Today's final stage of the six-day Perskindol-Swiss-Epic mountain bike race is a 45-kilometre circuit in Zermatt with an elevation gain of 1900 meters. Although the world-famous Matterhorn can only be seen briefly between the clouds, the trails still offer plenty of flow and a few technical challenges. The fourth edition of the mountain bike stage race, which led from Grächen via Leukerbad to Zermatt, thus came to a successful end after a total of 350 kilometers and 12,000 meters of altitude.

Team Centurion-Vaude wins at the fourth attempt

Finally they have done it. The "eternal runners-up", Austrian Daniel Geismayr and German Jochen Käss from Team Centurion-Vaude, were able to maintain their lead today and finally bring home their well-deserved and long-overdue overall victory at the fourth attempt. They won the final stage in 2:45 hours and took the winner's belt with a lead of 18 minutes. "We finally managed to shake off the curse and achieve this big goal," said Jochen Käss, who was still struggling with stomach problems on Tuesday and was unable to ride at full power. "We are very proud and really super happy!" "We rode the descents in a very controlled manner today so as not to take any more risks," adds Daniel Geismayr with satisfaction. "We harmonized very well as a team again all week, which has finally brought us victory."

The BiXS Pro Team with the Swiss riders Konny Looser and Oliver Zurbrügg took second place in the stage and thus overall. "At the start of the week, we had of course secretly hoped for a podium place, but we're obviously delighted that we managed to take second place straight away," said Oliver Zurbrügg. And Konny Looser adds: "Second place in this home race means a lot to me and is a great way to end the season. Third place went to the spontaneously newly formed Texpa-Simplon team, with the Austrian Christoph Soukup and the Swiss Michael Stünzi.

Esther Süss and Jennie Stenerhag win the women's race

The leaders in the women's race, Switzerland's Esther Süss and Sweden's Jennie Stenerhag from Team Meerendal-CBC, can also take the overall victory, although today's stage win of 3:24 hours once again goes to Team Spur-Wallonie with Switzerland's Ariane Lüthi and Belgium's Alice Pirard. "The constant battle with our pursuers was a great mental challenge and the trails were demanding to ride," said Esther Süss about her first victory at the Perskindol Swiss Epic. "A huge weight has now been lifted from my shoulders and I'm incredibly happy!" And Jennie Stenerhag adds: "This is the fourth stage race we've won together this year. We harmonized perfectly again here!" Second place went to the Scott Womens - R'adys team, with Swiss riders Cornelia Hug and Florence Darbellay. In the mixed category, Benedicht Küpfer and Vivane Spielmann, Team CrazyVeloShop SCOTT/TG Hütten, won gold after a neck-and-neck race. In the Masters, Team Dani Schnider Radsport with Dani Schnider and Oliver Imfeld took victory for the third time in a row.

Multitask Industries - Optiek Mertens wins flow format

In the Swiss Epic Flow race format, in which certain ascents are covered using shuttles or mountain railroads, the Belgian team "Multitask Industries - Optiek Mertens" with Frans Claes and Michiel Van Aelbroeck won the men's race. The mixed category was won by Kristien Achten and Tim Jacobs from the "Perskindol - Vojo Mag" team.
Full results Swiss Epic 2017
www.swissepic.com