Swiss Epic

Mountain bike stage race

Dani Schnider (CHE)
Oliver Imfeld (CHE)

5 times (Masters)

The Swiss Epic is an annual mountain bike stage race held in the Canton of Grisons, Switzerland. It has been accredited as hors catégorie (beyond categorisation) by the Union Cycliste Internationale. It is part of the global Epic Series and was once inspired by the pinnacle event of it, the Cape Epic.

Alongside the Cape Epic and The Pioneer in New Zealand, the Swiss Epic is considered a Legend Race. Legend races are the top category of the global Epic Series, and any rider resolute enough to complete three Epic Series races, including the pinnacle event, the Absa Cape Epic, gets awarded with Epic Legend status. This status is immortalised in the form of an Epic Legend medal.

History

The Swiss Epic was founded in 2014. Joko Vogel, Dany Gehrig, and Thomas Frischknecht had the idea of a multi-day stage race in Switzerland whereby the Cape Epic in South Africa has been used a model.

In 2014, two months after the first edition, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) granted the hors catégorie.^[1]

In 2018, the parliament of the Canton of Grisons signed a five-year contract with the Swiss Epic that they spend 300.000 CHF each year.^[2] Therefore, the race was relocated from the Canton of Valais to the Canton of Grisons. The Swiss Epic is considered the European equivalent of the Cape Epic.^[3]

Editions

Year	Date	Start	Finish	Altitude (m)	Distance (km)	Teams
2014	15. – 20. September	Verbier	Zermatt	15.000	400	101	^[4]
2015	14. – 19. September	Verbier	Zermatt	15.000	400	133	^[5]
2016	12. – 17. September	Zermatt	Verbier	12.500	360	119	^[6]
2017	11. – 16. September	Grächen	Zermatt	12.000	350	82	^[7]
2018	11. – 15. September	Bettmeralp	Zermatt	12.550	331	168	^[8]
2019	20. – 24. August	Davos	Davos	12.000	350	287	^[9]
2020	18. – 22. August	Laax	Davos	12.250	320	207
2021	17. – 21. August	St. Moritz	Davos	12.000	350	400

Winners

Men's winners

Year	Team	Winners	Time	Teams
2014	Stöckli-BiXS -1-	Lukas Buchli (CHE) -1- Mathias Flückiger (CHE) -1-	19:05:45,9	90	^[10]
2015	BiXS STÖCKLI -2-	Mathias Flückiger (CHE) -2- Lukas Buchli (CHE) -2-	20:11:13,7	76	^[11]
2016	BMC	Lukas Flückiger (CHE) Reto Indergand (CHE)	16:39:54,0	52	^[12]
2017	CENTURION VAUDE	Daniel Geismayr (AUT) Jochen Käss (GER)	17:58:13,0	38	^[13]
2018	SCOTT-SRAM MTB RACING	Matthias Stirnemann (CHE) Andri Frischknecht (CHE)	16:56:25,8	50	^[14]
2019	Trek Selle San Marco A	Michele Casagrande (ITA) Fabian Rabensteiner (CHE)	16:00:06,0	86	^[14]
2020	SCOTT-SRAM	Nino Schurter (CHE) Lars Forster (CHE)	15:13:44	66

Women's winners

Year	Team	Winners	Time	Teams
2014	Specialized II	Annika Langvad (DNK) Ariane Kleinhans (CHE)	24:26:14,5	8	^[10]
2015	Topeak Ergon Racing Team	Adelheid Morath (GER) -1- Sally Bigham (GBR)	25:34:57,7	5	^[11]
2016	Stöckli Pro	Jolanda Neff (CHE) Alessandra Keller (CHE)	20:32:15,0	8	^[12]
2017	Team Meerendal CBC	Esther Süss (CHE) Jennie Stenerhag (SWE)	22:25:49,0	8	^[13]
2018	Team Canada	Haley Smith (CAN) Catharine Pendrel (CAN)	21:03:47,8	8	^[14]
2019	KS TREK – Sportograf	Adelheid Morath (GER) -2- Bettina Janas (GER)	20:36:27,5	10	^[14]
2020	Specialized – Racing	Annika Langvad (DNK) -2- Haley Batten (USA)	19:08:09	12

Masters winners

Year	Team	Winners	Time	Teams
2014	SCOTT ROAD	Pierre Bourquenoud (CHE) Serge Robadey (CHE)	24:40:46,7	77	^[10]
2015	DANi SCHNIDER RADSPORT -1-	Dani Schnider (CHE) -1- Oliver Imfeld (CHE) -1-	20:14:51,0	32	^[11]
2016	DANi -2-	Dani Schnider (CHE) -2- Oliver Imfeld (CHE) -2-	20:32:15,0	8	^[12]
2017	DANi SCHNIDER RADSPORT -3-	Dani Schnider (CHE) -3- Oliver Imfeld (CHE) -3-	20:45:44,0	29	^[13]
2018	DANi SCHNIDER RADSPORT -4-	Dani Schnider (CHE) -4- Oliver Imfeld (CHE) -4-	20:12:51,5	50	^[14]
2019	DANi SCHNIDER RADSPORT -5-	Oliver Imfeld (CHE) -5- Dani Schnider (CHE) -5-	18:51:52,6	89	^[14]
2020	Auer Velos/Stoll Bikes	Norbert Amgarten (CHE) Thomas Girardi (CHE)	18:29:23	52

Grand Masters winners

Year	Team	Winners	Time	Teams
2018	BiXS / Bikeholiday.ch -1-	Bärti Bucher (CHE) -1- Hansjürg Gerber (CHE) -1-	20:51:23,7	15	^[14]
2019	BiXS Bikeholiday -2-	Bärti Bucher (CHE) -2- Hansjürg Gerber (CHE) -2-	20:00:03,4	39	^[14]
2020	CST PostNL Bafang MTB Racing Team	Bart Brentjens (NLD) -2- Peter Vesel (SVN)	19:21:24	30

Mixed winners

Year	Team	Winners	Time	Teams
2014	BiXS – Wheeler	Bärti Bucher (CHE) Milena Landtwing (CHE)	24:19:15,8	26	^[10]
2015	Giant Team Obwalden	Hans Flück (CHE) Anita Bucher (CHE)	28:52:44,2	20	^[11]
2016	R'ADYS SCOTT	Adrian Ruhstaller (CHE) Cornelia Hug (CHE)	21:47:04,0	15	^[12]
2017	CrazyVeloShop SCOTT / TG-Hütten	Bendicht Küpfer (CHE) Viviane Spielmann (CHE)	25:55:11,0	7	^[13]
2018	Fitness Maréchal	Florence Darbellay (CHE) Jérémy Huguenin (CHE)	22:06:37,1	15	^[14]
2019	Team VeloCity	Anders Seim (NOR) Synne Steinsland (NOR)	21:30:39,6	29	^[14]
2020	Velosolutions #pumpforpeace	Cherie Redecker (ZAF) Tumelo Makae (LSO)	20:27:11	20

References

^ "Medienmappe" (PDF). Cape Epic (in German). 11 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
^ "1,5 Millionen für "einzigartige Mountainbike-Veranstaltung"" [1,5 million for a "unique mountain bike event"]. Die Südostschweiz (in German). 23 August 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
^ "Garantiert weitere Gäste in Graubünden" [Guaranteed more guests in Grisons]. Die Südostschweiz (in German). 21 August 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
^ "Perskindol Swiss Epic". Swiss Epic. 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 28 April 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
^ "PERSKINDOL SWISS EPIC 2015 in Kürze" (PDF). Swiss Epic (in German). March 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
^ "PORTRAIT". Swiss Epic. Archived from the original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
^ "PORTRAIT". Swiss Epic. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
^ "2018 Route". Swiss Epic. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
^ "The Route". Swiss Epic. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Gesamtwertung – Ergebnisse". Datasport. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Perskindol Swiss Epic 2015". Datasport. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "3. PERSKINDOL SWISS EPIC". race|result. 8 January 2019. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "4. SWISS EPIC". race|result. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Swiss Epic Race Results". Epic Series. Retrieved 2 November 2019.