ABSA Cape Epic video courtesy of TDA Boulder
Two stages to go, and its time to share the prizes around a little. But don’t be fooled, the 36One Songo Specialized boys (Stander / Sauser) don’t give away stage wins easily!
Stage 6 offered up the most metres of climbing of any stage of the 2011 Cape Epic, sending riders back over the Groendlandberg, before tackinling 4 more climbs for a total of 2700 m of climbing. After yesterday’s flat tyre debacle at the 10 km mark, Hose Hermida and Ralph Naef (Merida 3) were hoping to execute “Plan A” and “attack from the beginning and win the stage!” The other teams may not have let their plan be executed quite like that, but the end result was achieved with the pair popular winners at Oak Valley, 51 seconds in front of Songo, with the Fluckiger brothers (Trek World Racing) 3rd, 3.5 mins back.
The early climbs in the Oak Valley estate followed by the Groendlandberg thinned the lead group down to the usual suspects – Songo, Bulls, 3 x Merida, Trek World Racing, Versluys-Evenza, BMC and Milka Trek. 20 km after the Groendlandberg, the riders met a nasty steep sandy climb, known as ‘the beeatch’ shortly followed by a corregated dirt road climb. The combination was enough to sap the life out of Stefan Sahm’s weary legs (Bulls), seeing him 30s behind the lead group. Helped by teammate Karl Platt, the Bulls rejoined the leaders at waterpoint 2 (68km) but the yo-yo effect would be a theme for their whole day.
And so it continued, through the flowing single track of Lebanon, and still Hermida and Naef could not shake the others. Finally, with Oak Valley within reach, Hermida’s final attack proved too much for all but the Bulls. Sensing Burry weakening, Merida 3 kept the pressure high, and finally broke clear of the Songo boys. With Trek World racing over three minutes back, followed by the two Merida teams and Bulls, Songo’s consolation prize saw their lead in the overall race extended to 10:51. After the woes of the last two years, it may still be too early to celebrate, but perhaps we can put the champagne on ice?
Australian’s Hatton and Lewis (Rockstar Racing) picked a “hard day to have a hard day’, finishing 14th on the stage, but despit losing some time, remain 13th overall.
In the women’s race, Colnago return to the top step of the podium, 13 mins ahead of Attix5, with race leaders USN third, a further 2 mins behind. Australian teams Swell / Giant (Fisher / King) and Adidas (Hansen / Willet) were 4th and 5 th respectively. No change on GC today, but Colnago’s win sees them within 2 minutes of Adidas who currently sit 3rd overall.
Tomorrow’s final stage takes the riders over Old Viljoen’s pass and Nuweberg on route to the traditional finish at Lourensford – with 68 km and 1700 m of climbing all that remain for the 2011 edition of the Absa Cape Epic.