Marathon racers nab Epic Prologue honours
YOU cannot win the Absa Cape Epic on the Prologue but you can prove a point – and that is exactly what the Centurion Vaude combination of Daniel Geismayr and Nicola Rohrbach did by winning yellow yesterday.
Conditions could not have been better as the 2018 Absa Cape Epic Prologue started in the Table Mountain National Park, a first time in two years.
With a somewhat technical course featuring washed-out corners and steep, tricky climbs, the 20km route had been touted to favour the crosscountry specialists – or at least that is what everybody thought.
Canyon Topeak’s Alaban Lakata put it bluntly in Cape Town on Thursday.
“Us marathon riders are going to show the cross-country guys how to race the Absa Cape Epic,” Lakata said.
And that is exactly what panned out as marathon specialists Geismayr and Rohrbach powered to victory in calculated fashion, ahead of Cannondale Factory Racing’s Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini and dark-horse team, Buff Scott MTB’s Francesc Guerra Carretero and Luis Leao Pinto, who finished third.
“It’s great to win the Prologue and to wear the yellow jersey [today] is important to us,” Geismayr said.
Partner Rohrbach said: “It’s unbelievable that we won. We are feeling strong and are looking forward to the next four days and the longer stages.”
Defending champions Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann were the last team to leave the ramp and looked relaxed ahead of the start.
The Scott-Sram duo took some time to get going, but eventually finished in fourth place, in a time of 45:23.3.
“The gap is not that massive and we’re not unhappy with the result,” Schurter said.
Fumic and Avancini finished strong – to the delight of cheering fans – restoring a semblance of pride for the cross-country in the process.
“We’re very happy with the start,” Fumic said. “We would have liked to be in yellow, but don’t mind chasing!”
The biggest shock of the day belonged to team Bulls.
Five-time winner Karl Platt laboured on the climbs and trailed partner Urs Huber for the majority of the course.
In fact, they were beaten by their teammates, the Bulls 2 contingent of Simon Stiebjahn and Tim Bohme, who finished four places ahead of them in 13th position.
NAD MTB’s Nico Bell and Matthew Beers claimed the Absa African Men’s special jersey, in 48:38.8 – securing 19th position on the general classification in the process.
The balance of the podium comprised HB Kruger and Stuart Marais of Ellsworth-ASG and Timothy Hammond and Arno du Toit of Spot Africa.