ABSA Cape Epic video courtesy of TDA Boulder
The winning streak continued for 36One Songo-Specialized today, with another solid performance By Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser on Stage 2 of South Africa’s magical and untamed MTB race.
Covering more distance (104 km) and with more climbing (2,300m) than yesterday’s “horrible” stage, the riders could be forgiven for setting out with a sense of dread. Especially, when greeted with a 6 km climb up an ancient Voortrekker Wagon trail, ascending up to 1000 m above sea level. With only the lead motos allowed on the climb, the crowd awaited at the 18 km mark for the first glimpse of riders appearing over the top. No surpises here, with all the main players for the overall in the mix (Songo, Multivan Merida Biking, Bulls, Trek World Racing, Milka Trek), albeit taking it somewhat cautiously on the descent after the dramas of yesterday’s stage. Most noteable at this point was the sight of the Merida 3 team (Hermida, Naef) already way off the pace, with Hermida’s mind apparently somewhere else as he rode into the parked motos off the track!
With the day’s significant climb out the way, the course twisted and turned through farmland, pine forest and orchards as it circumnavigated the hidden Witzenberg valley. The leaders kept the pressure high with Songo, Bulls, Merida (Genze / Kaess), Trek World Racing working well together to build up a lead. As they hit the tar section at ~ 60km, the chase group containing Stockli, Adidas Garmin MTN, DCN and BMC worked hard to close within sight, but never close enough to trouble the leaders.
Coming through water point 3, with only 18 km remaining and exactly the reverse of the stage start (i.e downhill); Songo looked comfortable and in control. Trek and Merida remained, but the Bull’s absence was again noted, eventually coming through 1 min 45 s down.
Songo proved too strong again in the finish, croosing the line 47 s ahead of Multivan Merida in 4:32.43. The solid performance of Genze and Hannes (Multivan Merida) brings the guys back up to 2nd overall, now 6:18 off the seemingly unstoppable Stander and Sauser. Bulls finished the day in 4th, which sees them move up to 3rd overall, but with a lot of work to do to challenge for the top spot (+7:18). Yesterday’s second place getters, Stockli Pro had a somewhat tougher day at the office, finishing 10 mins off the pace in 9th and slipping to 4th overall, but fairing much better than the Bulls 2 team, who lost over an hour thanks to a ripped deraileur within the first 10 km, and are now down in 19th place.
Australians Shaun Lewis and Peter Hatton (Rockstar Racing) produced an impressive performance finishing 12th for the day and moving back to 16th overall. Lying in 16th, coming into water point 3, the boys made light of the descent thanks to the descending skills the Australians are famous for in these parts, taking 4 teams in the process. Tomorrow is another day, but the top 15 challenge must now be at the fore front of their minds.
In the women’s race, Colnago continue to dominate, with USN following in formation. Jodie Willet of Adidas appeared to have recovered from yesterdays’ GI problems, to finish 3rd with team mate Naomi Hansen and moving back up to 4th overall.
Tomorrow’s stage sees the race move to Worcester, but not before 125 km and 1900 m of climbing have been negotiated. Can anyone match Songo at this race? Stay tuned.