In a mountain biker’s life dramatic changes can occur unexpectedly.
Until a week ago Max Knox (Ghost/Do-it-now) had told everybody that he would not defend his DCM Cape Pioneer Trek title because he didn’t have a partner.
He had planned to team up with Adrien Niyonshuti (MTN-Qhubeka), but when Jacques Janse van Rensburg signed a contract to ride for MTN-Qhubeka, matters changed.
“Perhaps it happened for the best. It has been a long season and I have been on an emotional roller coaster ride. Not many people realize what I had to deal with off my mountain bike this year. Mid-season I even had to battle to have a job as a professional mountain biker.
“I don’t want to go into all the details because it may sound as if I am feeling sorry for myself, which is not the case. I am just grateful to Ghost/Do-it-now for giving me a second chance,” Knox said last week.
Merely 24 hours later everything changed.
Christopher Sauser (Specialized), the Swiss world marathon champion, announced that he was looking for a partner. Sylvio Bundi, his teammate of last year, can no longer come to South Africa due to parental obligations. Sauser will instead partner with Knox.
Sauser has become one of the stalwarts of the DCM Cape Pioneer. He has made it clear on more than one occasion that this is the tour that he does not want to miss for any reason.
“I have so much fun during and after the stages when I race the DCM Cape Pioneer Trek. For me it feels like a great holiday.
“The staff and riders become like members of my family during the six days of the Trek. The comradeship among the riders is unbelievable.
The Cape Pioneer Trek is not only about racing and winning. After the stages we have so much to laugh and joke about, not to mention the legendary parties that we enjoy.
“The race is always superbly organized.”
However, being the ultimate professional, Sauser has changed his goals somewhat. It will no longer be a case of merely having fun.
“Now that I will be riding with Max, my perspective has changed. He is, after all, the defending champion and I cannot let him down.
“Even though it has been a long, hard season, I am still in an incredibly good shape. If Max wants to win, I am his man.
“I would rather ride faster, having an exciting race, with more time to relax in the afternoons, than still be out on the course, melting in the afternoon sun.”
Sauser has been a dominant force in international marathon racing. Except for the marathon in Ornans, France when he punctured, he had won practically every race in which he competed.
If he and Knox should win the DCM Cape Pioneer Trek, Sauser would make South African cycling history. It would be the first time that the same rider wins South Africa’s two toughest mountain-bike tours – the Absa Cape Epic and the Cape Pioneer Trek – in the same calendar year.
Sauser won the Epic with Burry Stander earlier this year.