The organizers of the Swiss Bike Cup are delighted to have a strong partner on board for the coming years with the renowned Škoda brand. Škoda has a long and great tradition in both Swiss and international cycling. Accordingly, the new name of the racing series is "Škoda Swiss Bike Cup".

"The partnership with the Škoda brand enables us to move forward together into a successful future and implement interesting projects in a rapidly developing sport," says Sandro Steimer, COO of the organizer Human Sports Management (HSM) in Rotkreuz (ZG). The Swiss Bike Cup has been successfully focusing on promoting young talent in mountain biking for over 30 years and is one of the most important talent hotbeds in Europe.

Attractive race calendar

The race calendar for the Škoda Swiss Bike Cup 2025 is extremely attractive at proven destinations with different characteristics: with the Tamaro Trophy, the Bikefestival Basel and Gränichen, three races belong to the Hors Categorie of the International Cycling Union (UCI). The Tamaro Trophy and the Bikefestival Basel are also UCI Junior Series events, comparable to a World Cup for juniors. And Schaan figures in the high-class C1 category of the UCI.

After 2021 and 2022, Val Surses is once again an attractive venue for the Swiss Bike Cup. The season highlight for the national elite will take place here with the awarding of the Swiss short track (XCC) and cross-country (XCO) championship titles.

Young riders continue to enjoy a particularly high status in the Swiss Bike Cup. That is why the framework conditions for #championsoftomorrow will be further optimized next year.

Registration for the Škoda Swiss Bike Cup will open on 16 December 2024 at 8 p.m.

Visionary project: GP Osterhas cycling classic

The Škoda Swiss Bike Cup will start next season with an event that may seem surprising at first glance: in addition to five international mountain bike races, the calendar now includes a national cycling criterium. With the addition of the traditional classic GP Osterhas, the organizers are launching a visionary pilot project and opening up the proven concept of the Swiss Bike Cup as well as their event portfolio. The cycling platform is thus undergoing a significant expansion, particularly in the promotion of young talent.

"Strong development towards early professionalization"

Dimitri Isler, the project manager of the Swiss Bike Cup, is convinced that young athletes in particular will profit from the unique merger: "The Swiss Bike Cup has promoted and shaped numerous careers of successful cyclists in a wide variety of disciplines. We are currently experiencing a strong development towards early professionalization in cycling. This requires versatile training in all cycling disciplines. That is why we are opening up the spectrum of the Swiss Bike Cup and adopting the well-established structures for the GP Osterhas. We see great potential in this forward-looking cooperation, in which we will create and use synergies."

Successful mountain bike cracks at the GP Osterhas

The GP Osterhas will be held for the 44th time on April 19, 2025. The participation of mountain bike cracks has a long tradition. Thomas Frischknecht, the Olympic silver medal winner from Atlanta 1996, finished in second place in 2004. Ralph Näf, team manager and owner of Thömus Maxon, won the GP Osterhas in 2008. And last year, Alessandra Keller, the current overall World Cup winner, took part in Affoltern am Albis.

"In the past 43 editions of the GP Osterhas, we have always had many mountain bikers at the start. That's another reason why the cooperation with the Swiss Bike Cup makes sense. There is no other national series that integrates two different cycling disciplines," says René Graf, OC President of the GP Osterhas. "I see this project as an exciting challenge and an opportunity to further develop the entire sport."

Race calendar Škoda Swiss Bike Cup 2025

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