Swiss riders Fabian Giger and Martin Gujan (Novus OMX Pro) caught the major contenders out as they swept into the
yellow zebra jersey in Sunday’s Absa Cape Epic Prologue.
Most of the big guns kept their powder dry on a day that favoured cross country specialists, but four-times winners
Karl Platt and Christoph Sauser were second and third with their teammates. Giger and Gujan were delighted with their performance:
“I didn’t expect it at all but I’m very happy to get the win,” said Giger. “We left quite early (before the favourites for the stage) and had a good time out there.” They finished in 46 minutes and 18 seconds, an exceptionally quick time for the 20km Table Mountain course. Many of the top riders described the course as being tough and without any opportunities to rest. The course was generally quite dusty after a long and dry Western Cape summer. Riders who went out late in the day, such as the professionals, had the worst of the conditions after earlier riders had dragged their brakes through sections of the course.
Team Bulls’s Platt and Urs Huber were second, 18 seconds behind the Swiss pair. “We didn’t start full gas,” said Platt. “We kept it steady and think it worked out.”
He said there had been one scary moment when he rode into a dust cloud as he entered a steeply descending singletrack: “I went ‘whoa! where’s the track?’, but then it was fine.”
Swiss Sauser and Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy (Investec Songo Specialized) finished third, five seconds behind Platt and Huber. “It was hard for me,” said Sauser. “I struggled with the climbing.”
Defending champion Kristian Hynek of the Czech Republic and Austrian Alban Lakata (Topeak Ergon) finished seventh overall, 51 seconds behind the leaders.
But Hynek made the point later: “We didn’t want to take any big risks because you can’t win it on the Prologue … you can only lose it”.
The top South African finishers were sixth-placed Rourke Croeser and Travis Walker, who will wear the Absa African special jersey on Stage 1. Three seconds and two places behind them were Darren Lill and Waylon Woolcock (RED-E Blend).
Kleinhans and Langveld lead from the front
The world’s leading female mountain bikers could be spotted on the slopes of Table Mountain on Sunday 15 March, but not for long as they tore apart the Prologue route of the 12th Absa Cape Epic.
Starting on the rugby fields of the University of Cape Town (UCT), known locally as the Green Mile, the elite women set off just as the temperature in Cape Town started to rise. The timing was fitting, as from the word go the women’s field was blazing around the 20km course.
On a route with ample space to overtake and with only three sections of singletrack to negotiate, the racing was always going to be hot. Ariana Kleinhans and Annika Langvad (RECM Specialized) took top honours on the day, in a time of 53.38,7. Jennie Stenerhag and Robyn de Groot (Ascendis Health) raced into second place in a time of 57.14,5 with Milena Landtwing and Hielke Elferink (Meerendal Wheeler Cannondale) rounding out the podium with a finish time of 57.25,8.
“It feels amazing to win the Prologue,” said a beaming Kleinhans. “We felt very good going into the day and our preparation had been excellent. Everything went super smooth today, as well. Plus, it s great to ride with Annika on a stage like this. She’s a great time trialist and she really pushed it on the short tar section.”
Langvad said it was great to be back in South Africa and straight into the Cape Epic groove. “I feel like we just carried on from last year – but even better!” said Langvad. “Everything felt natural and I think that our tactics have gotten so good that we don’t need to change anything,” she added. “We wanted to get into the leaders jersey as quickly as possible and we’ve achieved that.”
Stenerhag and De Groot, riding as a team at the Absa Cape Epic for the first time, were somewhat surprise second placed finishers. “We just wanted to be steady and get it over and done with,” said Stenerhag. “There is a long week ahead. We will just ride our own race from here and not worry about anyone else. Our strategy is to stick with what works for us.”
De Groot, lining up at the Absa Cape Epic for the first time, admitted that the nerves and emotion almost hit during the race. “I don’t think I’ve been this nervous on a bike since the Olympics,” she said. “But the Prologue is done now and the nerves should be settled from tomorrow. It’s vital to stay calm at this race.”
Third-placed finishers Meerendal Wheeler Cannondale surprised even themselves with their result. “We’re very happy to be third – surprised actually,” said Milena Landtwing. “Technically, the route was nothing special, but we needed to be careful because you can easily make mistakes and that can be the end of your race.”
“A good start is half the work done,” added teammate Hielke Elferink. “But it will be important to not start too fast tomorrow. It’s going to be a long, hard week.”
The race moves on to Elgin tomorrow, where riders will start Stage 1 at Oak Valley Wine Estate. They face 113km of truly epic riding with 2800m of climbing to keep things interesting.
Results: Women
1. RECM Specialized; 53.38,7; 50-1 Ariane Kleinhans (Switzerland); 50-2 Annika Langvad (Denmark)
2. Ascendis Health 57.14,5 55-1 Jennie Stenerhag (Sweden) 55-2 Robyn Lee de Groot (South Africa)
3. Meerendal Wheeler C’dale; 57.25,8; 54-1 Milena Landtwing (Switzerland) 54-2 Hielke Elferink (Netherlands)
4. Meerendal Wheeler; 58.24,0; 51-1 Esther Suss (Switzerland) 51-2 Alice Pirard (Belgium)
5. SasolRacing; 59.10,0; 56-1 Yolande de Villiers (South Africa) 56-2 Janka Keseg Stevkova (Slovakia)
Results: Men
1. Novus OMX Pro; 46.18,3 23-1; Martin Gujan (Switzerland); 23-2 Fabian Giger (Switzerland)
2. Bulls; 46.36,7; 4-1 Karl Platt (Germany); 4-2 Urs Huber (Switzerland)
3. Investec-Songo-Specialized, 46.42,1; 2-1 Christoph Sauser (Switzerland); 2-2 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic)
4. Kargo Pro MTB, 46.49,0; 15-1 Emil Lindgren (Sweden); 15-2 Brendon Davids (South Africa)
5. Multivan Merida; 47.00,4; 6-1 Jose Hermida (Spain); 6-2 Rudi van Houts (Netherlands)
Full results are on the Cape Epic Website.
