The leading teams from the second Swiss Epic Graubünden are heading into Saturday's final stage with big leaps. After the queen stage from Arosa to Davos, Nino Schurter and Lars Forster lead with almost ten minutes, Annika Langvad and Haley Batten even more than 32 minutes ahead of their direct pursuers.
After four of five stages of the Swiss Epic Grisons, there are minutes and 48 seconds between Nino Schurter/Lars Forster (SCOTT-SRAM) and the Italians Fabian Rabensteiner/Samuele Porro (TREK-Pirelli). While the Swiss can almost only be prevented from winning by a defect or a fall, the race for podium finishes remains very exciting.
On the 74-kilometer journey from Arosa to Davos, the second-placed Italians complained about a flat tire in the long descent to Klosters and lost valuable time as a result. Tuesday's Czech stage winners, Kristian Hynek/ Martin Stošek (Future Cycling Northwave), did not allow themselves to be asked twice and took over the chasing position behind the once again irresistible Swiss leaders. They finished second in the stage and were able to reduce the gap to the Italians in the overall standings from five to one and a half minutes.
Kristian Hynek was completely satisfied with the stage: “Our strength may be the climb, but our descents were much better today than in previous days. We lost only half a minute down to Klosters. Tomorrow is about second place overall, but a third place would also make us happy.”
Despite the defect, Samuele Porro did not quarrel with fate at the finish line. The high temperatures had bothered him. “It was certainly 20 degrees cooler here a year ago,” he said in Davos. Although he and Fabian Rabensteiner have little hope of an overall victory anymore, the Italians definitely want to defend their second place.
They simply summed up their slogan for the last day: “Attacco, Attacco, Attacco!”
“The Italians should actually bear the heat better than we do,” said a happy Nino Schurter after his third stage victory. He's tackling the last day with Lars Forster with a nice advantage, but they wouldn't have won yet: “We have to organise everything well, stay focused and also pay close attention to our equipment. A defect or a fall happened quickly.”
Three female candidates for third place among women
The dominance of the leading team is even greater among women than among men: Annika Langvad (DEN)/Haley Batten (USA) (Team Specialized) won their fourth stage and put almost seven minutes between themselves and their German pursuers Stefanie Dohrn/Elisabeth Brandau (Centurion-Vaude Radon). Your advantage is now 32:32 minutes.
Despite the exciting starting position ahead of the last day, Kim Ames, who finished third in stage with Nina Benz, was completely relaxed: “This is the most beautiful race I've ever driven!”
Results: August 21, 2020, overall score after 4 stages (provisional)
Men
- Nino Schurter/Lars Forster (SUI), SCOTT-SRAM, 12:12:20
- Fabian Rabensteiner/Samuele Porro (ITA), Trek-Pirelli 1, + 9:48
- Kristian Hynek/ Martin Stosek (CZE), Future Cycling Northwave Team, + 11:15
- Martin Frey/Simon Schneller (GER), BULLS Youngsters, + 28:07
- Andreas Seewald/Markus Kaufmann (GER), TEXPA-SIMPLON, + 30:00
- Urs Huber (SUI)/Simon Stiebjahn (GER), BULLS Heroes, + 32:34
- Juri Ragnoli/Cristian Cominelli (ITA), SCOTT Italy, + 32:56
- Casey South/Noah Blöchlinger (SUI), BMC Fischer, + 34:56
- Fabian Giger (SUI)/Jan Vastl (CZE), Maloja Pushbiker's MTB Team, + 41:59
- Simone Avondetto/Davide Toneatti (ITA), Trek-Pirelli 3, + 55:41
Women
- Annika Langvad (DEN)/Haley Batten (USA), Specialized - Racing, 15:17:34
- Stefanie Dohrn/Elisabeth Brandau (GER), Centurion-Vaude Radon, + 32:32
- Ariane Lüthi (SUI)/Alice Pirard (BEL), Andermatt Spur, + 43:24
- Linda Indergand (SUI)/Karla Stepanova (CZE), Maloja Pushbikers MTB, + 46:54
- Nina Benz/Kim Ames (GER), JB Brunex Felt Factory Team, + 50:18
- Sophie von Berswordt-Wallrabe/Jacqueline Schneebeli, BRUNEX Felt Factory Team 2, + 1:19:45
- Corina Gantenbein/Hielke Elferink, Davos Klosters, + 1:47:50
Stage results and detailed results by categories: www.swiss-epic.com/results/
The following is a detailed race report in German and English.
Christian Gartmann is Communications & Media Officer at Swiss Epic Graubünden.