← All eventsChasing Cancellara Bern–Zermatt
'Switzerland's toughest one-day race' — a ~275km / ~5,500m point-to-point Alpine gran fondo from Bern to the foot of the Matterhorn at Zermatt. Deliberately small (~400 riders), premium, Cancellara-branded. Solo/relay/couples. Next date ~2027-09-11 approximate.
Billed as Switzerland's toughest one-day race. A point-to-point Alpine crossing that starts in the federal capital of Bern and finishes at the car-free village of Zermatt, at the foot of the Matterhorn.
This is a genuine A-to-B traverse of the Alps, not a loop. From Bern it climbs through the Gantrisch nature park and over a chain of passes into the Bernese Oberland and lower Valais.
The distance and the climbing are not exotic on their own. Stacked together on open roads, they make a 9 to 13 hour day decided by durability, not peak power. The field is a deliberately small, premium 400.
Who finishes, and how
Patterns like these, drawn straight from 2025 race data, are baked into how Beina coaches you for this event.
Is Chasing Cancellara Bern–Zermatt for you?
- Diesel-engine riders who get stronger as the day drags on. This is a durability test, decided in the final hours when others are running on empty.
- Riders with genuine all-day mileage in the legs. If your longest ride is under six or seven hours, a full Alpine crossing will be the hardest day you've had on a bike.
- Disciplined fuellers. Over this long a day the race becomes a feeding problem, and the Valais is where under-fuelled riders come apart.
- Patient pacers who ride their own numbers. The fast, flat opening out of Bern tempts riders to bury themselves before the real climbing starts.
Training plan for Chasing Cancellara Bern–Zermatt
A training plan for Chasing Cancellara Bern–Zermatt isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- Relentless cumulative climbing that stacks pass on pass until durability, not power, decides your day.
- A distance far beyond a normal fondo, closer to two big sportives ridden back to back.
- September Alpine weather: warm valleys, cold high passes, wet and technical descents.
- A long, rising valley run to the car-free Zermatt finish, a cruel place to be empty.
- Long endurance rides of 5 to 8 hours in Z2 with 2,000 to 3,500m of climbing, fully race-fuelled.
- Sweet-spot climbs: 3 to 4 by 15 to 20 minutes at 88 to 94% FTP on gradient.
- Threshold on fatigue: after 3 to 4 hours, 2 to 3 by 15 minutes at 95 to 100% FTP.
- A back-to-back weekend: 5 to 6 hours Saturday plus 5 to 6 hours Sunday, both hilly.
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
