Stutzmann and Lützelschwab win marathon championship title

Marc Stutzmann in der Abfahrt.

Photo: Martin Platter

As expected, Marc Stutzmann won his first Swiss Bike Marathon Champion title at the Eiger Bike Challenge after a tough battle with Casey South from Eastern Switzerland and the surprising David Gysling. In the women's category, Bike Marathon Classics leader Alexandra Zürcher was the fastest. However, as she does not have a license, the fallen Irina Lützelschwab took the title ahead of the surprising Stefanie Zahno and Alessia Nay.

In the men's race, numerous medal contenders vied for a place on the Swiss Championship podium. The energy-sapping 87-kilometre lap in the face of the Eiger and Wetterhorn got off to a suitably animated start. Marc Stutzmann in particular, who finished fourth in the World Championships the previous week, and Casey South from eastern Switzerland pushed the pace early on and ensured a pre-selection on the first climb to the field, which defending champion Konny Looser fell victim to. Towards Bort, however, a larger group came together again. On the following climb to Grosse Scheidegg, Urs Huber - an eight-time Eiger Bike winner - and Fadri Barandun had to let go. Gysling and South pushed the pace at the front. Bike Marathon Classics leader Stauffer and Stutzmann followed closely behind. In the Bachalpsee descent, Stutzmann and South were then able to pull away slightly, followed by Stauffer and Gysling.

In this constellation, the final ascent to Kleine Scheidegg began, where Stutzmann was able to pull away from South despite a gradual loss of air on his rear wheel. Likewise Gysling from Stauffer. At the finish, the order was Stutzmann ahead of South, Gysling and Stauffer. Urs Huber finished fifth ahead of Barandun.

Marc Stutzmann could hardly believe his luck: "I felt good. But because someone was always stepping up the pace, I often had to suffer enormously. Then there was the loss of air in the rear tire on the last climb. The fact that I've now won the title makes me very happy. I've already finished second twice in Swiss championships and have been in good form in the last two years. But that last little bit was missing each time." Casey South tried to shake off Stutzmann with an attack on the final climb to Kleine Scheidegg, but was then outmaneuvered. He said: "When Marc came back and overtook me straight away, I had nothing left to counter him. Of course, winning the title would have been the goal. But second place is also my best performance to date. I'll go for it again next year." After a number of setbacks due to injury, David Gysling was satisfied with his first SM medal. He had competed in the Eiger Bike primarily with a view to the Grand Raid BCVS in a week's time. The "form test" had been promising.

Alexandra Zürcher was in a class of her own in the women's race - even if not everything went smoothly for her. Shortly after the start, she was pushed off in a scramble and crashed. She then turned on the heat and outclassed the entire women's field. However, as she is not a licensed rider. The Swiss championship title went to Irina Lützelschwab, who crashed badly at high speed and had to sit down first. After that the air was out. She had the feeling that she couldn't find her stride at all and her mental attitude was no longer right. She reached the finish line in a correspondingly cheerless mood. Her comment: "Hopefully things will go better again in the next races." Stefanie Zahno, on the other hand, was completely over the moon when she crossed the finish line in third place and won the silver medal. She said: "In view of my Grand Raid goal for the season, I didn't actually want to ride the long distance on the Eiger Bike. But then I changed my mind and have now won this medal. That's great." Alessia Nay came third in the SM. The athlete from Graubünden said: "I only expected to win this medal when I saw that Janina Wüst had given up the race." This is Nay's first medal at the Swiss Championships.

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