Cycling: Urs Huber and Lukas Buchli fought a tough duel up to the Spirstock. However, due to a defective front tire, Buchli fell on the descent and fell back to third place - behind winner Huber and Frenchman Thomas Dietsch. In the women's category, Esther Süss triumphed ahead of Milena Landtwing and Nadia Walker.
It was an open battle between Swiss champion Urs Huber and Swiss Epic winner Lukas Buchli. After the long flat stretch through the Euthal at kilometer 62, there was still a threesome with Huber, Buchli and o-tour winner Thomas Dietsch. On the climb to the Adlerhorst, Buchli tried to break away by increasing the pace. The victim was Dietsch, the French champion. He had to let his two comrades-in-arms go. In the short run to the Spirstock, Huber was able to pull away from Buchli by ten seconds. It should be the preliminary decision, as it turned out shortly afterwards.
In the pursuit, Buchli took too many risks on the demanding descent. A burst front tire, of all things in a curve, was the result. Buchli's front wheel slipped and he fell. Soon after, Dietsch also came up from behind and overtook the man from Graubünden. Meanwhile Huber, alone at the top, continuously increased his lead and finally reached the finish line more than three minutes ahead of Dietsch. "When I noticed that Buchli wasn't coming on the descent, I slowed down and took the risk.", Huber explained his tactics to ensure victory. After fifth place at the Swiss Epic, this triumph is a great satisfaction. After 2007, 2008 and 2009, it is already the fourth overall victory in the iXS classic for the man from Jonen in Aargau. Huber will now drive in Ornans, where he has already won three times, followed by the end of the season at the Roc d'Azur.
Thomas Dietsch was happy. In 2000, like his Bulls teammate Huber, he entered Einsiedeln as the final and overall winner of the Swiss marathon series. Now 39 years old, he finished second on his farewell tour. Last year's winner Lukas Buchli wore his defeat with composure: «After my fall, the air was obviously out. I had to motivate myself again to at least get third place in the dry. It's bewitched sometimes. On the Swiss Epic, I rode the roughest descents for a week without a puncture using the same tire with which I had a flat tire today.” Buchli was not spoiled for luck on the other iXS classic runs either. “In three races I had a puncture while driving at the front. But that's the way sport is sometimes.", according to Buchli.
The women's race ended as expected. Esther Süss pulled away early and achieved a start-to-finish victory. After 2005, 2007 and 2009, the five-time Swiss bike marathon champion won for the fourth time on the Einsiedler Klosterplatz. iXS classic leader Milena Landtwing remains in second place ahead of Nadia Walker from Uri and thus her first overall victory in the iXS swiss bike classic. "For what I actually only wanted to drive to Willerzell, I got quite far", joked Landtwing. The overall victory at the Swiss Epic cost Körner. After Willerzell things went better and better. Last year's winner said that the nice weather had something to do with it. Third was Nadia Walker, who won the race in 2011.
Source: Martin Platter