For several years German Sascha Weber has been one of the Europe’s leading cyclocross and road riders. Now the rugged 28-year-old is concentrating on mountain biking and has already notched up some impressive results.
At the 2015 European Marathon Championships, for example he finished just six seconds behind winner Jaroslav Kulhavy, the Czech powerhouse and Olympic gold medallist. Behind Weber in the field were Austrian Alban Lakata and Czech Kristian Hynek – the two riders who will form Team Topeak Ergon Racing at the 2016 Absa Cape Epic and are many people’s favourites for an overall win.
Now Weber has decided to take on this year’s Cape Epic and will be
partnered by rising star Martin Gluth, also of Germany, in the Novus OMX Pro Team.
What is Weber expecting when he lines up at the Prologue on Meerendal Wine Estate on March 13? “I just know that it is a hard race, you can possibly have a lot of problems and you have to fight every day,” he said. “I hope the weather is not too bad.”
Gluth was quick to temper expectations: “Sascha and I are aiming for a top 10 result. I know that this is ambitious … the main goal is to finish the race with no bad incidents. If we feel really good in one of the stages and there is a small chance to win a podium spot, we will take the chance.”
Gluth has just emerged from the Under-23 ranks where he notched up some impressive results on the World Cup cross country circuit. He is on the German national cross country team which spent several weeks training in South Africa recently.
“South Africa is such a great place for riding bikes! I really like the trails around Stellenbosch, where we stayed at the training camp with the national team,” said Gluth. “Another good thing is that you really don’t have to care about the weather because it’s always warm and sunny.”
He added: “For the Cape Epic I expect a lot of rough roads and some nice trails. I know that I will find out my personal limits at longer races, especially stage races. I haven’t done anything comparable in my racing career, so I am looking forward to this massive challenge.”
He added that the route for 2016 should suit their strengths: “The race is a bit shorter but also with more climbing metres than ever. I am looking forward to over 100km of singletrack,” he said
Weber said that in the past he had raced cyclocross in the winter and alternated between road and mountain biking in the summer. “However, in 2016 I would like to race only mountain bikes so I like to ride more off-road in the forest,” he said.
This will be his first visit to South Africa.
Gluth said he and Weber had ridden together on the road before and would be training together in Germany before the Cape Epic “to adjust to each other”.
Source: Cape Epic Media
