Day 2, Stage 1 – the customary reality check day at the Absa Cape Epic. The day when those that thought they were conditioned enough to finish the race realised they weren’t. Yes, it was hot, but it’s been hotter. Yes the surfaces were rough. Nothing new… It was a day that the race for podium places began to form in earnest. The 2017 Cape Epic has now started.
Compiled by Sean Badenhorst
Photos by Dino Lloyd/Dominic Barnardt/Mark Sampson/Nick Muzik
Photo by Dino Lloyd/TreadMTB
MOST NOTABLE MOMENTS
A Swede and a Swiss take charge in the women’s race
Jennie Stenerhag, the Swedish champion who lives in Cape Town, and her Swiss teammate, Esther Süss (Team Meerendal CBC) took charge of the women’s race from the very first climb. They won the Hansgrohe Queen of the Mountain prize and then charged on, forcing overnight leaders, South Africa’s Robyn de Groot and Germany’s Sabine Spitz (Ascendis Health), into pursuit mode. Stenerhag and Süss turned a deficit of 43 seconds into a lead of nearly nine minutes. The women’s race is going to be very interesting…
Photo by Dino Lloyd/TreadMTB
A Brazilian and a German win again
Germany’s Manuel Fumic and Brazil’s Henrique Avencini (Cannondale Factory Racing) proved that their prologue win wasn’t only because they’re top XCO racers; they’re clearly in good form. This they confirmed by winning the stage after a late-stage duel with race favourites, Jaroslav Kulhavy and Christoph Sauser (Investec-Songo-Specialized). Kulhavy had some bad luck, which saw Fumic and Avencini charge on to the finish, extending their overall lead in the process.
Photo by Dominic Barnardt/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
A freaky thing happened to a Czech
Two-time winner and race favourite, Jaroslav Kulhavy, was powering his Specialized S-Works Epic at the front of the race in the final approach to the finish at Hermanus when something freaky happened. One moment he was leading his Investec-Songo-Specialized teammate, Christoph Sauser down a rough descent, the next moment he was on the ground, watching the Cannondale Factory Racing pair that were behind them heading off in the distance to grab the stage win.
According to their team manager, Benno Willeit, a stick or piece of wire broke Kulhavy’s front valve clean off. His tyre immediately lost air and he lost control, tumbling to the ground. Fortunately, the former Olympic and multiple world champion wasn’t injured and he and Sauser were able to fit a tube and claim second place on the stage.
A South African gets closer to the men’s podium
South African marathon champion, Max Knox and his Colombian teammate, Leo Paez, racing as Team Kansai Plascon, finished in eighth place. Knox had to stop to fix a chain problem just before the second Water Point (52km), losing the lead group they were in. They dropped down to 15th place, but a hard-fought second half, led mainly by Paez, saw them pull back up to eighth. The Kansai Plascon pair moved from fifth overall overnight to fourth, just over two minutes behind SCOTT SRAM’s Olympic champion, Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann.
Photo by Dino Lloyd/TreadMTB
Photo by Dino Lloyd/TreadMTB
South African couple finish a close second
Grant Usher and Amy Beth McDougall (joBerg2c/ Valencia) finished second, just seven seconds behind stage winners and Mixed category leaders, Thomas Frischknecht and current Olympic champion, Jenny Rissveds (SCOTT SRAM). Seven seconds over such a demanding stage is really nothing, confirming these two endurance specialists are just getting warmed up. They are now 1:51 behind the leaders and more motivated than ever to grab that Green tunic.
A pair of Spaniards impress in the Master’s division
Tomi Misser and Ibon Zugasti of the Orbea Factory team surprised many by winning the stage in dominant fashion and taking the lead in the Masters (40-49) division. Both competing in their second Cape Epic (their first as teammates), they finished almost 12 minutes ahead of Master’s defending champions and multiple winners, Netherlands’ Bart Brentjens and Brazil’s Abraao Azevedo (CST Sandd American Eagle). This is going to be a hell of a contest!
New leaders in the African jersey
Nico Bell and Gawie Combrinck of Team NAD Pro lost their overnight lead in the Absa African jersey competition to fellow South Africans, Philip Buys and Matthys Beukes (Pyga EuroSteel). But it’s a damn tight fight at the top of the classification, with Buys and Beukes leading Team BCX’s Waylon Woolcock and HB Kruger by just 10 seconds, with Bell and Combrinck another 1:23 back. Bring on Stage 2!
Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
One of the best mountain bikers in history takes a serious tumble
Germany’s Sabine Spitz has won bronze, silver and gold medals the Olympic Games and World Championships during a long, illustrious career. But today, while wearing the overall Women’s race leader’s jersey (with Ascendis Health teammate Robyn de Groot), she made a line small error that sent her to hospital for seven stitches to repair a deep eyebrow gash. But she didn’t go straight to hospital; she go pulled out of the gully she fell into and completed the last half of the race with a bleeding face to finish the stage in second place. Then she went for surgery…
“It wasn’t a plain sailing day for us, but we get to keep fighting. Sabine had a proper crash, but she’s stitched up and now in good spirits to fight on,” said De Groot on Monday afternoon.
Photo by Mark Sampson/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
OBSERVATIONS
More poor basic skills
Descents should be a time of recovery, not stress. Sure, some of the more tricky ones need a bit more focus, but today we saw a surprising number of mid-field riders tensing up on some rather uncomplicated descents – and over braking. Doing this on every descent robs you of valuable energy that you can use later in the stage when your body really needs it. Gravity gives you free speed. It’s such a waste to, well, waste it…
As predicted, there was a big DNF number on Day 2.
We didn’t get an official count, but subtracting the number of teams that finished Stage 1 (578) from the number that finished the Prologue (658), we see that 74 teams did not finish Stage 1. That’s one of the biggest DNF days in the race’s 14-year history. Why? Lack of fitness and lack of skill. There were some rugged descents and ascents today. If you can’t ride those with confidence, you’re at a disadvantage. What about the heat? Yes, it was very hot, but there have been days as hot, if not hotter before.
Photo by Dino Lloyd/TreadMTB
Why no cut-off extension as has happened before on tough stages? Because the leading teams finished pretty much on their predicted time. Only when they are a lot slower than expected do the organisers consider extending the cut-off time. You can’t tackle this race under-prepared. Well you can, but expect to suffer big time. Or not finish. Being skilled is as important as being fit.
The signage on the route wasn’t as good as before
Not the route signage for the riders, the route signage for the spectators, team support crew and media. We were always so impressed with this aspect of the race in the past, where it was never in question where you needed to go to, be it to a water point or spectator point and even the race village. We relied heavily on Google Maps and instinct…
TREAD is carrying extensive coverage of the 2017 Absa Cape Epic, brought to you by Momsen Bikes. Follow us on twitter: @TreadMTBmag, Facebook: Tread – Mountain Biking with Soul and Instagram:@treadmtb
