Cadel Evans, Jean-Christophe Perraud, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Michael Rasmussen and Jakob Fuglsang were all great mountain bikers before they took the asphalt career path. Such changes are rarer the other way round. After Alexandre Moos' gradual transition to the mountain bike scene, 32-year-old Johann Tschopp is now another road pro from Valais to switch to the off-road world.

Johann Tschopp is no stranger to the sport of mountain biking. The Frenchman wrote a piece of Swiss biking history in 2004 when he secured the title at the very first Swiss Marathon Championships in Les Crosets. Two years later, Tschopp showed off his skills on the bike again when he came second in the classic "Grand Raid" race.

"Mountain biking has always been a dream of mine and suits my character perfectly. I love the outdoors and I often trained on a mountain bike during my time as a road cyclist to refine my technique. After careful consideration, I decided to make this switch at the beginning of 2015," says Tschopp. The 32-year-old also sees the switch to mountain biking as a big plus in terms of his work in his bike store in Sion: "I will be at the forefront for my customers, both technically and mechanically."Technical background in cyclocross
Johann Tschopp gained his first off-road experience in cyclo-cross, where he was selected for the U23 World Championships in 2003. His road career began in 2004 with Team Phonak and continued with the Bouygues Telecom and BMC Racing teams before he joined Team IAM Cycling. Tschopp will remain loyal to the IAM colors - only he will prove his ambitions as a mountain biker on a different terrain.

As a strong climber, Tschopp is also fondly remembered by road fans. Even if he hasn't had many major successes, the Valais rider was able to celebrate winning the queen stage of the Giro d'Italia in 2010. In addition to Palmares, he also won a stage and the overall victory at the Tour of Utha in 2012, the mountains jersey at this year's Tour de Romandie and at Paris-Nice last year.

World and Swiss championships on the program
Johann Tschopp has not yet drawn up a detailed season plan. He will publish this next spring. The Swiss Championships in Evolène, the Grand Raid and the Marathon World Championships in Val Gardena in Italy are certainly on the agenda.

www.johanntschopp.ch