Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM extended their general classification lead by 2 minutes and 27
seconds on Stage 4 of the SPAR Swiss Epic, with their third stage win of the 2025 race. Finishing
in pouring rain, in Davos, did not dampen their spirits, nor the enthusiasm of Torpado Kenda
FSA, who rode a controlled race to keep the day’s victors, Klimatiza Orbea, within 32 seconds
ahead of the Grand Finale on Sunday.
Thunderstorms disrupted the plans for the penultimate day of the 2025 SPAR Swiss Epic on
Saturday, 16 August, but did not upset Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda as they powered to their
third stage win of the race. Marc Stutzmann and Samuele Porro won for the second time in the
event, but the men in yellow, Fabian Rabensteiner and Casey South, were able to keep the
Klimatiza Orbea team in check. These results mean that both Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM and
Torpado Kenda FSA take healthy leads into Stage 5.
Leaving the clear skies of La Punt, on Stage 4, the atmosphere darkened as the teams rode
north towards Davos. The fastest UCI Men avoided most of the rain on the mighty Scaletta Pass,
but the UCI Women were doused by drizzle, and the slower age groupers were stopped at
Service Station 2 to allow the thunderstorm to blow over. Earlier, the SPAR Swiss Epic route
team had removed the climb in the Val Trupchun National Park to limit the riders’ exposure to
potentially dangerous weather conditions. This reduced the stage length from 64 to 52
kilometres and the accumulated elevation gain from 1 900 to 1 700 metres. The Scaletta Pass
remained the main feature of the day, and though the run-in to the fabled climb was easier, the
pass itself was as challenging as ever. The summit, at 2 606 meters above sea level, came 33
kilometres into the day and was followed by 19 largely downhill kilometres to Davos.
It was on the climb that the day’s winners made their move. Looser and Skarda had started the
day with a clear plan and executed it to perfection. “I told Alexis it’s all about riding the Scaletta
smoothly,” the team’s senior partner revealed. “You have to focus on getting over the rocks and
around tight turns without uncleating. If you can do that, you’ll be quick.”
“It was steep and techie,” Skarda agreed. “I don’t think it was too much of a fitness climb, you
kind of just have to stay on your bike and keep going.”
Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM took a 1 minute and 55 second advantage over Buff Megamo onto
the long descent to Davos. There the weather conditions added to the challenge of the technical
descent. “The rain threw a curveball at the end, and I got so cold I struggled to shift gears,”
Looser confessed.
“From the top we had a lot of rain, and the only way was down, so it was really cold,” Rosa van
Doorn confirmed. Having ceded time over the summit, the Buff Megamo team descended
solidly but still lost a handful of seconds more to the women in orange on the run-in to Davos.
“On the Scaletta Pass, I said we had to ride my tempo or I’d explode,” Janina Wüst reflected. “I
think we did that well today.”
Crossing the finish line, Looser and Skarda added a further 2:27 to their overall lead. Van Doorn
and Wüst were second on the day, and slipped to 11 minutes and 21 seconds back on the
general classification. The Bulls Swiss team of Alessia Nay and Kim Ames were third and remain
third on the UCI Women’s overall standings.
In the UCI Men’s race, the Scaletta Pass climb provided the Klimatiza Orbea team with the
opportunity they needed to launch their stage-winning attack. “It was again a good day for us.
We rode like we planned yesterday. We went [on the attack] on the climb to the Scaletta Pass,
and then Samuele [Porro] led on the downhill and rode really smoothly,” Stutzmann explained.
Over the summit, the Klimatiza Orbea pair held a 20-second advantage over the race leaders.
“Today on the Scaletta Pass, we decided not to push too hard and rode our own rhythm,”
Rabensteiner noted. “On the descent, too, we didn’t take any risks. But towards the end, which
was less technical, we pushed hard to limit the gap to Klimatiza Orbea.”
This tactic allowed Stutzmann and Porro’s advantage to grow to a maximum of 40 seconds
before Torpado Kenda FSA brought it back to just 32 seconds on the finish line. “I think we did a
good job today,” South stated. “We managed the time gap and didn’t lose too much time.”
Klimatiza Orbea’s second stage win moved them up to second on the general classification
standings, 6 minutes and 19 seconds off Torpado Kenda FSA in the lead. KTM Spada powered by
Brenta Brakes were third on the day and slipped to third overall, though there is just 51 seconds
between Nicolas and Lorenzo Samparisi and the Swiss/Italian pairing in second.
While the elite teams did not suffer unduly with the weather, the thunderstorm intensified mid-
morning. “We rode fast because of the weather!” Porro joked. “On the Scaletta Pass, it was just
some light rain, then on the downhill it was almost sunny, but in the Davos Valley it was raining
quite hard. But luckily, we only got 3 minutes or so of rain and just rode that last part really fast
to get out of the rain.”
That was not the case for the age groupers; at 10:30 [local time], the racing was paused at
Service Station 2 on the Scaletta Pass. 4 kilometres from the summit and 600 metres lower
down the mountain an alpine refugio provided shelter for the worst of the weather and saw
hundreds of riders huddled together while waiting out the lightning. An hour and a half later, the
danger had passed, and the pass was deemed safe to summit, though the rain persisted.
Light rain is predicted for Sunday, in Davos, too. How this will affect the racing remains to be
seen, but if the trails are slippery, the leaders will have to exercise extreme caution. This could
play into the hands of the aggressors, Stutzmann and Porro. “I know the first climb tomorrow is
very demanding, and we’ll be able to go at our own pace to put the other teams under pressure,”
Porro predicted. “But this afternoon we’ll have a closer look at the conditions and the course to
make a plan for tomorrow.”
Sunday’s first climb takes teams from Davos, at 1 500 metres above sea level, to the highest
point of the Panorama Trail at 2 321 metres in the first 8 kilometres of the stage. Starting and
finishing alongside the ice hockey arena on the lawns of central Davos’s Kurpark, the 49-
kilometre Stage 5 is packed with climbs and descents. It is no easy last day, and features 2 000
metres of ascending along with an equal amount of accumulated descent. Highlights included
the aforementioned Panorama Trail, as well as the Gotschnaboden and Drusatscha Trails. From
the Service Station 3, at the summit of the Wolfgang Climb, it is effectively downhill to the finish,
even with a loop into the Flüela valley to the trailhead of the concluding singletrack of the
twelfth edition, the Flüela Trail.
To join the SPAR Swiss Epic action for the last time, tune into the live broadcast on the Epic
Series YouTube Channel here. Daily highlights from the race can also be viewed on the series’
YouTube Channel, and the excitement from the trails of Graubünden will be shared on the SPAR
Swiss Epic Facebook page and @swiss_epic on Instagram. To find out more, visit www.epic-
series.com/swissepic.
2025 SPAR Swiss Epic Results:
UCI Men | Stage 4:
- Klimatiza Orbea: Marc Stutzmann & Samuele Porro (2:18:58)
- Torpado Kenda FSA: Fabian Rabensteiner & Casey South (2:19:30 | +32)
- KTM Spada powered by Brenta Brakes: Nicolas & Lorenzo Samparisi (2:20:06 | +1:08)
- Metallurgica Veneta: Nicola Taffarel & Diego Arias (2:20:07 | +1:09)
- Cannondale ISB Sport: Riccardo Chiarini & Diego Rosa (2:20:09 | +1:11)
UCI Women | Stage 4: - Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM: Vera Looser & Alexis Skarda (2:53:23)
- Buff Megamo : Rosa van Doorn & Janina Wüst (2:55:50 | +2:27)
- Bulls Swiss: Alessia Nay & Kim Ames (2:58:54 | +5:31)
- Torpado Kenda FSA: Katazina Sosna Pinele & Giorgia Marchet (3:00:27 | +7:04)
- Cannondale ISB Sport: Monica Calderon & Tessa Kortekaas (3:05:18 | +11:55)
UCI Men’s General Classification Standings after Stage 4: - Torpado Kenda FSA: Fabian Rabensteiner & Casey South (10:16:10)
- Klimatiza Orbea: Marc Stutzmann & Samuele Porro (10:22:29 | +6:19)
- KTM Spada powered by Brenta Brakes: Nicolas & Lorenzo Samparisi (10:23:20 | +7:10)
- Metallurgica Veneta: Nicola Taffarel & Diego Arias (10:25:04 | +8:54)
- Scott Racing 2: Andrin Beeli & Davide Foccoli (10:28:45 | +12:35)
UCI Women’s General Classification Standings after Stage 4: - Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM: Vera Looser & Alexis Skarda (12:41:52)
- Buff Megamo: Rosa Van Doorn & Janina Wüst (12:53:13 | +11:21)
- Bulls Swiss: Alessia Nay & Kim Ames (13:05:50 | +23:58)
- Cannondale ISB Sport: Monica Calderon & Tessa Kortekaas (13:51:38 | +1:09:46)
- Torpado Kenda FSA: Katazina Sosna Pinele & Giorgia Marchet (13:59:31 | +1:17:39)
