Today, the Tour de Suisse is a key test-event for racers preparing for the Tour de France. In 2018, it will be where stars like Peter Sagan, Alejandro Valverde, and Richie Porte hone their final form.

But over the course of its 82 editions, the Tour de Suisse has gone through a number of different formats and hosted big champions from every era. Here, some of the race’s most intriguing moments.

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The Inaugural Edition

In 1933, Austrian cyclist Max Bulla won the first ever Tour de Suisse. The race was comprised of 5 stages covering 779-miles (156-miles per stage). Bulla arrived in Switzerland on an overnight train after competing in Belgium and France in the days preceding the Tour de Suisse. The lack of recovery didn’t hold him back—he bested Albert Buchi by nine minutes in the general classification.

A Track Sprint During World War II

Amidst the turmoil of World War II, the Tour de Suisse was held just two times. In 1941, 44 racers competed over three stages and 375-miles. The race’s two leaders, Sepp Wagner and Werner Buchwalder, remained tied on time following the final stage, so a track sprint was set to determine the champion. 

Severe weather forced the organizers to find an indoor location, and on the wooden track of the Hallenstadion Wagner bested Buchwalder.

The Arrival Of Merckx

Eddy Merckx, widely considered the greatest cyclist of all time, won the Tour de Suisse only once. In 1974, Merckx arrived in Switzerland just three days after winning his fifth Giro d’Italia. He wore the leaders jersey for all ten days of the race, won three individual stages, and took the King of the Mountains, points, and combination classifications. Following the race, Merckx underwent a surgery to remove a cyst from his saddle area. 

He followed up his Suisse victory by winning both the Tour de France (his fifth and final victory in that race), as well as the 1974 World Championships.

An American In Switzerland

Perhaps the best climber in the history of U.S. cycling, Andy Hampsten won back-to-back editions of the Tour de Suisse in 1986 and 1987. Hampsten’s 1987 victory remains one of the race’s tightest finishes. Hampsten took the leader’s jersey on the mountainous stage 9, but held a tenuous one second lead over Peter Winnen. 

An intermediate time bonus during the flat, final day of the race in Zurich, remained Winnen’s final chance to take back the leader’s jersey. In a time bonus sprint, Hampsten’s 7-Eleven teammate—sprinter Ron Kiefel—beat Winnen with a bike throw to keep the Dutch racer from gaining the time bonus and the overall victory. 

Hampsten and 7-Eleven retained the jersey.

Along Comes Sagan

Peter Sagan first arrived at the Tour de Suisse in 2011, at just 21 years old. During the race’s third stage, he crested a category 1 mountain with an elite group of climbers, then broke away on a rain-slickened descent and claimed victory in a two-up sprint over Damiano Cunego. In the following seven years, Sagan has racked up 15 stages in total—becoming the Tour de Suisse’s most prolific winner. 

He’s won in every fashion, from besting Fabian Cancellara in a technical time trial, to navigating bunch finishes against some of the world’s fastest pure sprinters. 

In 2018, there’s no question Sagain will arrive at the Tour de Suisse in form. But how many stages will he win?