Absa Cape Epic 2013 Stage 3 – ‘easy’ day

When a 94k stage with almost 2,000m of climbing is described as a ‘rest’ or ‘easy’ day, you know something odd is going on. But that’s the Absa Cape Epic for you; it doesn’t really play by normal rules. And it’s certainly true that after Monday’s 96k sandfest and yesterday’s loooong 146k day, maybe today qualified as a bit easier.

Today the riders had to contend with high temperatures as well, in the basin of Tulbagh. There were more than a few shivers at 7am in the start chutes, but riders were soon grateful of the shade afforded by the surrounding mountains, until the sun popped up about 45 minutes in, and the oven temperature started being cranked up. It hit somewhere in the mid-30s, with uninterrupted harsh sunshine.

There were no big climbs on the course; and the total ascent was indeed less than previous days; but there were plenty of short sharp ones to make up for it, and they were cruelly loaded towards the end of the stage, as legs were tiring. The relatively flatter course resulted in a fast race though; the leaders blasted through the 94k in under four hours.

Something today confirmed after yesterday was that Karl Platt of Team Bulls has still got it at age 36; as has his rather younger, new team-mate, Urs Huber. They won the stage again, although benefited from a minor wrong turn by Sauser / Kulhavy of Burry Stander / Songo, who conceded another 46 seconds, meaning that Bulls have extended their lead over the defending champion to almost nine minutes. At halfway through the race, plenty can still happen to change this, although both teams are arguably helped by having other team-mates in the race, which can mitigate against disastrous delays from mechanicals.

In the Ladies race, Catherine Williamson and Yolande Speedy of Team Energas produced another win, and following the withdrawal with illness of Ester Suess after yesterday, Energas have more than an hour’s advantage over Team Pragma Ladies in second place. There was an impressive ride today by C-Bear – Laura Turpijn, Dutch champion, and her team-mate Sara Mertens, for second on the stage, after they had also suffered illness yesterday.

In Mixed, the Kleinhanses reign supreme for RE:CM. Ditto for Bucher and Zoerweg of Songo.info in Grand Masters.

The biggest shock of the day was the leading Masters, Udo Boelts and Carsten Bresser of Juwi, dropping out of the race after the second water-point; we’re lacking information thus far on why, but will update you once we know.

Will’s view of the stage

Today was another solo effort, as Mike is still in no fit state to get back on a bike. He’s progressed from pills through to a drip and now antibiotics. Suffice to say that things are not quite right.

As with last year, while the the first solo stage was an exercise in hurting hard to try and work out some frustration, the second was in many ways harder. Some of that initial oomph had worn off, and the reality of racing alone hit home. What also hit home was the effort from yesterday. I knew I was in a bit of trouble when I went to bed at 9:30pm, more than seven hours after having finished yesterday’s racing, and my heart rate, just lying in my sleeping bag, was 3obpm over its normal resting rate. As a result it took a long time to get to sleep, and I awoke still not feeling quite right.

This was day four of eight, and some of the classic stage racing symptoms are starting to kick in: digestion not too happy, food not seeming that appealing, gels / bars seeming distinctly unappealing. So it took about two hours of today’s stage before I felt as if breakfast had kicked in and I could start to produce some power.

Thereafter, for some reason that I’m not sure of, I spent the whole day either yo-yoing off the back of groups, or somehow pushing on through them. I seemed to find my level with a group containing several decent local teams – the Hanekom brothers from Tru-Cape, Nic Lamond and Carl Pasio, and HCL / Harvest Foundation. The short sharp climbs towards the end really stung – I kept thinking it was about to turn downhill to the finish, but the markers would cruelly point back up the hill again.

The dust was hard today too – there were various points, descending at speed, when I couldn’t see the ground at all, and just had to trust in the faint shapes of the riders ahead, and in the capabilities of the Bianchi’s suspension plus my own relaxed limbs to soak up bumps – of which there were plenty; each day I’m rejoicing in my decision to bring a full bouncer this year rather than a hardtail.

As a solo rider or ‘Outcast’, I don’t appear in the main results – you have to look way down the bottom of the results page to find the solos. But just for personal satisfaction I’m keeping track of where my times would put me; today 24th overall or 21st in Men; similar on GC.

Video still to come.