The Züri-Metzgete (Zürich Grand Prix) has always been the most famous Swiss one-day Classic race. In 2005 it joined the ProTour calendar together with the stage races Tour of Romandy and the Tour of Switzerland, taking place in the same country earlier in the year, showing road cycling has become pretty popular in Switzerland through the years.


A track through the hills surrounding Lake Zürich has to be conquered by the riders several times. The Pfannenstiel is the highest hill with an altitude of 729 metres. The riders have to climb some 300 metres to the top. After this hilly section the riders descend to the lake and return to Zürich, where they will finish after completing a few of the same laps.


The Zürich Grand Prix originates in 1910, when the local cycling club desperately tried to make some money by organising an amateur race. Solving their financial problems, the race of only 50 kilometres is won by Paul Suter, one of three Suter-family members that got famous in cycling. The youngest of five brothers was Henri, locally better known as Heiri.
Heiri Suter is the most talented, he manages to win the Zürich Grand Prix six times, still an unequalled all-time record!


Second on the winners table is Paul Egli. At 17, he wins the junior race, followed a few years later by a win at the amateurs. Becoming amateur World Champion the same year, he turns professional and debuting this elite group of riders he wins the Zürich Grand Prix right away in 1934. This first win caused a bit of an upset. In the “pre-photo finish era”, the final result was established by the jury’s eye work. They saw someone else’s front wheel crossing the line first, but smart Paul Egli convinced them that hís elbow finished some centimetres before his wheel and was awarded the victory. Egli however, will win the Zürich Grand Prix two more times; undisputedly…


Because of the location the race is held and because it is not very well known among foreign cyclists it’s very common to see only Swiss riders competing each other in the years up to World War II. Soon after this war the race draws more and more international attention.


Italians Coppi and Bartali are rivalling each other for victory, only one Swiss guy is able to keep the two in sight: Unknown Ferdi Kübler can only be beaten by a pact formed by the 2 famous Italians in order to crack him, but Küblers’ international breakthrough is a fact.
Other big names on the Zürich Grand Prix’s scoreboard are for instance Koblet, Janssen, De Vlaeminck, Rooks, Museeuw, Ekimov, Fondriest, Rebellin & Bettini.


Until 1988 the race has always been organised in the spring month of May. In order to maintain their World Cup Classic status, the race is being forced to move up the calendar to September. In the mid-90’s departure takes place in the city of Basel, radically changing the race’s course and causing big problems.
In 1999 the D.P.O. takes over the Zürich Grand Prix again, rehabilitating Zürich’s Bellerive Avenue as the traditional departure and arrival host for the years up to now.
Introducing the ProTour in 2005, the race was pushed even further down the calendar to early October. Being held only a week after the World Championships, it’s the first possible classic to give the brand new World Champ a chance to show his jersey to the public