Because the long-time leader Urs Huber rode the wrong way before the finish, his Bulls teammate Thomas Dietsch got a kiss on the hand at the o-Tour. Huber finished second, replacing third-placed Jérémy Huguenin as iXS-classic leader. In the women's race, Milena Landtwing celebrated her fourth triumph in this year's iXS-classic, ahead of Florence Darbellay, Nadia Walker and Eliminator runner-up Linda Indergand.

Until five kilometers before the finish, Urs Huber looked like the sure winner. On the final climb to Ächerli, the main obstacle of the O-Tour, the Swiss bike marathon champion pulled out a comfortable one-minute lead over his team-mate Thomas Dietsch, eleven years his senior, without having to push himself to the limit. The duo had previously broken away from the rest in the first half of the race. "I knew that I was better at riding downhill than Thomas and was able to really enjoy the descent. However, just before I reached the bottom of the valley, I misinterpreted a direction sign and got off the right track. That's very annoying!", Huber says in frustration at the finish. After a while, the 28-year-old from Aargau laughs again: "I won here in 2009. Back then, Lukas Buchli and Thomas Zahnd had ridden the wrong way. Today I probably got my payback."

As a small satisfaction, Huber can wear the iXS Classic leader's jersey - the reason why he started. As in 2007, 2008 and 2009, Huber would like to secure the overall classification once again this year. His 39-year-old colleague Dietsch, who will be hanging up his marathon bike at the end of the season, is no stranger to the race. The Frenchman won the iXS-classic in 2000 and has already won almost all the well-known bike marathons in Switzerland at least once. Dietsch: "The victory was unexpected for me. All the greater the joy!"

Third-placed Jérémy Huguenin says: "I struggled a lot, especially in the first half of the race, as I was still ill last week. But as the distance increased, I got better and better." The Frenchman takes it in his stride that he has to relinquish the leader's jersey, which he had worn since his third place at the Frigaz BerGiBike, and adds: "Losing the jersey to Urs is no shame."

Landtwing for fourth
Despite a flat tire shortly before the first finish, Milena Landtwing was able to distance herself from her first pursuer Florence Darbellay by over eight minutes. "I was actually extra careful on the road to avoid a puncture. But it suddenly fizzled." She gently rolled the last few meters to the repair post at the finish and picked up a spare wheel. "Contrary to expectations, it went well for me today. With the Swiss Epic starting tomorrow, I didn't even want to ride the O-Tour. Now I'm glad that I decided to take part," says Landtwing.

"The descents here are awesome. I wish there were more races like this," enthuses second-placed Florence Darbellay and third-placed Nadia Walker adds: "Florence rode sensationally downhill. Sometimes I had a really queasy feeling." At the start, Walker clung to the rear wheel of the leader Landtwing, but had to let the dominator go after a few kilometers uphill. "At some point, Florence came from behind. We were in perfect harmony for a long time. I then let her go on the final descent," says Walker about the race.

"That was super tough," admits Linda Indergand after the battle. She had only signed up the evening before. "In view of the Road World Championships, for which I have been called up, I really wanted to compete in a longer race," said the Silenian, explaining her last-minute start in Alpnach. Lindergand not only won silver in the Eliminator Sprint and bronze in the U23 cross-country race at the Mountain Bike World Championships a week ago. The 21-year-old is also Swiss champion in the individual time trial on the road and came second in the championship race.

Almost as successful was her Team Strüby-BiXS teammate Ramona Forchini, who won the O-Tour in the middle distance. She outdistanced her first pursuer Franziska Brun from Emmenbrücke by over seven minutes. Margrit Abächerli from Erstfeld comes third. In the men's race, Rick Reimann triumphs for the third time in this year's iXS Swiss Bike Classic ahead of Jeremias Marti and Stefan Roffler.

www.ixsclassic.ch