Two years ago, Tudor announced its entry into the world of cycling, partnering with replica luxury watches cycling legend Fabian Cancellara to create the Tudor Pro Cycling Team. Tudor soon developed a special edition Black Bay Chrono Dark for the team, which we discovered during a training camp with the team in early 2023. Just a few weeks ago, on the occasion of the Giro d’Italia, Tudor presented its first commercially available cycling-themed watch, the Tudor Pelagos FXD Chrono Cycling Edition, which we were fortunate enough to test for a few days. To give the watch the best possible chance to impress us, I even wore it in its “natural” environment during one of the most demanding one-day amateur cycling races in Switzerland, the 2024 Bern-Zermatt endurance event from the Chasing Cancellara series.
Chasing Cancellara is an amateur cycling endurance event organised by Swiss cycling icon Fabian Cancellara, a double Olympic champion, multiple world champion, and the winner of seven monuments and eight stages at the Tour de France, among other accomplishments. In addition to organising this event, Fabian Cancellara partnered with Tudor to create the professional cycling team, replica luxury watches Tudor Pro Cycling.
Part of the Chasing Cancellara series, the Bern-Zermatt event challenges participants with a gruelling course that covers over 310 kilometres and 5,000 meters of ascent. The route is surrounded by stunning natural scenery and culminates in the city located at the foot of the Matterhorn, making it one of the most demanding one-day amateur cycling races in Switzerland. I participated in the Relay category, teaming up with my colleague Lex Stolk from Fratello. While we started and finished together, we could relay and split the rest of the course, which still meant over 185 kilometres in the saddle for me.
The replica luxury watches race began early at 3 o’clock in the Swiss capital, Bern, and quickly took us into the Gantrisch area. As dawn broke, we faced the day’s toughest challenges: the Alpine passes of Riffenmatt, Mittelberg, and the Col du Pillon. Along the way, we were treated to the breathtaking scenery of the Gruyère and Gstaad regions. After descending the Col du Pillon, the road led us through the Rhône Valley, battling strong headwinds from Aigle to Visp. The final hurdle was a gruelling 28-kilometre climb to Zermatt under heavy rain… before a well-deserved beer at the finish line. Exhausted but happy about our ride across Switzerland.