Züri-Metzgete

Züri-Metzgete

Race details
Date	Early October
Region	Zürich, Switzerland
English name	Championship of Zürich
Local name(s)	Züri-Metzgete (Zürich German) Meisterschaft von Zürich (in German)
Discipline	Road race
Competition	UCI Road World Cup (1984–2004) UCI ProTour (2005–2006)
Type	One-day
Web site	www.zueri-metzgete.ch
History
First edition	1914 (1914)
Editions	91
Final edition	2006
First winner	Henri Rheinwald (SUI)
Most wins	Heiri Suter (SUI) (6 wins)
Final winner	Samuel Sánchez (ESP)

Züri-Metzgete (Zürich German; English: Championship of Zürich; German: Meisterschaft von Zürich) was a European Classic cycle race held annually in Zürich, Switzerland, and continued as a non-professional mass participation event from 2007 until 2014.^[1] It was a race with a long history dating back to 1914, on a demanding course in the hilly region around Zürich. In its heyday the race was considered the sixth monument of cycling, alongside the five most prestigious one-day races on the calendar (Milan–San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Tour of Lombardy). It was the most prominent of the summer classics.^[2]

The Züri-Metzgete was included in every edition of the former UCI Road World Cup which ran from 1989 to 2004, and a leg of the inaugural UCI ProTour in 2005. In 2005 the race was moved to the end of the season for the first time in its history. The 2007 edition of the race was canceled after organizers failed to attract enough sponsors in the wake of several doping scandals in international cycling.^[3] In 2008, the race was held on September 7, but the format has been changed to an amateur competition.

History and background

The Züri-Metzgete was first held in 1914 and has been held annually since 1917, including the second World War years, giving it the longest continued existence of any of cycling's major races. Originally, the race was billed as "Meisterschaft von Zürich" (Championship of Zurich), and this designation is still being used in some places. However, the colloquial expression "Züri Metzgete" soon became popular and has long been adapted by the organisers themselves and also by the UCI. "Züri" is Swiss dialect for Zurich. "Metzgete" (from "metzgern", to butcher) is a dialect word as well and a tongue-in-cheek reference to the supposedly ruthless character of the race. (Originally, a "Metzgete" is a special form of agricultural festivity usually held in autumn when farmers had to reduce their livestock to get through the winter. The fresh meat was then sold and distributed in barbecue-like village festivals.)

For many years the event was held in early May, not an ideal date as the majority of the top classic riders were jaded after contesting the "Monuments" in March and April. Also during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s the race was often held the day after the Rund um den Henninger Turm in Frankfurt and this affected the quality of the field and the racing. In 1988 the race was switched to a date in mid August which attracted many of the Tour de France stars and gave the race a new lease of life. The 2005 edition of the race has been switched to yet another new date in early October, as the UCI rearranged the cycling calendar to bring the World Championships a few weeks earlier in the season.

In the early days, the Züri-Metzgete was dominated by home riders with the race being won on 34 occasions by the Swiss in the first 41 editions of the race between 1914 and 1956. The most notable foreign winner in this period was Gino Bartali. In 1946, the Italian beat arch rival Fausto Coppi in a contentious race, the two Italians rode together at a breakneck pace shaking off all their rivals with Bartali winning in controversial circumstances, sprinting away while Coppi was tightening his toe straps. Many people say this incident was the start of the "war" between Bartali and Coppi. That 1946 race was won at an average speed of 42.228 km/h (26.239 mph), a record speed which stood for over 50 years. Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha won the 2004 edition of the race in a record average speed of 42.707 km/h (26.537 mph).^[4]

Many of the Swiss winners at this time never went on to win another major race but two of Switzerland's greatest riders Ferdinand Kübler (1943) and Hugo Koblet (1952 and 1954) were triumphant at Zürich in this era, another Swiss Henri Suter set the record for the most victories at six between 1919 and 1929. After 1956 the race winners have become more international with only five Swiss winners in this period compared to 15 victories for Italy and 13 for Belgium. The quality of the race winners has been very high with classic specialists such as Paolo Bettini, Francesco Moser, Roger De Vlaeminck, Freddy Maertens, Giuseppe Saronni and Johan Museeuw all winning while the switch to an August date in 1988 allowed Tour de France riders such as Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich and Laurent Dufaux to do well in the race.^[5]

1977 edition: the peloton passing through Berg am Irchel

The route

The present day race starts and finishes in Zürich, in previous years the finish was on the Oerlikon velodrome in Zürich but that was abandoned a number of years ago. The race is held over a distance of 241 km with over 3000 metres of climbing, consisting of one 72.5 km lap and four 42.1 km circuits, this shorter lap includes four ascents of both the Pfannenstiel and Forch climbs, the final climb of the Pfannenstiel is just 15 km from the finish in Zürich and is often the launching point for the winning move in the race. Between 1993 and 1999 the race started in Basel and finished in Zürich and was known as the Grand Prix Suisse.

Winners

List of winners

Year	Country	Rider	Team
1914	Switzerland	Henri Rheinwald
1917	Switzerland	Charles Martinet
1918	Switzerland	Anton Sieger
1919	Switzerland	Heiri Suter
1920	Switzerland	Heiri Suter
1921	Italy	Ricardo Maffeo
1922	Switzerland	Heiri Suter
1923	Germany	Adolf Huschke
1924	Switzerland	Heiri Suter
1925	Switzerland	Hans Kaspar
1926	Switzerland	Albert Blattmann
1927	Switzerland	Kastor Notter
1928	Switzerland	Heiri Suter
1929	Switzerland	Heiri Suter
1930	Belgium	Omer Taverne
1931	Austria	Max Bulla
1932	Switzerland	Auguste Erne
1933	Switzerland	Walter Blattmann
1934	Switzerland	Paul Egli
1935	Switzerland	Paul Egli
1936	Switzerland	Werner Buchwalder
1937	Switzerland	Leo Amberg
1938	Switzerland	Hans Martin
1939	Switzerland	Karl Litschi
1940	Switzerland	Robert Zimmermann
1941	Switzerland	Walter Diggelmann
1942	Switzerland	Paul Egli
1943	Switzerland	Ferdinand Kübler
1944	Switzerland	Ernst Naef
1945	Switzerland	Léo Weilenmann
1946	Italy	Gino Bartali
1947	Switzerland	Charles Guyot
1948	Italy	Gino Bartali
1949	Switzerland	Fritz Schaer
1950	Switzerland	Fritz Schaer
1951	Switzerland	Jean Brun
1952	Switzerland	Hugo Koblet
1953	Switzerland	Eugène Kamber
1954	Switzerland	Hugo Koblet
1955	Switzerland	Max Schellenberg
1956	Switzerland	Carlo Clerici
1957	West Germany	Hans Junkermann
1958	Italy	Giuseppe Cainero
1959	Italy	Angelo Conterno
1960	Switzerland	Alfred Ruegg
1961	Switzerland	Rolf Maurer
1962	Netherlands	Jan Janssen
1963	Italy	Franco Balmamion
1964	Belgium	Guido Reybrouck
1965	Italy	Franco Bitossi
1966	Italy	Italo Zilioli
1967	Switzerland	Robert Hagmann
1968	Italy	Franco Bitossi
1969	Belgium	Roger Swerts
1970	Belgium	Walter Godefroot
1971	Belgium	Herman Van Springel
1972	Belgium	Willy Van Neste
1973	Belgium	André Dierickx
1974	Belgium	Walter Godefroot
1975	Belgium	Roger De Vlaeminck
1976	Belgium	Freddy Maertens
1977	Italy	Francesco Moser
1978	West Germany	Dietrich Thurau
1979	Italy	Giuseppe Saronni
1980	Belgium	Gerry Verlinden
1981	Switzerland	Beat Breu
1982	Netherlands	Adri van der Poel
1983	Netherlands	Johan van der Velde
1984	Australia	Phil Anderson
1985	Belgium	Ludo Peeters
1986	Portugal	Acácio da Silva Mura
1987	West Germany	Rolf Gölz
1988	Netherlands	Steven Rooks
1989	Canada	Steve Bauer
1990	France	Charly Mottet
1991	Belgium	Johan Museeuw
1992	Russia	Viatcheslav Ekimov
1993	Italy	Maurizio Fondriest
1994	Italy	Gianluca Bortolami
1995	Belgium	Johan Museeuw
1996	Italy	Andrea Ferrigato
1997	Italy	Davide Rebellin
1998	Italy	Michele Bartoli
1999	Poland	Grzegorz Gwiazdowski
2000	Switzerland	Laurent Dufaux
2001	Italy	Paolo Bettini
2002	Italy	Dario Frigo
2003	Italy	Daniele Nardello
2004	Spain	Juan Antonio Flecha
2005	Italy	Paolo Bettini
2006	Spain	Samuel Sánchez

Multiple winners

Wins	Rider	Nationality	Editions
6	Heiri Suter	Switzerland	1919, 1920, 1922, 1924, 1928, 1929
3	Paul Egli	Switzerland	1934, 1935, 1942
2	Gino Bartali	Italy	1946, 1948
	Fritz Schär	Switzerland	1949, 1950
	Hugo Koblet	Switzerland	1952, 1954
	Franco Bitossi	Italy	1965, 1968
	Walter Godefroot	Belgium	1970, 1974
	Johan Museeuw	Belgium	1991, 1995
	Paolo Bettini	Italy	2001, 2005

Wins per country

Wins	Country
40	Switzerland
20	Italy
14	Belgium
4	Germany/ West Germany  Netherlands
2	Spain
1	Australia  Austria  Canada  France  Poland  Portugal  Russia

External links

• Official website

References

1. Zueri Metzgete [@ZueriMetzgete] (2 April 2015). "http://t.co/mXdakscXGw http://t.co/VJcMmRpaHN" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
2. "Championship of Zurich". FirstCycling.com. 5 October 2023.
3. Doreen Carvajal (3 May 2007). "Cycling struggles for support as doping takes a toll". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
4. "Championnat de Zürich (Sui) - Cat. NE". Memoire-du-cyclisme.eu (in French). Retrieved 5 October 2023.
5. "Züri Metzgete(1.PT2)". ProcyclingStats. 6 October 2023.