Chaos on the Albula: Crashes, Punctures, and Power Plays Ignite SPAR Swiss Epic Opener

The opening stage of the 2025 SPAR Swiss Epic saw the defending champions falter and this
year’s protagonists rise to the fore on the trails from Davos to La Punt. The 78-kilometre Stage 1
is the longest of the race and featured a climb to the summit of the Albula Pass. It was on that
21-kilometre climb that Torpado Kenda FSA laid the foundations for their stage victory, but
benefited from Klimatiza Orbea’s misfortune too. In the UCI women’s race, Efficient Infiniti SCB
SRAM stamped their authority on the day, seizing a commanding early advantage.

Stage 1 of the 2025 SPAR Swiss Epic saw a dramatic start to the twelfth edition of the Epic

Series stage race on Wednesday, 13 August. A crash for Marc Stutzmann and a near-
catastrophic puncture for Samuele Porro helped Fabian Rabensteiner and Casey South gain an unexpected 2 minutes and 11 seconds advantage after the first day. 2023 champion, Vera
Looser, put her experience on the trails of Graubünden to great use, guiding Alexis Skarda to a
dominant victory on the opening day in the UCI Women’s category.
The first stage is the longest of this year’s race, covering 78 kilometres between Davos and La Punt. It featured a cross-country style start with punchy climbs and descents before the stage-
defining 21-kilometre Albula Pass ascent began at the 40-kilometre mark. Reaching the summit at 2 324 metres above sea level tested lungs as much as it did legs, and while the rarified air provided the strongest teams on the day with an opportunity to showcase their superiority, it was the descent along the Albula Trail which proved decisive in the UCI Men’s race.
Fresh legs and aspirations as yet unaffected by the realities of their place in the SPAR Swiss Epic
general classification shake-up meant that the opening kilometres were chaotic. 15 teams
raced wheel to wheel and shoulder to shoulder through the Ischalp Trail and the first 10
kilometres. The group fluctuated in size through the first 40 kilometres and caused significant
stress for all involved. “It was a hectic start to the stage with lots of teams fighting for position in
the group and on the trails,” the Italian Marathon Champion, Andrea Siffredi, of Scott Racing,
would later recount.
The Albula Pass settled proceedings down. Halfway up the 1 300 metres gain in elevation, the
Klimatiza Orbea and Torpado Kenda FSA teams had proven themselves to be the strongest
climbers. KTM Spada powered by Brenta Brakes’s Nicolas and Lorenzo Samparisi were the
nearest chasers, with Metallurgica Veneta and Scott Racing 1 and 2 following as best they
could. The pre-race favourites, Wout Alleman and Martin Stošek, of Buff Megamo, slipped out of
contention for stage honours on the ascent, losing 5 minutes by the summit.
On the descent, Rabensteiner and South were provided with the opportunity to strike out alone
and race to stage victory. “We are really happy with this win,” Rabensteiner smiled. “We had a nice race today and were always in control, able to stay in the front group throughout the stage.
Then we had some luck in the Albula Tail downhill. First, [Marc] Stutzmann had a little crash,
then his teammate Samuele [Porro] broke his wheel.”
Klimatiza Orbea’s misfortune was Torpado Kenda FSA’s good fortune, but the Italian knows that
they should take advantage while luck is on their side. “I have won the SPAR Swiss Epic two
times and I like this race,” Rabensteiner added. “2 minutes sounds like a lot, but anything can
happen on these trails! We will have to go day by day.”
Porro’s puncture damaged his rim, which limited his ability to chase the runaway leaders. The
Klimatiza Orbea team were passed by eight squads in the final 15 kilometres, including their
own stablemates, Sebastian Gesche and Luis Perez Martinez. Klimatiza Orbea 2 only caught up
with Stutzmann and Porro within sight of the finish, though, so it made little sense for one of the
support team riders to sacrifice a wheel to Porro when riding to the finish would be more
efficient than taking the time to change wheels.
Behind Torpado Kenda FSA, the Samparisi brothers were caught by the Scott Racing and
Metallurgica Veneta team in the run-in to the finish. This set up a sprint for second and third,
which the KTM Spada powered by Brenta Brakes team won. Scott Racing’s Andrea Siffredi and
Stefano Goria were third, ahead of Metallurgica Veneta’s Nicola Taffarel and Diego Arias. By the
finish line, Stutzmann and Porro had lost 6 minutes and 59 seconds to the stage winners, while
Buff Megamo’s travails on the day cost them 6:48 on the general classification.
In the UCI Women’s race, the defending champions Cannondale ISB Sport endured a difficult
day while Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM soared. Looser and Skarda put the pressure on their rivals
earlier in the stage than the best climbers in the UCI Men’s race had been able to, thinning the
front group from five to two teams between kilometres 11 and 24. “You don’t want to wait
around too long,” Looser explained when asked why they pushed on. “We were going at a good
pace, and it was just us and Buff Megamo. Then we saw Janina [Wüst] was struggling a bit, so
we just kept our tempo. It was a long way out when we went solo, and that Albula Pass is a
monster. I saw on my bike computer that it was saying 21 kilometres of climbing coming up, and
I was pfff…”
“That climb was huge!” Skarda completed Looser’s thought. “I just kept my eyes on Vera and
kept pushing.”
On the day’s most significant ascent, the Namibian/American combination steadily extended
their advantage to nearly 5 minutes. The Albula Trail descent allowed Buff Megamo’s Rosa van
Doorn and Janina Wüst to gain back 90 seconds, but when the leaders reached the valley roads
on the run-in to La Punt, they were once again able to extend their buffer. Efficient Infiniti SCB
SRAM crossed the finish line 4 minutes and 21 seconds up on Van Doorn and Wüst.
“I’m super excited to pull on the orange CIOVITA leader’s jersey, but we know it’s still a long
week,” Looser noted. “In Andorra, [at the Andorra Epic where they finished second to Buff
Megamo] we also had the leader’s jersey after stage 1… so I’m excited to have a good week and
try to break my streak of second-place finishes in the Epic Series.”
Looser, Skarda, Van Doorn and Wüst were joined on the stage podium by Torpado Kenda FSA’s
Katazina Sosna Pinele and Giorgia Marchet. Alessia Nay and Kim Ames were fourth on the
opening day, ahead of the Cannondale ISB Sport team. Monica Calderon and Tessa Kortekaas’s first off day since the mid-point in the 2025 Absa Cape Epic cost them over 16 minutes, and
leaves them with a mountain to climb over the coming days.
Stage 2 will highlight if it was a blip in form or a larger loss of fitness as the SPAR Swiss Epic
crosses the 2 500 metre mark for the first time in this edition. The day begins with a benign
opening 10 kilometres before challenging with the massive climbs of Muntatsch-Marguns and
Lej Alv, both of tower into the rarified air. The Olympia and Foppettas Flow Trails provide
downhill thrills, but the climbs in the second half of the 61-kilometre stage should not be
underestimated. Such is the scale of Muntatsch-Marguns and Lej Alv that they flatten the other
ascents on the route profile.
To follow the SPAR Swiss Epic as it unfolds, mountain biking fans can tune into the live
broadcast on the Epic Series YouTube Channel here. Daily highlights from the race can also be
viewed on the 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 1:

1. Torpado Kenda FSA: Fabian Rabensteiner & Casey South (3:19:00)
2. KTM Spada powered by Brenta Brakes: Nicolas & Lorenzo Samparisi (3:21:11 | +2:11)
3. Scott Racing: Andrea Siffredi & Stefano Goria (3:21:12 |+2:12)
4. Metallurgica Veneta: Nicola Taffarel & Diego Arias (3:21:13 | +2:13)
5. Scott Racing 2: Andrin Beeli & Davide Foccoli (3:24:00 | +5:00)
   UCI Women | Stage 1:
6. Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM: Vera Looser & Alexis Skarda (4:04:52)
7. Buff Megamo : Rosa Van Doorn & Janina Wüst (4:09:13 | +4:21)
8. Torpado Kenda FSA: Katazina Sosna Pinele & Giorgia Marchet (4:13:04 | +8:12)
9. Bulls Swiss: Alessia Nay & Kim Ames (4:14:08 | +9:16)
10. Cannondale ISB Sport: Monica Calderon & Tessa Kortekaas (4:21:35 | +16:43)