As was the case two weeks ago in Bern, the beautiful weather made for very fast racing at the third race of the EKZ-CrossTour in Aigle. And just like two weeks ago, Swiss rider Marcel Wildhaber coped best with these conditions. He got off to a great start and was able to stay in the front positions. Due to the fast pace, no rider managed to pull away decisively at first and so up to ten riders were still in contention for victory at the halfway point of the race.

After various attacks, however, the lead became smaller and smaller and it soon seemed clear that the winner would be Marcel Wildhaber, Simon Zahner or Wietse Bosmans (BEL). The trio had pulled away slightly on the final laps. And even though the German champion Marcel Meisen really turned up the heat from behind on the last two laps, he was still unable to make any headway at the front.

As in Bern, Wildhaber rides the race from the front, is the first to turn onto the home straight and leaves his two opponents no chance. As in Bern, Simon Zahner thus ensures a Swiss one-two victory and the Belgian Wietse Bosmans completes the podium in third place. Behind him, the German Meisen finished fifth, behind Tomáš Paprstka from the Czech Republic. With his renewed victory, Marcel Wildhaber consolidates his lead in the overall standings of the EKZ-CrossTour. He continues to lead ahead of his compatriots Simon Zahner and Nicola Rohrbach. The two MTB specialists Rohrbach and Flückiger also ride into the top 10 in Aigle in seventh and eighth place.

Wildhaber was visibly delighted with his renewed success at the finish: "That was a great day and races like that just suit me. When it's fast and technical. If it had rained and it had been a muddy race, the outcome would probably have been different. But like today, it was perfect and I'm looking forward to the next races."

Wyman wins ahead of Havlikova

The women's elite race developed into an exciting duel between nine-time British champion Helen Wyman and multiple Czech champion Pavla Havlikova. Initially, however, Swiss champion Jasmin Egger-Achermann is also among the front runners. The three riders were able to pull away from the start and it quickly became clear that one of them would win the race. While Egger-Achermann ultimately had to let the other two go in the second half of the race, victory was not decided until the last lap. After a mistake by Havlikova, Wyman had a few meters lead, which the Czech was almost able to close again.

In the sandy section shortly before the finish of the last lap, however, the British rider was once again much better and was able to pull away again. Helen Wyman thus celebrates a nice success at her first start in an EKZ-CrossTour race. For Pavla Havlikova, this is her third consecutive second place at this year's CrossTour. Swiss champion Jasmin Egger-Achermann celebrates her first podium finish at this year's CrossTour with third place. Behind her, Lara Krähemann in fourth, Noemi Rüegg in sixth and Zina Barhoumi in ninth, three more Swiss riders finished in the top ten.

Everything remains the same in the overall standings: Havlikova continues to lead ahead of Egger-Achermann and Magdalena Sadlecka from Poland.

Rouiller siblings remain unbeaten

The EKZ-CrossTour has reached the halfway point after Aigle. Both Mélissa Rouiller (girls U17) and Loris Rouiller (U19/amateurs/masters) have won all three races in their category so far and are leading the overall standings with a maximum of 300 points each. Last winter, both finished second overall in their category. Mélissa celebrated two victories in the CrossTour last winter and Loris one victory.

In the current season, however, both are now on course to win the overall classification if the next three races take a similar course to the last three. It remains to be seen whether the two will even end up with a perfect CrossTour record of six wins each. The next race of the EKZ-CrossTour takes place on October 29 in Hittnau.

"A fantastic day"

OK President of the EKZ-CrossTour in Aigle, Laurent Dufaux, was delighted at the end of the day: "It was a fantastic day today. After organizing a race of the EKZ-CrossTour in Aigle for the first time last year, we were able to optimize a few points. We had almost 500 participants who put on great races, from the amateur to the kids to the pros. It was a day for the whole family and the many spectators along the course showed that." The only pity was that there was also a big race in Besançon, not far from the Swiss border. As a result, practically no French racers came to Aigle.

Despite this, Dufaux's assessment of the event was entirely positive: "I am very satisfied. We had great Swiss winners, strong international racers and a great circuit with various elements such as steep slopes, sandy passages and stairs. Now it is important that we can build on this in the future and continue to organize a race of this Swiss racing series in western Switzerland with Aigle. We want people to remember that we have such a great event here in Aigle every October."