Cape Epic newbies Nicola Rohrbach and Matthias Pfrommer won stage two of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic, which took riders through the Witzenberg Valley and finished at Tulbagh today.
The Centurion Vaude by Meerendal 2 team completed the stage in 4:16:48, beating the Bulls pair of Karl Platt and Urs Huber to the line after the latter punctured 10km from the finish. The Italian duo of Samule Porro and Damiano Ferraro (Trek-Selle San Marco A) were third.
Despite the loss, the Bulls retain their lead in the general classification.
Karl Platt and Urs Huber are the overall leaders of the 2016 Cape Epic after stage two. Photo: Ewald Sadie/Sportzpics
For much of the race there were four teams in the leading bunch, including South Africa’s Darren Lill and Waylon Woolcock (USN-Purefit), until a broken chain for Lill halted their momentum.
“All day it was very tough and very technical, especially the middle part,” said Rohrbach. “But eventually we caught the Bulls and the lead bunch.
“I think we were about 10 seconds behind the Bulls, but the plan was always to then push hard because Matthias and I are both very fast on the downhill. We passed them on the last descent, but also because they had a flat.
“We are totally destroyed after that ride. But very happy.”
Lill and Woolcock remain in the front in the fight for the African jersey, approximately five minutes ahead of Gawie Combrinck and Nico Bell (NAD Pro MTB).
Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad of Spur-Specialized won the second stage of the 2016 Cape Epic in Tulbagh today to take the overall lead. Photo: Cape Epic
Defending champions Ariane Kleinans and Annika Langvad bounced back to win the stage in 5:06:00 to take the overall lead away from Ascendis Health’s Robyn de Groot and Jennie Stenerhag.
For much of the stage, the Spur-Specialized pair bided their time in third behind Sport for Good’s Sabine Spitz and Yana Belomoina and Topeak Ergon’s Sally Bigham and Adel Morath.
“It feels amazing to be back in the orange jersey,” said a beaming Kleinhans.
“This morning I was confident we could do something but when Sabine and Yana went ahead on the first climb I thought it was going to be a long day. I knew I couldn’t go at the pace that they went up so we decided to keep it really consistent and I remembered from 2011 that the last climb goes into a long descent and is quite technical – I thought that’s where we could decide it.”
For more news and the full results and GC standings, go to Cape Epic.
