Swiss Epic

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.

Swiss Epic

Race details
Date	August–September
Region	Canton of Grisons, Switzerland
Discipline	Mountain bike racing
Competition	Epic Series
Type	Stage race
Organiser	Swiss Epic AG
Web site	www.swiss-epic.com
History
First edition	2014
Editions	6
First winner	See Winners
Most wins	Dani Schnider (CHE)  Oliver Imfeld (CHE) 5 times (Masters)
Most recent	See Winners

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 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 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 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 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
2020	Velosolutions #pumpforpeace	Cherie Redecker (ZAF)  Tumelo Makae (LSO)	20:27:11	20