Swiss master Christoph Sauser and his Czech teammate Jaroslav Kulhavy overcame a puncture to finish the first stage of the 2015 Absa Cape Epic almost a minute ahead of Sauser’s great rival, Karl Platt and Swiss strongman Urs Huber.
Sauser and Kulhavy, who ride in the colours of Investec-Songo-Specialized, crossed the finish line in a time of 4:47:39 to secure a 46 second lead in the general classification at the end of stage one.
Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy of Investec-Songo-Specialized celebrate winning stage one of the 2015 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race.
Photo: Shaun Roy/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
“It’s cool being in yellow zebra jersey after the first stage,” said Sauser. “It was my first real test of the season and everything went well. My legs were good today and we were able to put the Bulls under pressure at times.”
Sauser and Kulhavy had built up a lead in the early stages of the race but picked up a sidewall puncture and lost time as they repaired it.
The Bulls pair swept past and their lead grew to more than two minutes as Sauser stopped to change the entire wheel at one of the official tech zones.
“Fortunately we caught them, recovered and attacked,” said Sauser, who had notched up his 32nd Absa Cape Epic stage win.
Team Multivan Merida riders Jose Hermida and Rudi van Houts round off the Elite men’s podium in third position.
One of the top professionals in the field, Kargo Pro MTB’s Emil Lindgren, broke his arm during the descent off the flank of the Groenlandberg and has left South African Brendon Davids to soldier on as an Outcast.
Pre-race favourite teams, Topeak Ergon’s defending champion Kristian Hynek and Austrian Alban Lakata, had to repair two punctures and swop a wheel at a tech zone but were able to recover and finish fourth, some four minutes behind Sauser and Kulhavy.
In the women’s race Team RECM’s Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad survived a crash scare to charge home and into the orange leader’s jersey ahead of Jennie Stenerhag and Robyn de Groot of Team Ascendis.
Meerendal Wheeler’s Esther Suss and Alice Pirard rounds off the podium in third, moving into third on the overall standings at the same time.
Tuesday’s second stage follows a similar format – starting and finishing at Oak Valley – but traverses different parts of the valley, and includes many sections of singletrack.
Visit Absa Cape Epic for more results and photos.
