Raid Evolenard

After traveling for months to race across the globe, I came back from South Korea and had a few easy days at home with family, as part of my mid season break. Then I started riding my mountain bike progressively to familiarize myself with it again before lining up for the Raid Evolenard.

This year, the event hosted the Swiss MTB Marathon National Championship, and as always, it took place in our beautiful and brutal Valais Alps. It was a highly demanding course featuring steep climbs and technical downhills starting at 1800 meters of altitude. The extreme heat wave currently hitting Europe made an already tough day even harder.

The Race
I started conservatively on the opening 10km climb, treating it as a reintroduction to mountain bike racing dynamics. Once we hit the long and technical downhill, I felt good on the bike and even grabbed the KOM on that 35km section against a highly competitive field fighting for the national jersey.

Midway through the race, the fatigue from the heat and a slight illness from the previous days caught up with me. Knowing there was still plenty of climbing left on the menu, I eased my pace. I managed my effort all the way to the finish line, taking 12th place overall. I approached this race primarily as a training block rather than an ultimate objective, and it served its purpose perfectly.

This event was the perfect high altitude test ahead of my next massive goal: the Leadville 100 in Colorado on August 15th for the Life Time Grand Prix. It was a great surprise to be able to keep up with some of the best MTB marathon riders in the country, and also a solid test of my new MTB setup. A few adjustments still need to be made, but I am really happy with the material that I am using right now, from the bike itself to my equipment.

What’s next?

I am staying in Switzerland for a few days to put in some deep work and prepare for the second half of the 2026 season. I will line up at the Swiss Road National Championship this Sunday, as for me the best training is often racing. After that, I will race the UCI Hegau Gravel Festival on the German and Swiss border on July 5th. A few days later, I will fly to China to race the Tour of Qinghai Lake with the Li Ning Star squad.