at the same pace in the pursuit and finishes fifth, just under a minute behind. His team-mate Lukas Flückiger is not one hundred percent satisfied: "I would have liked to have won. Of course I'm also happy for Ralph, it's also important for him." However, the overall third in the Cup is very satisfied with his form: "I felt very good on the mountain, that was just right."

A chain jam as the race decider
The women's race over five laps is characterized by a leading group of three. This came about after Esther Süss and Sabine Spitz caught up with the leading Kathrin Stirnemann on the third lap. The sprint World Cup winner broke away on the first lap. Somewhat involuntarily, as Stirnemann admits: "I was first into the downhill and I had a gap at the bottom. So I thought, I'll just ride my rhythm now."

Thanks to her downhill skills, Stirnemann kept up with Spitz and Süss until the last lap. However, a tire defect then ruined her chances of victory.
The duel between Esther Süss and Sabine Spitz is decided by a chain jam on the climb. Spitz has to come off her bike and loses a few seconds. She catches up, but it is no longer enough for the German to catch Süss.

In the end, the European marathon champion and the World Cup winner from Andorra are separated by just under seven seconds.
"Kathrin was clearly the fastest in the downhills, but I wasn't exactly slow either," says Süss with a grin. She didn't even notice that Spitz had a chain jam behind her. "Of course, I had to do a lot of leading work against the two Haibike riders. I had a lead before the descent and thought to myself, now ride down safely but not too slowly. I had to fight until the end because Sabine was getting closer and closer. Now I can fly to the World Championships with confidence," said Esther Süss, who also won the overall standings.

U23 rider Linda Indergand kept up with Spitz and Süss until the third lap and finally finished the race in a strong fourth place ahead of local hero Katrin Leumann, who was struggling with a neck blockage.

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