MTB

Absa Cape Epic 2017 Stage 3 Wrap - Thrilling stage decided by sprint finishes

By Absa Cape Epic

For the second day in a row both the Men’s and Women’s categories of the Absa Cape Epic were won by a tense sprint finish.

In Wednesday’s 78km Stage 3, Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy (Investec-Songo-Specialized) claimed a second consecutive stage win. More importantly for them they managed to eat into the time gap of the overall race leaders, Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory Racing XC). The difference now is just 80 seconds.

In the Hansgrohe Women’s category, once again there was no obvious difference between the top two pairings as Ascendis Health and Meerendal CBC spent the entire 78km stage around Greyton locked in a close battle.

Robyn de Groot and Sabine Spitz (Ascendis Health) managed to get the stage win by outsprinting the overall race leaders, Esther Suss and Jennie Stenerhag (Meerendal CBC), in the desperate dash for the finish line.

These two teams have dominated the women’s race so far and between them have won all four of the stages so far. Ascendis Health won the Prologue and Stage 3 while Meerendal emerged victorious on Stages 1 and 2.

In the men’s race, Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann (Scott-Sram MTB Racing) ended second for the second day in a row, with third-place on Wednesday going to Nicola Rohrbach and Daniel Geismayr (Centurion Vaude 2).
 

The relatively short 78km stage should have been a day for the cross-country specialists to rise to the occasion, so it was no surprise Schurter and Stirneman were aggressive on the early climbs and descents, causing overall leaders Cannondale Factory Racing XC to drop off the pace a number of times. But the Olympic champion and his partner couldn’t shake off the imposing presence of Sauser and Kulhavy.

Investec-Songo-Specialized made the decisive attack on the final big climb of the day and crucially Cannondale Factory Racing XC dropped back.

In the dash for the line, Stirneman misjudged the finish line and started his sprint too early, allowing Sauser to power past and claim the win for his team.

"That was a good day for us,” said a relaxed Sauser. “We managed to make good progress and win the stage. It was only a short day so we weren't expecting to eat too much time into the Cannondale Factory Racing XC guys, but we did so we’ll take the win and that little bonus.”

In the women’s race, Suss dismissed any suggestion they were content with their nine-minute lead and had started to ride a defensive race.

“No! We definitely did not just try and sit on,” she said while recovering after the hectic race for the line on Wednesday. “We try to go as fast as we can. Jennie went to the front and went as hard as she could when she was strong, and I went hard on the front when I could. We tried very hard in the second part of the day.

“We are not really happy with the second. I worked maybe too hard on the flat section just before the finish. But we are still in the lead and today we did not lose any time, so I think that is the best for us.”

In the other categories, Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds and Thomas Frischknecht (Scott-Sram-Nextlevel) increased their lead over Grant Usher and Amy Beth Mcdougall (joBerg2c-Valencia) to 16 minutes in the Virgin Active Mixed category; while Philip Buys and Matthys Beukes (Pyga Euro Steel) are 15 minutes ahead of BCX’s HB Kruger and Waylon Woolcock in the Absa African special jersey (for teams where both riders are from the continent) and Candice Lill and Namibia’s Vera Adrian (dormakaba SA) are the leading African women.

In the Dimension Data Masters category, former Tour de France winner Cadel Evans and George Hincapie (BMC Absa) won the stage but are still third, 12 minutes behind Orbea Factory (Tomi Misser and Ibon Zugasti) and five back from CST Sandd American Eagle (Abraao Azevedo and Bart Brentjens).The Diepsloot MTB Academy’s William Mokgopo and Phillimon Sebona once again added to their overall lead in the Exxaro special jersey.

With a long day tomorrow - 112km from Elandskloof to Oak Valley in Elgin - the overall men’s leaders will have their work cut out for them while the women’s leading teams are expected to be locked together once more.

*The 2017 Absa Cape Epic mountain bike stage race is taking place until Sunday 26 March. Watch the action live on our website www.cape-epic.com