Epic leaders hold positions
AFTER they had won yet again and the clock had started clicking to the rest fighting for the runners-up places on the 106km second stage of the Absa Cape Epic, Annika Langvad turned to her teammate, Kate Courtney, and asked: “You OK?” Courtney nodded, smiled and they hugged. Her first Absa Cape Epic is turning out to be a rocket-ship ride for the 22-year-old American as she and Investec Songo Specialised teammate Langvad held on to the leader’s jersey they have held since the opening prologue on Table Mountain on Sunday.
Second place was decided by a sprint finish, won by Ariane Luthi and Githa Michiels (Team Spur) from Mariske Strauss and Annie Last (Silverback-KMC).
Langvad, the Dane who has three Epic titles and may just be the strongest rider on the planet right now, and Courtney now lead by 6½ minutes from Team Spur.
The ride of the day, though, came from their Investec Songo Specialised stablemates Jaroslav Kulhavy and Howie Grotts, who overcame two punctures to remain in second behind yellow jersey holders Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory Racing), who won their second stage on the trot from their second bunch sprint in two days.
Kulhavy and Grotts powered home after losing almost five minutes on repairs at the side of the road, limiting their losses to 1:42, remaining second overall just 2:23 on general classification.
Nicola Rohrbach and Daniel Geismayr (Centurion Vaude) were second in the four-team sprint to the line, with Alban Lakata and Kristian Hynek (Canyon Topeak) third and Buff Scott’s Francesc Carretero and Luis Leao Pinto fourth.
Centurion Vaude are third overall, 5:37 off the pace set by Cannondale. “It couldn’t have been a better day for us,” Avancini said. “The profile was more suited to the marathon guys. They pushed us quite hard and they put us in the hurt box, but they didn’t gain anything.
“It’s really hard to find a team that has the balance that we do. We just stay calm. We suffer a lot but we still have fun.”
Grotts is hoping that Kulhavy’s two flat tyres will be the end of their quota of bad luck for the Epic.
At the time of the first puncture, they had powered to a one-minute lead. Cannondale will be wary of what is to come from an angry Kulhavy on stage three.
Courtney raised her eyebrows and had a chuckle when she was asked if she felt a little more comfortable after her third day of the Epic.
“Comfortable is a very strong word with a partner like Annika. There was a pretty steep climb about 30km to go and Annika got on the front and set the pace and I just hung on for dear life. We [got] a gap and [held] it to the finish.”