Tortour Gravel - 1000 kilometres, 13000 metres in altitude
The sun warms the almost fairytale-like Zürichberg, where people in T-shirts and shorts enjoy the view of the city, the lake and the nearby Alps. It's almost too good to be true - at a good 25 degrees on the last weekend in October. "I can still remember exactly how we had to push our bikes through the snow for three quarters of an hour a few years ago," says one of the cyclists, who stretches his head into the sun with relish.
David Tschenett from Winterthur has been familiar with this event from the very beginning: the Tortour Gravel, which sees a good 100 participants compete on gravel, forest and meadow paths in a prologue and two stages.
The Tortour is actually known from the tough ultra scene, which meets every summer in Switzerland to ride around the country on an extremely challenging route of around 1000 kilometres and 13,000 metres of altitude. The Gravel-Tortour, on the other hand, takes into account the trend that more and more people are riding off-road with off-road racing bikes - and generally want to be more relaxed on the road than those who rush over the tarmac on narrow tyres.
Three fantastic summer days in the middle of autumn lead the Gravel-Tortour 2022 through forests and meadows around Zurich. However, the atmosphere is only really fantastic before the start. The prologue is already a real buzz - even though the organisers have deliberately decided against timekeeping on the 20 kilometres of the first day.
Community spirit Gravel
The participants should get to know each other - a sense of community is a valuable asset in the gravel community. "Hardly anyone here is wearing baggy clothing," Nadine Stecher and Patrick Gall quickly realise, almost everyone is dressed in tight-fitting racing gear. In view of the sporting tempo, a casual chat to get to know each other is rarely an option on the road.
For Nadine and her partner Patrick, it's already clear: this is a pretty sporty place. This is exactly to the taste of the two, who normally do their training laps on the edge of the northern Black Forest. Patrick is something of a mountain bike veteran, visited the Lake Garda Festival 30 years ago and loves cycling in all its facets.
Whether it's the Cape Epic or the Ötztaler Cycle Marathon - "I've actually ridden everything," he reports with pride. His partner Nadine, on the other hand, only got into cycling during corona, but then quickly developed quite a lot of pressure on the pedals, which will prove to be extremely helpful, especially the next day.
Tortour Gravel - Attractive for racers and connoisseurs
The bare figures of the first stage are not frightening. 90 kilometres, 1900 metres in altitude. No small feat. But really an ordeal? "Go West" is the motto high above Zurich. While the dark clouds of the Qatar World Cup are gathering symbolically in the immediate neighbourhood - at the FIFA headquarters - the gravel community can start into a completely untroubled sunrise in front of a spectacular panorama.
Down in the valley, on the other hand, the thick fog still hangs, through which the fast groups fight their way only a little later, including seven-time Swiss Tour de France participant Martin Elmiger. The sun continues to eat its way through the dense soup, while the peloton continues to stretch out further back in this breathtaking atmosphere.
Samuele di Lernia - as one of the few with a gold race number - is in a good mood as he spins the cranks. Gold is the new colour for the enduro category this year, in which there is no timekeeping - with the exception of a short sprint on both stages.
The Tortour brand, as Felix Evers explains the introduction of the new category, basically appeals to a very top and sporty target group: "With the enduro idea, we want to position ourselves more broadly in the future," says the organiser's brand manager: "With ex-professionals and thoroughbred amateurs, we have an extremely high sporting level on the one hand, but we also want to be attractive for hobby and pleasure riders."
With Samuele di Lernia, he hits the bull's eye: "I signed up because I wanted to enjoy the days," says the local hero, adding with a wink: "However, I didn't meet that many connoisseurs along the way."
The focus is on fun
Oliver Bishop and Euan Ramsay are equally convinced by the Enduro category: "For us, it makes little sense to race on a route that is not completely closed off," explain the Swiss and British riders, who are travelling as a team of two without being overly ambitious.
They don't want to run the risk of coming into conflict with pedestrians, dogs or horse riders in the forest at racing speed. Instead, they cultivate their friendship. "We spent most of the time cycling side by side," they say. And that was the best experience for them during the three days of the Tortour, in addition to the varied and scenic route.
In doing so, they are exactly in tune with the attitude to life that so many in the gravel scene emphasise. Into nature. Away from the traffic. More experience, less result. You hear these buzzwords again and again from racing cyclists on wide tyres. "It's a different way of cycling," says Andrea Gallo, who rides together with Guido Küng in the mixed classification.
The great thing about gravel riding is that you can see straight away whether someone has what it takes in terms of riding technique or not. (Katharina Seidel)
They actually come from a triathlon background, but the fun of exercise is still clearly the main focus for them: "These aren't the Olympic Games here," they say in unison. Coordination and skill are also important. And not being afraid to ride through the mud.
Despite the warm and dry conditions, many a puddle has accumulated in the days leading up to the Tortour Gravel. Especially around Kloten, where one aeroplane after another flies into the airport directly over the race course, making a deafening noise, the course shows its pitfalls. The field is extremely spread out - the ride through sometimes deep mud and over slippery grass proves to be an exhausting balancing act for many.
Beaming on the podium
"The great thing about gravel biking is that you can see straight away whether someone has what it takes in terms of riding technique or not," says Katharina Seidel, who lives in French-speaking Switzerland and has joined the Lausanne-Gravel group. Together, they take on challenging tours in their adopted country and this time want to give themselves the extra kick of a race. With considerable success. At the end of the two days, after a much more rhythmic and somewhat shorter second Go-East stage, Katharina takes second place - and stands beaming on the podium, where only Lausanne-Gravel jerseys can be seen.
David Tschenett also belongs to such a gravel group - the Hill's Angels. "Anyone can come and ride with us," he says, describing the atmosphere there, which is extremely open and very cool. While David is not quite as well-trained this time round, his team-mate Andreas Fröhlich is much faster and finishes in 11th place in the men's category.
Relaxed, cool, yet sporty: it is this range that gives the gravel scene its fascination. Even a sporty event like the Tortour Gravel manages the balancing act between high performance and enjoyment. "Gravel is just cool," says David: "You can step on the gas when you're feeling good. And if you're not feeling well, then you just don't accelerate."
It is probably precisely this lightness and ease that has made gravel cycling so popular in recent years. These days in and around Zurich impressively demonstrate just how enjoyable it can be. Even though they are almost too good to be true.
