Day 3, Stage 2. For the first time in Cape Epic history, the organisers shortened a stage because of “projected extreme heat”. What should have been a 102km haul from Hermanus to Greyton became a 62km leg to Caledon. Some riders were disappointed, but many were relieved, along with the medical staff no doubt. Was it the right decision?
Compiled by Sean Badenhorst
Photos by Dino Lloyd
MOST NOTABLE MOMENTS
The shortened stage
By far the most popular topic was the shortened stage.
Most of the teams at the sharp end of the race were disappointed at the decision. But these are riders that are highly conditioned to physical exertion outdoors. Think about the Northern Hemisphere riders that have come straight from winter, some from snow and below-zero temperatures and you get an idea of the extreme swing some riders are facing with the mercury reaching over 40 deg C today.
Think about the corporate employee entrants, who train before breakfast most days, when it’s cool, and spend the rest of the day in an air-conditioned office, or car.
Then think about why they entered the Cape Epic – surely to escape their daily conditions and challenge themselves physically, mentally and emotionally over eight days at the Cape Epic?
“But it’s the Cape Epic, it’s meant to be tough. I was looking forward to another challenging, long day,” said a fresh looking Craig Uria from Johannesburg after the stage.
The Cape Epic’s payoff line is ‘The Untamed African MTB Race’. Surely heat and dust are part of the untamed challenge, especially for those that don’t live in Africa? Yes, extreme heat can be dangerous, but for an outdoor sports event, in South Africa, surely it’s part of the challenge?
Photo by Dino Lloyd/TreadMTB
Even the fittest riders can struggle in the heat. Let them struggle we say. It gets hot here. The Cape Epic organisers may have some valid (medical) reasons for their decision, but despite some discussion and arguments among ourselves – for and against the decision, we agreed that given the option, each of us would have chosen the original length stage. We feel their decision has, to an extent, compromised the ‘untamed’ status of the event.
Sauser wins his 37th stage
Five-time winner, Christoph Sauser, extended his Cape Epic stage win tally to 37. The Swiss ace, who came out of racing retirement to try and claim a record sixth win, and his Czech teammate, Jaroslav Kulhavy, confirmed they’re still the favourites to take the overall win by outsprinting SCOTT SRAM’s Olympic champion, Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann. With 5km to go, the Investec-Songo-Specialized pair were almost half a minute behind SCOTT SRAM and Cannondale Factory Racing’s Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avencini. But the power of Kulhavy pulled them back into contention and gave Sauser his 37th victory.
Photo by Dino Lloyd/TreadMTB
Stenerhag and Süss on a roll
Women’s race leaders, Sweden’s Jennie Stenerhag and Switzerland’s Esther Süss grabbed their second successive stage win, albeit a tight one, to extend their lead slightly and show they are completely intent on claiming the overall title come Sunday. They beat South African champion, Robyn de Groot and Germany’s Sabine Spitz by five seconds on the shortened stage, increasing their lead over the Ascendis Health pair to almost nine minutes. But with five days and 462km to still race, we reckon De Groot and Spitz will close the gap and help create a thrilling title chase.
Poor start for Lüthi
Three-time winner and defending women’s champion, Ariane Lüthi and her Team Spur partner, Adelheid Morath of Germany, finished third today, five minutes behind the top two teams. Lüthi didn’t look her best on the route today and her team manager, Nic Lamond confirmed that she’s not riding at her strongest.
“It’s how it goes. Ariane had a couple of bad days and will hopefully improve as the race goes on. We’d love her to do well, but completely understand this race and the challenges of professional athletes and aren’t putting any pressure on her,” he said.
Lüthi and Morath are fourth overall, 28 minutes off the pace. It’s a big deficit to overcome, but not impossible. Not with five days still to race.
Photo by Dino Lloyd/TreadMTB
De Groot and Spitz ride to Greyton anyway
South African champion, Robyn de Groot and her Team Ascendis partner, Sabine Spitz, were spotted riding from Caledon to Elandskloof, Greyton this afternoon. Most riders finished the shortened stage in Caledon and got into a motor vehicle to be shuttled to the original stage finish race village, but this pair chose to ride the approximately 40km.
“We wanted to do the complete distance of the stage to get our money’s worth,” joked De Groot. “Nah, we just felt we wanted to spin our legs a bit,” she added.
Knox mixes with the world’s best
South African champion, Max Knox and his Colombian teammate, Leo Paez, racing as Team Kansai Plascon, managed to stay with the top three teams on the stage (and overall) until eight kilometres from the finish of today’s stage. They crossed the line two minutes down to maintain their fourth place overall, in the process extending their advantage over some of the more fancied teams that are lying behind them on the general classification.
“I had about a minute where I didn’t feel great and needed to recover and it was exactly then when the others attacked. Tricky timing for us but we’re feeling confident for the coming days,” said Knox. “We’d have preferred the original stage distance today, but both Leo and I are pretty comfortable with the higher intensity of a short stage,” added Knox.
Photo by Dino Lloyd/TreadMTB
Caledon – a MTB throwback of note
For TREAD’s Sean Badenhorst, the makeshift stage finish at Caledon today brought back some good memories.
“In 1992 we raced a round of the first ever South African National MTB Series right at this exact venue. It was those days when everyone raced the downhill and the cross-country disciplines – and on the same bike,” he said.
“The venue hasn’t changed much in 25 years, but the town of Caledon certainly has grown. It brought back some great memories of the early days of mountain bike racing in South Africa.”
For Deputy Editor Dino Lloyd, less pleasant memories were brought back.
“In 2012 I rode the Cape Epic as my first stage race. Caledon was the finish of one of the longest stages (Approx 150km) … a stack of Rehydrates helped me with hydration after throwing up throughout the stage.
The following two stages were gale force winds and then 118km of rain and cold – interesting times.”
OBSERVATIONS
New race village sets a new record
It’s not official but everyone we spoke to here reckons this race village at Elandskloof is the longest (in length) in the history of the Cape Epic. From one end to the other, it measures 2km.
“It’s longer than today’s stage,” joked Bruce Hughes…
We’re relieved we have bicycles with us, as we’re able to pedal everywhere. The other media aren’t so lucky… It is rather pretty here though.
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
