On Tuesday 20 August, the Swiss Epic started in La Punt at the foot of the Albula Pass. Teus Ruijter formed an occasional couple with the Italian Michael Wohlgemuth on behalf of the KMC team. The duo started the first stage of 75 kilometres briskly and surprisingly finished seventh in La Punt behind the winning Italian brothers Samparisi. The second stage took Ruijter and Wohlgemuth over the Scaletta Pass at an altitude of over 2600 metres to the spa town of Davos. The Italians Fabian Rabensteiner and Samuele Porro took the victory and Ruijter-Wohlgemuth finished in the top ten again with a ninth place.
In the third stage with start and finish in Davos, the duo was less successful. “Michael slid on a bridge just after the start and I could no longer avoid him and we both ended up on the ground. After straightening my handlebars, we started chasing and ended up in thirteenth place,” said Ruijter. The fourth stage from Davos to Chur over the Strela Pass turned the rankings upside down, as the Swiss stage winners Gian Schmid and Lukas Flückiger took over the leader’s jersey from the Samparisi brothers. Ruijter and Wohlgemuth also made it over the Strela Pass well and reached Chur in ninth place.
The final stage consisted of 64 kilometres of challenging trails around Davos, in which the leading position of the Swiss duo Gian Schmid and Lukas Flückiger was not in danger. Ruijter and Wohlgemuth started the final stage in fifth place in the ranking. “Unfortunately, we lost fifth place in the ranking in the final stage. Maybe we rode a bit too cautiously to reach the finish in one piece. On the other hand, I would have signed for sixth place in advance,” said Ruijter at the finish.