The hotted up mopeds sometimes seemed to be glued to the streets when the drivers tried to complete the track in constantly changing conditions. Top speed was at about 30km/h. Usually, you are in an upright position when riding a moped, however, the first Red Bull Alpenbrevet made the drivers use their pedals as well, in order to get to the summit, and therefore complete the track in time (around 4 hours and 34 minutes).
Steven Rosen came from California (USA) to participate in the first Red Bull Alpenbrevet. He explained: “At home, nearly everybody has a Harley. Driving around with a moped means that you are a true eye catcher. It is not the speed that counts but the styling and the joy of living.” However, at the first Swiss mountain pass the American dream was already over – too many metres in altitude for his moped.
Thousands of spectators where lined up along the course and cheered up the fancy-dressed bikers as well as their engines. Markus Brunner (64 years) was the oldest participant and really fascinated: “Never in my life have I been photographed more often than today.”
“My moped never breaks”, explained Philipp Rhiner (Salez, St. Gallen), holding second place. In his category (Manual, 2 gears), only Ranko Haslinger from Croatia was faster than the “Toeffli”-fan from Switzerland. Style and power helped Patrick Riva (Ponte Capriasca, Tessin) to cross the finish line in third place.
Aleksandra Popoviæ (CRO) was the winner in the “Automatic Gear Box” category. Philipp Bühler (Ebikon, Luzern) and Adrian Egli (Lyss, Bern) came second and third.
*At the Red Bull Alpenbrevet, mopeds with an engine displacement of 49cc needed to complete a round track of 132 kilometres crossing Grimsel Pass (2165 metres), Furka Pass (2436 metres) and Susten Pass (2224 metres) within 4 hours and 34 minutes. Start and finish line were in Meiringen (canton of Bern).
*In the German-speaking part of Switzerland, mopeds (short for motors and pedals) are also called “Toeffli”. Classic mopeds have pedals exactly like bicycles but they are usually only used to start and brake. However, they can be used for pedalling in order to support the engine when driving up a mountain.
Use of images free of charge for editorial purposes. Credit: Joerg Mitter, Andreas Langenreiter for Global Newsroom