Swiss Epic: The Swiss with surprising performances even without a win

Michele Casagrande and Fabian Rabensteiner secure overall victory at the Swiss Epic. Adelheid Morath and Bettina Janas take victory in the women's race at the first edition in Graubünden. The Swiss surprises are Casey South and Noah Blöchlinger, as well as Marc Stutzmann and Michael Stünzi with second and third place in the final classification, as well as the duo Kupfernagel/Baumann in fifth place.

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Today's finish in Davos marked the end of the Swiss Epic 2019 in Graubünden. The Trek Selle San Marco A Team took the overall victory, while the Devonbosch Stellenbosch Team took the stage win. Michele Casagrande and Fabian Rabensteiner did not have to call on their full potential today and crossed the finish line in Davos in fourth place, three minutes behind Claes/Nissen. Luxembourg's Nissen and Belgium's Claes salvaged a disappointing week so far with their stage win.

The 65-kilometer final stage led from Lenzerheide via the old Zügenweg and the Rinerhorn area to Davos. At the end of the Swiss Epic in Graubünden, the riders were put to the test once again with 2,300 meters of altitude.

The stage offered no scope for attacks at the start, as the riders were faced with a lap around the Heidsee lake and the single trail to the Landwasser Viaduct. After 25 kilometers, Team Superior XC/bischibikes.ch with Martin Gluth and Simon Vitzthum took the lead for the first time. The German and the Swiss were quickly able to open up a lead of 25 seconds, but after missing a turn, the two found themselves in the chasing group.

The inability of Gluth/Vitzthum played into the Devonbosch Stellenbosch team's cards. Claes and Nissen took advantage of the momentum and were able to open up a gap on the longest climb of the day. The two Trek Selle San Marco teams with Casagrande/Rabensteiner and Porro/Ferraro followed the two, but quickly realized that Claes/Nisson were no danger in the overall classification with a gap of over an hour and let them go.

"There was no reason for us to take any risks today," said Rabensteiner after the victory. "After the last descent, we slowed down our pace and crossed the finish line in a quartet - without taking any risks. It was great to reach the finish in Davos together with Porro/Ferraro. It was an incredibly great race and it feels great to be the winner," said the newly crowned Swiss Epic winner.

In contrast to the Trek Selle San Marco teams, Devonbosch Stellenbosch went all-in today. Nissen reached the finish line with a torn shirt and a bleeding arm due to a crash on the final descent. "Some people get IRONMAN or Absa Cape Epic tattoos, but I thought I had to do something else to keep a memory of the Swiss Epic," he said with a laugh. However, the crash did not dampen his joy. "The week started solidly with two top 5 places, but on the queen stage (stage 3) we had a pitch-black day. We had a broken chain and panicked. We lost so much time that we decided to take it easy yesterday - so that we could fully attack today," said Luxembourg cross-country champion Nissen. "I already said yesterday that we would try to take the stage win today," added team-mate Claes.

Claes and Nissen's winning time was 2 hours, 54 minutes and 5.8 seconds. Noah Blöchlinger and Casey South from the jb BRUNEX/Fischer BMC team finished second, one minute and 24 seconds behind, which also corresponds to their overall classification. Third place in today's stage went to Daniel Geismayr and Vinzent Dorn from the Centurion Vaude Team. As the five best-ranked teams set off together on the final descent nine kilometers before the finish, it was no surprise that there were no more changes in the overall classification at the end. As a result, the Trek Selle San Marco A Team emerged as the first winner of the Swiss Epic in Graubünden in 16 hours and 6 seconds.

Morath and Janas crown their Swiss Epic week

Adelheid Morath and Bettina Janas from the KS Trek-Sportograf team take victory at the Swiss Epic in Graubünden with their fourth stage win in a row. Ariane Lüthi finished third overall with her team partner Samara Sheppard, followed by the Stirnemann/Gantenbein duo and the surprising young riders Lara Kupfernagel and Chrystelle Baumann in fifth place.

Taking the overall lead in the fourth stage was not the end of the story for Morath and Jansa. Starting the second stage 17 minutes behind, the pair crowned their incredible comeback with their fourth stage win in a row to take victory at the 2019 Swiss Epic in Graubünden.

"It's incredible, after the first day we didn't even think about winning and now we're the winners," said an overjoyed Jansa at the finish. The stage and overall winner rode into Davos with a winning time of three hours, 43 minutes and 24.6 seconds. She crossed the finish line of the final stage two minutes and 12.6 seconds ahead of Ariane Lüthi and Samara Sheppard. However, extending their lead in the overall standings was not the primary goal of the KS Trek-Sportograf team. "We concentrated on our performance," said Janas about her tactics. "We rode our rhythm, didn't go beyond our performance level and always stayed cool. In the end, that was the key to today's success," concluded Janas.

Behind Jansa and Morath, the race developed into a real neck-and-neck race between Ariane Lüthi/Samara Sheppard and Alica Pirard/Stefanie Dohrn. The latter went into stage 5 with a lead of two minutes and around 20 seconds, but Dohrn had been struggling with a serious illness on stage 4 and was not yet fully recovered at the time of the start. So the Centurion Vaude 2 team wanted to keep up with Ariane Lüthi and Samarah Sheppard for as long as possible.

As the race progressed, however, this became less and less successful, which meant that Pirard and Dohrn wanted to at least keep the gap within limits. "I gave it my all today!" said Lüthi, visibly exhausted at the finish. After finishing second today, Lüthi and her New Zealand team-mate Sheppard waited visibly tense in the finish area for Dohrn and Pirard, who crossed the finish line one minute and 43 seconds later.
With third place today, the Centurion Vaude 2 Team was able to defend its second place overall. "I've been struggling with some health problems over the last two days. That's why our goal was to finish in second place and we did it! Alice really gave me excellent support," said the overjoyed Dohrn. However, the gap to Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy with Lüthi and Sheppard was only 37.6 seconds in the end.

Behind them, the Shimano S-Phyre team with Stirnemann and Gantenbein, who were temporarily in the overall lead during the race, continuously lost time. Stirnemann's breathing problems worsened further on stage 5. "Today was not a good day. My diaphragm felt like it was made of stone and I could hardly breathe. It was a huge struggle to even make it to the finish," said Stirnemann.

Stirnemann and Corina Gantenbein therefore finish the race in fourth place overall after finishing fifth today. For Ramona Kupferschmied and Chrystelle Baumann from the 'Swiss MTB Girls powered by Play up!' team, the race ended the other way around - they finished fourth today, taking fifth place in the final classification. The two young Swiss girls were able to gain valuable experience at the Swiss Epic 2019 and are definitely a great promise for the future.

Full results

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