Alpenbrevet - an epic bike race in the Swiss mountains

Sep 27

The Alpenbrevet is a bike marathon that starts and finishes in Andermatt, Switzerland.

In the 2023 version, there were 4 route options:

Platintour, a 267km route over 5 mountain passes, for a total elevation gain of 7090m.
Goldtour, a 214km route over 4 mountain passes, for a total elevation gain of 5080m.
Silvertour, a 105km route over 3 mountain passes, for a total elevation gain of 3200m.
Bronzetour, a 64km route over 2 mountain passes, for a total elevation gain of 2140m.

Whatever route you pick, you can expect beautiful swiss mountain views, refreshments, and first aid teams on standby.

My job at this race was to capture the start and finish. Normally I prefer to be positioned somewhere else, since it can get quite repetitive, especially on a course like this where there are some epic views around. But still - it was a lot of fun, the MC’s of the event had a lot of energy and made the finish line a fun place to be.

It was quite a long day, we started at 3.30am, and the last racers crossed the finish line (in a bus) at 22.30.

Luckily I got a few hours sleep on a deck chair in the sun, in between the last starters leaving and the first finishers arriving. Although the 1st person to cross the line came much quicker than everyone expected - no one was ready!

Our photo team took a total of 45,000 photos on the day, below are some of the favourite shots I captured. Enjoy!