Swiss duo take Cape Epic honours

IT was sweet success for Nino Schurter, Matthias Stirnemann, Esther Suss and Jennie Stenerhag at the 2017 Absa Cape Epic.

Swiss duo Schurter and Stirnemann (Scott-SR AM MTB Racing) were first-time winners of the men’s race, while Suss and Stenerhag (Meerendal CBC) claimed the Hansgrohe women’s category.

It was Stenerhag’s first win in her fourth attempt, while for Suss it was a third title after winning the mixed in 2011 and the women’s category in 2012.

Stirnemann wins the Absa Cape Epic in his first attempt, while for Schurter, a bronze, silver and gold Olympic medal winner in cross-country racing, the win comes in his fourth Cape Epic.

The current Olympic and world champion said: “The plan was to come here in 2018 and win, but we are a year early.

“This is very special. To win the Olympics and then come to South Africa and win the Absa Cape Epic, that is great.”

In the Hansgrohe women’s category, there were emotional scenes at the finish.

A year after having heart surgery, Stenerhag, of Sweden, wept yesterday as she and Suss won the Absa Cape Epic in their first effort as a team.

In the race for the Absa African special jersey, presented to the best all-African team, there was only going to be one winner after a strong week of riding from Pyga Euro Steel. Matthys Beukes and Philip Buys finished strongly to claim seventh overall.

In the Virgin Active mixed race, the Scott-Sram Nextlevel duo of Rio Olympic Champion Jenny Rissveds, of Sweden, and Thomas Frischknecht, of Switzerland, cruised to a 65-minute win overall.