Sauser, Kulhavy close gap

FOR the second day in a row both the men’s and women’s categories of the Cape Epic were won by a tense sprint finish.

In yesterday’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 stages. 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 (ScottSram MTB Racing) ended second for the second day in a row, with third place yesterday 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.