Sauser, Kulhavy make their move
Five-time winner Christoph Sauser and partner Jaroslav Kulhavy moved themselves into position to strike for victory over the last four stages of the Absa Cape Epic after a lightning-fast stage here on Wednesday.
The Investec-Songo-Specialized pairing beat Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann (ScottSram MTB Racing) in a tense sprint for the win on 78km stage, but more importantly both leading teams managed to pull some time back on overall race leaders Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory Racing XC).
And after a tight catand-mouse affair between the two leading protagonists in the race for the Hansgrohe women’s title, there was no significant change in the standings. Robyn de Groot and Sabine Spitz (Ascendis Health) managed to claim the stage by outsprinting the overall race leaders, Esther Suss and Jennie Stenerhag (Meerendal CBC), but the nearly nine-minute overall gap between the two remains.
The relatively short stage was always likely to favour the power riders and it was no surprise cross country specialists Schurter and Stirnemann were the most aggressive riders on the big climbs early in the day.
Team Scott-Sram had the other contenders struggling and when Investec-Songo-Specialized eventually made the decisive attack on the final big climb, only Nicola Rohrbach and Daniel Geismayr (Centurion Vaude 2) were able to stay in contact.
Crucially the race leading Cannondale Factory Racing XC were unable to hold the pace and were forced to concede 80sec from there to the finish line – almost half of their overall lead when they started the day.
That 80sec gap will give Songo and Scott hope that Cannondale are vulnerable, and give the two chasing teams confidence they can wipe out the deficit over the next four days.
It will probably also result in the race leaders facing a torrid series of attacks on Thursday’s 112km ride from Greyton to Oak Valley in Elgin.
“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 nineminute lead and had already 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. “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,” Suss said.