The second stage of the six-day Swiss Epic mountain bike race was a 63-kilometre, 3000-metre circuit from Leukerbad to Leukerbad. The weather was a major aggravating factor today. A foehn storm swept over the mountains with wind gusts of more than 70 km/h and, contrary to forecasts, rain set in before midday.

Close victory on the day for BiXS Stöckli
The neck-and-neck race between the top three teams in the SWISS EPIC Men category continued today. At 3h 24min, Lukas Buchli and Mathias Flückiger, Team BiXS Stöckli, narrowly took the day's victory, just 15 seconds ahead of runners-up Jochen Käss and Daniel Geismayr, Team Centurion Vaude. The Topeak Ergon Racing Team with Alban Lakata and Kristian Hynek finished a further 13 seconds behind, narrowly defending their overall lead.

In the women's race, Annika Langvad and Ariane Kleinhans from Team Specialized RECM had to give up their leader's jersey for the first time since the first stage of SWISS EPIC last year: Adelheid Morath and Sally Bigham from the Topeak Ergon Racing Team took over 8 minutes off the previous leaders today with a time of 4h 15min and thus took the overall lead. This means that the Topeak Ergon Racing Teams are currently in the lead in both categories.

In the mixed category, the Australians Imogen Smith and Mike Blewitt confidently defended their lead, as did Dani Schnider and Oliver Imfeld in the Masters category.

Turbulence in the Flow category
The Föhn storm threw a spanner in the works for the Flow race format today. Due to the strong gusts of wind, one of the mountain lifts was unable to ride at midday, which is why the race course had to be adjusted at short notice. The ascent was transferred to shuttle buses, which meant that the final descent was significantly shorter and less spectacular. In addition, the leading men's team world of mtb with Sönke Wegner and Daniel Eiermann got lost and received a time penalty of 60 minutes for choosing the wrong route, which cost them their overall lead. Valentin Ritz and Rudolf Biedermann, Team Moustache, took the day's victory. In the mixed category, Balz Weber and Anita Gehrig from Team Ride Flow Trail once again came out on top. The fastest women's team today was Fusion World with Chrigi Bünter and Nadege Vetterli.

Tomorrow's third stage will ride from Leukerbad to Grächen, covering 88 kilometers and 3100 meters of altitude. The first finishers are expected around lunchtime.

Video of the second stage