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The cycling race around Zusmarshausen, a small community with 6,600 inhabitants in the Swabian district of Augsburg, has been held since 1974. The route of the circuit race is 27 kilometres long and is ridden four times (KT/elite amateurs) or three times (all others). It is the traditional season opener for Bavaria's licensed athletes. For the fourth time, organiser RV Phoenix Augsburg has also offered a race for everyone. The entry fees for licensed athletes in 2024 were 10 euros (juniors) and 21 euros, respectively, and 50 euros for the amateur race.
The safety pin is a symbol of cycling tradition. Four of them are handed out in the sports hall in Zusmarshausen. This is no different today than it was on 31 March 1974, when the Schwarzbräupreis celebrated its premiere. The most important task for the participants before the race has remained the same ever since: Attach the race number as straight as possible to the jersey. Thomas Dobner from Rad-Union Wangen has the number pinned to his jersey by a team colleague in front of the gymnasium. The 33-year-old has been racing under licence for 18 years and this is the 15th time he has competed in the Schwarzbräupreis. "Zus", as the race is often abbreviated, has been a must-attend event for his cycling club for years: Eleven riders have travelled from the Allgäu. The race has hardly changed in recent years, but the racing bike world has. It has become much more colourful and licensed cycling is fighting for its place. Larissa Stupnicki is at the start in the racing one-piece of the CS Bikes Roadteam from Moosach, which was founded in 2024. The 32-year-old has already completed many cycling marathons and applied for her first racing licence in 2024. She is not familiar with the long tradition of Zusmarshausen, she only knows that there is "a beautiful route and a good atmosphere" here. 42-year-old Stefan Zach from Heretsried is also counting on this. He attaches his race number to a warm, windproof cycling jacket and starts in the amateur race. He is surrounded by friends from the Rennradtreff Augsburg - a total of 27 men and one woman will be taking on the route, which they know from cycling together.
Many bike races disappear
The Schwarzbräupreis almost seems like an anachronism: a licensed race on a 27-kilometre circuit is rare in Germany. Criterium or races on very short circuits dominate amateur sport. In recent decades, many cycling races have disappeared forever. Hans Kammerer, sports director of RV Phönix Augsburg, still remembers the variety that used to exist: "Rund um Augsburg was over 180 kilometres, as was Rund um Schwaben, and we also had road races in Munich." According to the 72-year-old, it has become increasingly difficult to obtain licences for race routes, motivate helpers and finance security. The tradition in Zusmarshausen also almost came to an abrupt end - the cancellation of the race in 2024 was seriously discussed. The timekeeper went bankrupt - and with him the entry fees. RV Phönix Augsburg lost 15,000 euros and had to tap into its reserves. And: The amateur race was saved by the everyman race, which was introduced just a few years ago. In licence races, the entry fees are fixed by the regulations, as is the prize money. The bottom line is that there is little left over for the club. In contrast, the organiser has more leeway with everyman races. With their entry fees, the amateur cyclists contribute around 10,000 euros to the budget and thus also enable services such as live tracking via app. You could say that the Schwarzbräupreis is now a modern anachronism.
Lining up in starting blocks
Half an hour before the start, the participants gather on the main road in the centre of the village, a stone's throw from Gasthof Schwarzbräu. The first starting block is reserved for elite amateurs and continental team riders. This is followed by the amateurs, separated by barrier tape, then the collective block for the seniors, juniors and women, and the last block for the amateur riders. Each block is sent out onto the course five minutes apart. While the elite have to complete four laps and thus 108 kilometres, all other starters have three laps with a total of 81 kilometres on the programme. The idea behind this: no overly large and therefore dangerous fields and a manageable period of traffic disruption. With temperatures in the low single digits, most participants have put on a jacket, which can be handed in shortly before the start.
Around five degrees and sunshine are rather good conditions for the Schwarzbräupreis. Among amateurs, the capricious weather conditions in Zusmarshausen at the beginning of April are legendary. 30 times Sporwart Kammerer was at the start himself and remembers many cold rides: "I always experienced bad weather - sometimes even with snow on the road. I sometimes froze to death and my teeth chattered from the cold during the ride." In photos from previous years, the landscape is often still wintery white. Kammerer knows that many of the cyclists are still highly motivated: "The races are often ridden nervously. Many riders come well trained from the training camp and overestimate themselves." This year, for the first time, he is not taking part himself, but is helping with the organisation instead.
As with all licensed races, the volunteers form the backbone of the event. At RV Phönix Augsburg, club president Markus Klein epitomises this tradition. For 30 years, his father was in charge of organising the race, and since 2024 he has been doing it together with a team: "We have tried to spread it over many people." Tradition is the currency that keeps the race alive: The recurring support from the volunteer fire brigade, Red Cross, police and authorities is indispensable. The sponsor, a local family brewery, has also been involved since the first year. "Virtually nothing has changed in the organisation," says Klein. "We have always been limited to 200 riders per starting field. The amateur sector used to be more pronounced, but now we've realised that licensed cycling is on the decline. We have said that if we want to stay involved, we have to bring the amateur sport forward."
Licensed racing is still the top priority, literally: the elite amateurs are sent out onto the track first at 10 a.m. sharp, followed five minutes later by the amateurs. A police motorbike forms the vanguard, followed at a distance by a police vehicle, then the lead vehicle with the commissaire and behind it the tightly packed field of amateur racers. Around 140 athletes chase wheel to wheel along the narrow country road. It's hectic - occasionally riders have to swerve onto the gravel bank or the meadow next to the road in the event of a wave, and at roundabouts and bends the accordion effect stretches the group out. Dobner from Rad Union Wangen tries to stay at the front with a team colleague. Individual riders attack again and again. However, strong winds from the front and a predominantly flat course prevent these breakaway attempts from being successful. The route leads through small villages and along long, straight country roads.
In the villages along the route and at junctions, there is a conspicuous number of young police officers. Another long-standing tradition: the Augsburg police deploy their trainees to secure the route. 50 riot police officers in training and 15 other police officers secure the race. Although the route is not completely closed, the participants are secured on a rolling basis. This works well as long as the fields are still compact - but as the race progresses, cars keep getting between the cyclists. "There were quite a few," reports Stefan Zach later about the amateur race. The differences in performance among the amateur cyclists are particularly large, so the bunch is split into many small groups.
The route is predominantly flat, but there is one sharp point: the Kaiserberg is the highlight of the 27-kilometre route. A roundabout, followed by a sharp right-hand bend, leads directly into the short, steep ramps. Gradients of up to 15 per cent slow down the field - but nobody wants to lose touch before the following descent. Around 80 metres in altitude must now be pushed to the maximum in order to keep up. Around 100 spectators have gathered below the summit and are cheering the riders on loudly. Beats whip across the steep tarmac from a large speaker. The riders' faces reflect their efforts, and the gaps between the groups widen with every lap. At the end of the climb, helpers position themselves to hand out water bottles, and after a steep bend, the racers shoot into a fast descent. For Thomas Dobner, the race for a good position is already over: Someone hit his rear derailleur on the climb and forced him to dismount - now he has missed the connection and is using the race effort to build up his form.
Fragmented field
Larissa Stupnicki was able to prove that she has strong legs last year by finishing second in the Kufsteinerland Cycle Marathon. Today, however, she experiences the first lap of the race as "ultra-fast". At an average speed of almost 40 kilometres per hour, the peloton hurtles along the course and the eventual winner has already pulled away at the front. Larissa experiences two crashes on the second lap, but comes through unscathed.
The first lap of the race was ultra-fast - Larissa Stupnicki
On the third lap, it's no longer about winning, but about placing: she is still in a small group with five other women. However, she loses track of where she is in the fragmented field - as she crosses the finish line exhausted, she can't even estimate her position. She learns 11th place from the app. She concludes that she would have preferred to have started in her own women's race; 35 women with a cycling licence were registered today. In the 50-year history of the race, the number of participants has shifted again and again across the categories. Thomas Dobner remembers his first appearances in Zusmarshausen, when 160 juniors alone were clattering their pedals before the start. Club chairman Markus Klein is thinking about sending more participants onto the course - the starting places in the amateur race, for example, always sell out quickly. However, he also knows that more participants can cause safety problems. "If we then have a serious accident, the discussion starts." It is clear to him that the focus will remain on the licence races in the future: "Our task is to promote the sport of racing cycling, the licensed sport." In honour of his late father, he offered 1,000 euros in prize money for the elite race out of his own pocket. The winner of the race and the cheque was Dario Rapps from RSC Auto Brosch Kempten. He reminds us that cycling is a team sport: "We worked well together as a team." Eleven riders from RSC Kempten held their own against other strong teams.
Rapps won the final sprint ahead of Pascal Groß, who had already competed in Paris-Roubaix for UAE Team Emirates 2022 and now rides for the REMBE Rad-net team. The list of results illustrates how important the Schwarzbräupreis was and is for racing: Georg Zimmermann won the junior race in 2015 - today the professional can look back on four participations in the Tour de France. In the same year, Michael Gogl won the elite race before switching to Team Trek-Segafredo and competing in the Tour de France. In 2016, Pascal Ackermann crossed the finish line first in "Zus" and then switched to Team Bora-hansgrohe.
At the award ceremony, the winners are presented with an oversized beer mug. Rapps, Dobner and Stupnicki stand in the sun surrounded by team members and praise the good organisation. "If you can finance the Schwarzbräu Prize thanks to the Jedermänner, it's a good thing for everyone," says Thomas Dobner.
Kristian Bauer
Editor
