Swiss Epic - Stages one and two

95km and 3000 meters is what we covered to take us from Verbier to the stunning town of Leukerbad which is surrounded by steep mountains and tucked right into sheer cliff faces. It is an absolutely stunning spa resort which we plan to take full advantage of later.

Our stage took us 5 hours 50.21. After feeling a bit disappointed with my legs and head on Monday's prologue it was great to feel strong on the first long climb, my legs felt completely different to the previous day, I knew instantly it was going to be a good day. I was getting the hang of the technical descents and surprised my self a lot through out the day. The climbing felt well spaced out with a couple of sections of flat fun rooty single track that went on for 6 to 8 km - this helped get me prepared for the next long climb. Me and Mark rode well together and finished in 2nd four minutes down on the leading mixed pairs. We were chuffed.

We had a tough battle with both the Scott -Sport mixed team and Giant Team Obwalden. From the start we kept passing each other throughout the stage depending on our team's strengths and It was not until the last 10km climb that we were able to secure our 2nd place on the stage and make a big enough gap to finish 2nd over all. It felt great moving up from 4th to 2nd overall though we are well aware this is going to be a tough week of racing with these two strong teams as only 90 seconds lies between us and we are constantly surrounded by each other.

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Stage 2 - Leukerbad > Leukerbad 

Today's stage was a lot tougher for me. We covered the same amount of climbing as yesterday though in 63km. There was barely a flat section. Leukerbad being surrounded by mountains as steep as a cliff meant the only way out was up, it was a good hour climb on fire road. Then once at the top we were faced with a strong head wind but also some great single track. The descents today were flowing and fast, I would say overall a lot less steep (apart from the last one where I had to use two fingers to get enough braking) and technical though a lot of fun and went on for ever though unfortunately so did the climbs. I had a strong start but after 90 minutes I was struggling on the climbs, I managed to perk up a bit for the last hour though the middle section was so so tough on the legs. We were in 4th and looking like that was where we would finish, but the Scott mixed team were unfortunate with a couple of incidents and we finished 3rd.

Marathon MTB (Imogen Smith and and Mike Blewitt) are looking strong for the overall win.

Leading groups 

Annika Langvad and Ariane Kleinhans took the win in the women's yesterday though Sally Bigham and Adelheid Morath finished only 47 seconds down. Today Sally and Adelheid finished 8 minutes up on Ariane and Annika and now have an overall lead of 4 mins 20 sec.

We know Annika and Ariane are a strong pairing after winning the Cape Epic twice and the Swiss Epic last year. Sally and Adelheid are racing for the first time together in pairs and are certainly looking like a great pairing. Really excited to see how this race develops.

Anne Terpstra and Helke Elferink are sat in third and are both looking very strong. Both these riders I admire so it was great riding around them yesterday, trying to hold their wheels on the descents and eventually pulling away on the climbs. Though today they pulled away so easily on the second climb and we did not see them again. They look to be working really well as a team and enjoying themselves.

The men's race has been incredibly close . Today the top 3 teams finished within 28 seconds of each other. Team Bixs Stockli took today's win (Mathias Fluckiger and Lukas Buchli). For the overall classification Team Topeak Ergon Racing team ( Alban Lakata and Kristian Hynek) lead by 40 seconds to Vaude Centurion. The defending Team Bix Stockli presently sit in third four and a half minutes down. Three days through and with three stages to go it is looking like a close race till the end.

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