Karl Platt and Urs Huber won stage one of the 2016 Cape Epic, a ride of 108km from Tulbach to Tulbagh.
The Bulls pair crossed the line in 4:32:12 with Topeak Ergon’s Alban Lakata and Kristian Hynek second and Dolomiti Superbike’s Periklis Ilias and Tiago Ferreira third.
“The beginning was tough in the dust, but the middle section was unbelievable,” said Platt. “There was lots of great single-track that really made the racing enjoyable.
“I’m happy with the win on my birthday, though I could think of a few more relaxing things to be doing.”
Lakata said the heavy dust at the start of the stage was nerve-wracking.
“It was very dry and dusty in the beginning. It felt very dangerous because we couldn’t see anything for a while, and at one point I was actually quite scared.”
In the race for the African jersey, USN-Purefit’s Darren Lill and Waylon Woolcock finished almost nine minutes ahead of NAD Pro MTB’s Gawie Combrinck and Nico Bell.
Robyn de Groot and Jennie Stenerhag of Team Ascendis won the women’s race in 5:22.18.
“We saw the helicopter, then we saw Ariane (Kleinhans) and thought maybe we can go for a stage win,” said De Groot of their passing manoeuvre on the Spur-Specialised pair of Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad.
“We thought we had lost it,” said De Groot. “We didn’t expect to catch up to them after we all split.”
For overall results and other news, go to Cape Epic.
Karl Platt and Urs Huber won stage one of the 2016 Cape Epic. Photo: Ewald Sadie/Sportzpics
