Results & Recap: Swiss Epic Stage 5
Engadin La Punt and KTM Spada Brenta Brakes – Olympia Win The 2026 Swiss Epic
The final stage of the 2026 Swiss Epic brought a thrilling, dramatic, and, for two days, severely weather-affected thirteenth edition of the five-day Epic Series mountain bike stage race to its conclusion in Davos. When the dust and mud had settled, KTM Spada Brenta Brakes – Olympia and Engadin La Punt were the overall victors, though SCOTT Racing 2 did their best to ensure Fadri Barandun and Andrin Beeli had to fight tooth and nail to take home the crown. Anna Weinbeer and Claudia Peretti had a less stressful Stage 5; having taken the orange CIOVITA jerseys after day one, they completed a clean sweep of stage victories to stamp their dominance on the 2026 race through the trails of Graubünden.
All terrains suited the KTM Spada Brenta Brakes – Olympia team, and Stage 5 was no different. An undulating start to the 65-kilometre-long course provided enough climbing for Weinbeer and Peretti to snap the metaphorical elastic between them and the Torpado Kenda FSA Women lead chase group within the first 6 kilometres. After that undulating first 20 kilometres, the Alps Epic Trail dropped the teams into the Zügen Gorge, south of Davos. From the lowest point of the day, at the 26-kilometre mark, it was essentially all uphill to the summit of the Clavadeleralp at 2 007 metres above sea level. The Ischalp and Bolgen Trails provided some relief from the climbing in the final 10 kilometres, before the run-in through the outskirts of Davos to the final finish line in the Kurpark. In total, the final day included a sapping 2 350 metres of accumulated elevation gain.
Weinbeer and Peretti started the final stage as they had started the race, on the front foot. They went out hard on the opening 20 kilometres and established a near 2-minute lead by the start of the Alps Epic Trail. This was a tactic they had employed throughout the Swiss Epic, and it had seen them win Stage 1 by 11 minutes, the shortened Stage 2-time trial by 41 seconds, a rerouted Stage 3 by 4 minutes and 25 seconds, and Stage 4 by nearly 6 and a half minutes. In total, going into the final stage, the KTM Spada Brenta Brakes – Olympia team’s advantage was nearly 32 minutes.
Weinbeer had said the day before that she was unfazed by the sizable lead, and that she was simply racing to her maximum every day. This served her and Peretti well as they charged through the trails and the climbs of Stage 5 to win the day by 6 minutes and 26 seconds. “There’s nothing better: To win the last stage, to win all the stages, and also the overall,” Weinbeer smiled on the final Davos finish line.
“I enjoyed it a lot,” Weinbeer added. “It was hard work, of course. But I still enjoyed it between the suffering. I enjoyed the views and the trails, today in particular.”
When asked if the Swiss Epic will mark the start of a longer-term stage racing partnership, Peretti continued in the humorous manner she has maintained all week. “No, I won’t be racing with Anna again; she’s too strong!” the Italian Marathon champion teased. Before clarifying: “No, I’m joking, she’s a great teammate, she’s looked after me very well. We didn’t really know each other before the Swiss Epic, but we worked really well together; we’ve become friends. You share not only in the race, but lots of moments after and before the stages, so you form a strong bond. Hopefully we can plan to race together as a team soon…”
Peretti and Weinbeer were joined on the final general classification podium by the Torpado Kenda FSA Women and Massi ISB Sport. Both teams endured a difficult Stage 1 but gained in confidence and strength as the race went on. Katazina Sosna-Pinele and Giorgia Marchet were the clear second strongest combination in the Elite Women’s race, claiming four second place finishes and second overall. Amanda Bohlin and Tessa Kortekaas notched up four third places on their way to third in the general classification.
“I’m very happy with third place,” Kortekaas allowed. “To be honest, it feels like a victory. Two weeks ago, I called Amanda [Bohlin] and asked her if she was sure that she wanted to race with me because I felt like I wasn’t in good shape. I know she was preparing for the World Championships, and I didn’t want to waste her time.”
“I didn’t want to miss the Swiss Epic,” Bohlin countered. “I know Tessa is really experienced in stage racing, so I wanted to race with her and learn from her experience. We started with no expectations and had a good race in the end, especially after the first day, which was a bit tough.”
Behind the podium places Bettina Janas and Kim Ames, of Sportograf.com, finished fourth. They had started the week with a strong second place on Stage 1 but were unable to keep that pace over the four days that followed. Tanja Priller and Selina Rüegg claimed fifth overall. The TZA Bike by Riap Sport/Müller pair had perhaps their best stage on Sunday, putting just over 13 minutes into Julika Pahl and Linda Detering to leapfrog the Southern Africans in the final general classification standings.
Where Weinbeer and Peretti could enjoy a stress-free final stage, the men who started the final day in yellow, Barandun and Beeli, were under pressure throughout Stage 5. After winning Stage 1 by 4 minutes and 25 seconds, the Engadin La Punt team dared to dream, but steadily ceded time on the next three days. However, once in yellow, the Graubünden locals, who hail from Samedan near La Punt and Sagogn in the west of the canton, respectively, put in a masterclass of race management.
The defending champions, Fabian Rabensteiner and Casey South, of Torpado Kenda FSA 1, had looked to be Barandun and Beeli’s nearest rivals after Stages 1 and 2, but as their challenge faded, SCOTT Racing 2 came to the fore on Stage 3. Aggressive and attacking rides by the 2026 Andorra Epic champions, Stefano Goria and Davide Foccoli, took back 40 seconds on Stage 3 and 53 seconds on Stage 4, to start Stage 5 with 2 minutes and 35 seconds to make up.
In the early kilometres of Stage 5, the Engadin La Punt team marked SCOTT Racing 2, which allowed the Honeycomb 226ers to launch a long-range attack in pursuit of their second stage win of the race. Marc Pritzen and Felix Stehli grew their advantage on the trails from just 10 seconds at the 6-kilometre time check to a maximum of 1 minute and 38 seconds by the 27-kilometre mark. The climbs in the second half of the day allowed the chase group, including not only the yellow jersey-wearing Barandun and Beeli, but also the SCOTT Racing 2, Klimatiza Orbea, and both Torpado Kenda FSA teams, to gradually reel Pritzen and Stehli in.
By the Clavadeleralp Service Station, 51 kilometres into the stage, Torpado Kenda FSA 2 and SCOTT Racing had fought their way up to the stage leaders. Then Gioele de Cosmo and Jakob Dorigoni, Goria and Foccoli used the final kicker of the race to distance Prizen and Stehli, all the while focusing on making up every second possible on Barandun and Beeli.
The Engadin La Punt team never let that gap blow out, however. They battled for every metre and with 6 kilometres to race, at the final time check, they were 32 seconds behind the hard-charging Goria and Foccoli. From there, on the run into Davos, Beeli and Barandun had only to finish safely.
Ahead, De Cosmo and Dorigoni outsprinted Goria and Foccoli in a carbon copy of the Stage 3 finish to take stage honours on Stage 5. Goria and Foccoli were unconcerned by finishing second; their only focus were the stopwatch on the finish line. 63 seconds later, after the Honeycomb 226ers and Klimatiza Orbe had finished third and fourth, the Engadin La Punt team rolled across the line, celebrating their Swiss Epic title.
“It’s incredible. I don’t know what to say,” an emotional Barandun struggled. “So many friends and family came here to support us out on course today and throughout the week. I think we did a really good race today but had to suffer so hard to take the overall victory.”
“The last two days I’ve been suffering with a bad cold,” Beeli confessed. “It’s been a big sufferfest. But when you’re in yellow you can’t hold back, you must go full gas to the finish line. I wanted to give everything for Fadri [Barandun].”
“We were not on the favourite list before the race,” Barandun reflected. “Also, for ourselves, we talked before the race and said we must be realistic. If everything worked out perfectly maybe we could have been on the podium, so this… phawa… it’s amazing!”
Foccoli and Goria were gracious in defeat. “We are second; it’s a good result. We tried everything to gain as much time as possible. But the leaders were really strong,” Goria praised. “They gained a lot of time on Stage 1, and we tried to take back time every day, but they were too strong.”
After five fantastic days of mountain biking in Graubünden, the Engadin La Punt team’s final margin of victory was 1 minute and 33 seconds over SCOTT Racing. Torpado Kenda FSA 2’s De Cosmo and Dorigoni were third overall, to go with their two stage wins. Their Torpado Kenda FSA 1 stablemates, Rabensteiner and South, were fourth, with Pritzen and Stehli, of Honeycomb 226ers, completing the top five.
“The Swiss Epic is an amazing race,” Sosna-Pinele summarised on behalf of the entire Elite Men’s and Women’s fields. “Thank you to the organisation for dealing so competently with the bad weather [on Stages 2 and 3]; the staff from the Swiss Epic and the Epic Series did an amazing job reorganising those stages and ensuring we could still race.”
Results
Elite Men Final GC
- Engadin La Punt: Fadri Barandun & Andrin Beeli (11:55:21)
- SCOTT Racing 2: Stefano Goria & Davide Foccoli (11:56:54 | +1:33)
- Torpado Kenda FSA 2: Gioele de Cosmo & Jakob Dorigoni (11:58:25 | +3:04)
- Torpado Kenda FSA 1: Fabian Rabensteiner & Casey South (12:01:36 | +6:15)
- Honeycomb 226ers: Marc Pritzen & Felix Stehli (12:02:49 | +7:28)
Elite Women Final GC
- KTM Spada | Brenta Brakes – Olympia: Anna Weinbeer & Claudia Peretti (14:38:15)
- Torpado Kenda FSA Women: Katazina Sosna-Pinele & Giorgia Marchet (15:16:40 | +38:25)
- Massi ISB Sport: Tessa Kortekaas & Amanda Bohlin (15:30:20 | +52:05)
- Sportograf.com: Bettina Janas & Kim Ames (15:36:44 | +58:29)
- TZA Bike by Riap Sport/Müller: Tanja Priller & Selina Rüegg (16:28:25 | +1:50:10)
Full results here //
The conclusion of the Swiss Epic brings the Epic Series’ European racing to an end for 2026, too. The action continues on the African continent with FNB Wines2Whales in November, where the Elite Women will race in their own event, the Chardonnay from the 5th to the 8th of November. The world’s biggest e-Bike field will take on the Pinotage race from the 9th to the 11th of November, and then the Elite Men will race for their share of the R677 000 [€36 200] prize purse from the 12th to the 15th of November. For the first time in 2026, FNB Wines2Whale’s Elite Men’s and Women’s races will boast UCI S1 status, and while the amateur teams will still race the traditional three days, the elites will now take on a 21-kilometre Prologue on Thursday 5 and 12 November. //
| Images: Nick Muzik, Sam Clark, Michael Chiaretta, Marius Holler |