It's hard to imagine much more sporting quality. In this respect, the BMC Racing Cup is already an anticipation of the World Cup in July 2015. The top four in the current world rankings are on the men's entry list. Number one, Julien Absalon (BMC Racing), his great rival, Nino Schurter (Scott-Odlo) from Chur, number three, Fabian Giger (Giant Pro XC) and number four, Australian Daniel McConnell (Trek Factory Racing), raise the sixth round of the BMC Racing Cup to an extremely high level. Nino Schurter has respect not only for Absalon, but also for the season's rising star, European Championship runner-up Fabian Giger from Rieden, and for Daniel McConnell, the winner of Montsevelier last Sunday.
The world champion returns to cross-country racing after his road intermezzo. After the Tour de Suisse, the world champion took a break, got married and then picked up the thread again. "The feeling in training was actually pretty good. I think I'll be able to go at a high intensity again in Lenzerheide. But you can't say that exactly from the training," says Nino Schurter. "For me, it's just about taking a good feeling with me."

Looking at the start list, Schurter says with a laugh: "Well, it's going to be fun then." In addition to the aforementioned, the Frenchman Maxime Marotte, BMC bikers Moritz Milatz Lukas Flückiger and Ralph Näf, as well as Florian Vogel, Mathias Flückiger and Thomas Litscher on his comeback after an injury break, are other top athletes who will make bike fans click their tongues.

Ralph Näf has set himself the goal of making all the top riders click their tongues when they take the new course under their wide tires. The Thurgau native helped design the course, which has been almost completely changed compared to the 2013 SM. The BMC Racing Cup is now to be the main rehearsal for next year's World Cup; if necessary, the course can still be upgraded for the World Cup races. "It's extremely technical, rough, but also very tough in terms of fitness," says Näf, describing the terrain, which has between 150 and 180 meters of elevation gain per lap. "It challenges the entire biker."

Jolanda Neff: Lenzerheide cool and promising
That should also please Jolanda Neff. She is traveling with Kathrin Stirnemann directly from the altitude training camp on the Bernina Pass. The world number one from Thal, who has already won three BMC Racing Cup races this season, calls the description "promising". "I like riding races in Switzerland. We can reach Lenzerheide from Bernina without much effort," says Jolanda Neff. The fact that she also meets Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa, Rebecca Henderso, the German Sabine Spitz, Katrin Leumann and several other world-class bikers there also appeals to her. "It's cool that there are so many strong riders," comments Neff on the attractive starting field with two Olympic champions.
One of them is Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaå, who is also currently second overall in the World Cup. The 41-year-old has been training in Livigno for several weeks. Her long-term goal is the World Championships in her native Norway and the tenth World Championship title of her career. "I've had three tough weeks of training. That's why I'll probably have to ride at my own pace in Lenzerheide. But the race is very important for my overall preparation. You can always test out different things in a competition," explains the most successful female mountain biker of all time.

Eliminator on Friday: World Cup winner and Swiss champion
Unfortunately, Jolanda Neff, the World Championship silver medallist in this discipline, will not be able to compete in the Eliminator competition on Friday evening due to training reasons. Jenny Rissveds, the 2013 European champion and three-time World Cup winner in this discipline, will be competing in the women's elimination race against Katrin Leumann and Lena Putz from Germany, who finished sixth at the World Championships. In the men's event, Swiss champion Marcel Wildhaber is hoping to make a comeback. Frenchman Kevin Miquel and French champion Titouan Perrin-Ganier, as well as Thomas Litscher and Lukas Flückiger will have something against them. The Eliminator course has also been renewed. "A real bike course", Ralph Näf calls the lap.

UCI Junior Series and 22 nations
The junior race is part of the UCI Junior Series and therefore has an outstanding line-up. There are already 108 juniors and 33 female juniors on the start list. In addition to the Swiss champion Luca Colombo, this also includes many foreign aces of the future. They include the two recently crowned European champions Simon Andreassen from Denmark and Alessandra Keller, as well as European Championship runner-up Luca Schwarzbauer from Germany. The strong Swiss riders Alessandra Keller and Sina Frei will be up against the 2013 European Champion Malene Degn from Denmark, among others. In total, well over 700 athletes from 22 different nations were already on the entry lists on Monday, who will be competing in the Lenzerheide vacation region and giving a foretaste of the 2015 World Cup.

Source: Press release, www.bmc-racing-cup.ch