Will the weather hold or won't it? The anxious question of the 400 or so O-Tour participants was already answered on the first climb to Lütholdsmatt: it started to rain and got colder and colder. On the Glaubenberg, the temperatures dropped so low that various endurance athletes toyed with the idea of abandoning the race. This included the women's race leader, Janina Wüst. "It got so cold on the descent back to the finish that I seriously toyed with the idea of giving up. But then there were so many children on the course cheering me on as I crossed the finish line that I kept going." On the second part of the course, the sun even came out for a short time and it got warmer, said Wüst, who was very pleased with her performance. Second-placed Alexandra Zürcher was also pleased that she did not lose more than 5:18 minutes to the winner. As was third-placed Andrea Ming from Obwalden, who was surprised that she did so well despite her lack of racing experience.

First flat tires, then first

The men's competition was also surprising. As expected, a quintet with the favorites Martin Fanger, Hansueli Stauffer, Marc Stutzmann, his German Texpa teammate Pirmin Einsenbarth and Fadri Barandun from Graubünden soon pulled away from the rest. On the descent to the first finish, however, Stauffer suffered a flat tire and had to change his rear wheel. He lost almost two minutes in the process. But shortly before the final climb up the Ächerli Pass, he was able to regain contact with the leading group. As soon as the course began to climb again, Barandun surprised his rivals by stepping up the pace. Stutzmann went with him and countered the Grisons rider. Stauffer, however, chose a different tactic: the Sigriswil native divided his forces in such a way that he caught up with Stutzmann on the Ächerli Pass. Fanger fought unsuccessfully to catch up in third position. The other contenders fell out of contention for the podium places.

An exciting constellation, as Fanger (2020), Stauffer (2018) and Stutzmann (2017) each had an O-Tour victory to their name. So everyone knew how to win the race. Ultimately, however, the only thing that counted was the power reserves. Stauffer and Stutzmann had the largest and worked well together right up to the finishing straight, while Fanger had to fight the wind alone. Stauffer then had the better end of the race on the home straight. He said: "After changing bikes, I soon realized that I was getting closer to the front again. That was extremely motivating." However, he didn't believe he could win until he crossed the finish line. "Marc is a strong finisher. I had almost resigned myself to second place." Stauffer said he was super happy that it was enough to win after all.

Stutzmann explained: "I miscalculated in the final sprint. I turned onto the home straight in the ideal second position and left a bit of a gap to Hansueli to pass him with momentum. At that moment, he picked up the pace. I had no chance of catching up. Chapeau! Especially after the chase to catch up because of the flat tire." Stutzmann was not disappointed. He still felt the last two weeks of training in Livigno in his legs.

Martin Fanger had to admit that the two Bernese were stronger this time. "It's strange: I rode stronger overall this season than I did in 2020 in the year of my first O-Tour victory. But when I arrived back down at the airfield in Alpnach after the descent from Ächerli and didn't see the two ahead of me, I knew what had hit me." He is delighted that he was able to extend his lead in the Bike Marathon Classics and that no one will be able to challenge him for overall victory in the final Iron Bike Race in Einsiedeln in two weeks' time.

Among the fun riders, Classics leader Tobias Klötzli achieved another triumph. However, there were changes of leader in the middle distance. In the women's race, fourth place was enough for Samira Odermatt from Ennetmoos to take the leader's jersey; in the men's race, Manfred Steinbacher from Bad Ragaz came second.The outgoing OC President Marion Imfeld was also emotional in her farewell words. She thanked all the helpers, participants and sponsors and regretted that she could not say whether and how the race would continue.

Results

Men (86 km):
1st Hansueli Stauffer (Sigriswil) 3:51:32.
2nd Marc Stutzmann (Belp) gl. time
3rd Martin Fanger (Geneva) 0:57.
4th Fadri Barandun (Samedan) 1:55.
5th Pirmin Eisenbarth (De) 6:38.
6th Emilien Barben (Chez-le-Bart) 15:00.
7th Fabien Monnier (Ayent) 16:10.
8th Fabian Heinzer (Schwyz) 19:06.
9th Damian Perrin (Bern) 22:13.
10th Stefan Spielmann (Losdorf) 22:22.

Women (86 km):
1st Janina Wüst (Lupfig) 4:54:54.
2nd Alexandra Zürcher (Oey) 5:18.
3rd Andrea Ming (Edlibach) 19:56.
4th Sue Tanner (Stans) 34:18.

Men (45 km):
1st Simon Brändli (Winterthur) 2:10:12.
2nd Manfred Steinbacher (Bad Ragaz) 4:24.
3rd Yannick Bodenmüller (Ennetmoos) 16:04.
4th Karl Keller (Zurich) 17:15.
5th Janis Hofer (Blumenstein) 18:08.

Women (45 km):
1st Carmen Zaugg (Hägendorf) 2:43:21.
2nd Simone Evans (Cham) 24:09.
3rd Uta Schadow (St. Gallen) 26:52.
4th Samira Odermatt (Ennetmoos) 30:16.
5th Susanne Vuilleumier (Adligenswil) 32:16.

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