The hierarchy at the top of the Eiger Bike Challenge was still intact until the "peloton" at 30 km. Urs Huber pedaled ahead together with former road pro Cristian Salerno with a lead of around a minute. However, the bike marathon classics leader fell on the descent and had to abandon the race with a triple collarbone fracture. Salerno waited with Huber for a moment until he had collected himself and asked him to continue.

Shortly afterwards, the lead group merged with the first chasing group, which included Swiss marathon champion Konny Looser, Hansueli Stauffer and Andreas Moser. However, Salerno was always the strongest on the climbs and the Italian also showed what he was made of on the descents in his first victory as a cyclist outside of Italy. He won eleven seconds ahead of Looser and 16 seconds ahead of Moser, who celebrated his third place like a victory. Stauffer crossed the finish line a further minute later, 9:21 minutes behind the Romand Adrien Chenaux, who thus took over the Bike Marathon Classics leader's jersey from Huber. Salerno's team-mate Juri Ragnoli did not have a good day, retiring with technical problems.

"The race is nice, but very hard," said Salerno, summing up his first international victory as a biker. The 33-year-old had started his cycling career as a biker at the age of 14, but then switched to the road for a decade. When he no longer received a good contract, he remembered his roots and switched back to biking. Konny Looser struggled with his second place: "The Eiger Bike just doesn't suit me. Every time I stumble somewhere. Only when I rode my pace did I get into the race better. But Salerno was a bit stronger uphill. I suffered brutally." Not so Andreas Moser, who was happy as a winner: "I wasn't expecting a podium place, but rather a place among the top eight, because the field was strong. The fact that it was enough for third place makes it all the better!"

After a tough duel against Swiss champion Esther Süss, Ariane Lüthi won the women's race and celebrated her third Eiger Bike triumph. "I didn't expect this victory. Esther is extremely hard to beat in the mountains. You need a great day and I had one today," said a delighted Lüthi at the finish. "I definitely didn't have my best day today, I didn't feel so comfortable on the bike either. It was always the same game. Ariane left me behind on the downhill. I caught up with her again on the uphill - until the final climb up Kleine Scheidegg. That's when she pulled away," said Süss, recapitulating the race. Andrea Ming had probably flirted with third place. But she hadn't counted on it. She was therefore delighted with her ranking. "It went great. But I had brutal cramps at the end," said the Neerach native.

Leader Fadri Barandun was also unable to prevail in the middle distance. German Andreas Kleiber won ahead of Stefan Spielmann and Brandung. Former U23 cross-country world champion Ramona Forchini came out on top in the women's race. The athlete from Wattwil took part in the competition as preparation for the upcoming CC World Championships in Lenzerheide at the beginning of September and was delighted with her success. She took more than 20 minutes off second-placed Tamara Burkhardt over the 55 km distance; leader Michèle Wittlin finished in third place.The new OC President Andrea Imfeld was also satisfied. Around 1000 participants and no serious accidents were a good start.

Results:

Men (88 km): 1. Cristian Salerno (It) 4:28:29. 2. Konny Looser (Hinwil) 0:11. 3. Andreas Moser (Madiswil) 0:16. 4. Hansueli Stauffer (Sigiriswil) 1:17. 5. Adrien Chenaux (Fribourg) 9:21. 6. Marc Stutzmann (Rüfenacht, BE) 9:57. 7. Oliver Zurbrügg (Wilderswil) 14:49. 8. Emilien Barben (Chez-le-Bart) 20:11. 9. Daniel Widmer (Mühlrüti) 21:34. 10. Stefan Vögeli (Wimmis) 25:42.

Women (88 km): 1. Ariane Lüthi (Thun) 5:18:40. 2. Esther Süss (Küttigen) 2:33. 3. Andrea Ming (Neerach) 32:03. 4. Janine Schneider (De) 36:05. 5. Cornelia Hug (Unterlangenegg) 38:57.

Men (55 km): 1. Andreas Kleber (De) 2:47:20. 2. Stefan Spielmann (Lostorf) 1:21. 3. Fadri Barandun (Samedan) 2:59. 4. Sepp Freiburghaus (Neuenengg, BE) 5:08. 5. Remo Fischer (Oberhallau) 6:05. 6. Dominic Leu (Maienfeld) 7:17. 7. Pascal Kiser (Giswil) 8:45. 8. Michael Montadon (Bevaix) 11:00. 9. Hans-Babtist Seeberger (Kippel) 11:04. 10. Kevin Georges (Evolène) 11:44.

Women (55 km): 1. Ramona Forchini (Wattwil) 3:09:46. 2. Tamara Burkhardt (Jenaz) 20:34. 3. Michèle Wittlin (Liestal) 22:50. 4. Alexandra Lehmann (Oey) 28:34. 5. Tanja Blickensdorfer (Horgen) 29:32.