The three Swiss riders, Nicola Rohrbach, Fabian Giger and Daniel Eymann, got off to a good start and pulled away together with the German Karl Platt and the Czech Michal Lami. However, tough conditions awaited the participants of the Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge in Malaysia, which did not go down well with the Swiss either. Temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius, high humidity and sometimes heavy ground are draining. Several riders complain of leg cramps during the last hour of the race.

Around 20 kilometers before the finish, the six chasers around Japanese rider Kohei Yamamoto close the gap to the leading quintet. A few kilometers later, a steep climb breaks up the group. Daniel Eymann is the first Swiss rider to fall out of the group. "I got cramps on the steep climb - probably because I lost my water bottle and got a bit dehydrated as a result," says Eymann, who then manages to recover and finishes the stage in a promising fourth place.

Ten kilometers before the end, Karl Platt tries his luck with an attack. However, Giger and Lami were quickly able to catch up again. Fabian Giger suddenly starts to cramp, meaning he can no longer follow the two and drops to sixth place. "It must be the hot weather. I'm glad that I made it to the finish without too much of a gap", summarizes Giger and adds: "The overall classification remains my goal!" Prologue winner Nicola Rohrbach also had to let the leading group go due to cramps and reached the finish together with Giger, Yamamoto and Eymann. Meanwhile, Platt continues to go on the offensive and, after his numerous attacks, is able to distance his rival Michal Lami by two seconds by the finish. Kazakhstan's Kazantsev Kirill finished third.

Schneitter with a good feeling
After her third place in the prologue, Nathalie Schneitter is very motivated going into the first stage as she wants to build on her prologue result. Nevertheless, the Swiss rider is cautious: "I knew that it would be a tough day and that I would have to manage my strength well due to the high humidity and heat." Schneitter succeeds in this. She was in sixth position for a long time, but was able to catch up with Janka Keseg Stevkova, who was in fourth place until then, shortly before the finish. In the sprint, Schneitter proves she has more staying power and takes fourth place. "I'm very happy with how the race went and I'm ready for another tough day of racing tomorrow!"

The victory goes to Blaza Klemencic from Slovenia, who is also the new leader after this stage. Prologue winner Eva Lechner, like many of the men on the day, suffered leg cramps and a puncture. Nevertheless, the South Tyrolean was able to cross the finish line in second place ahead of European champion Tanja Zakelj.

The second stage of the Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge - Langkawi East to West - rides the athletes from Eagle Square in Lagenda Park, over 45 kilometers of heavily undulating terrain to Perdana Quay.

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