Nicola Rohrbach and Matthias Pfrommer won stage five yesterday to notch up their second victory of this year’s Absa Cape Epic.
The Centurion Vaude by Meerendal 2 pair finished the 93km queen stage at Boschendal Wine Estate outside Stellenbosch in 4:07:04 to beat general classification leaders Karl Platt and Urs Huber from Team Bulls in a close finish. Centurion Vaude’s Daniel Geismayr and Hermann Pernsteiner were third.
Riders faced five climbs between Wellington and Boschendal in what is turning out to be one of the hardest routes in years.
“It was tough again today,” said Huber. “I think because we have been going fast from the beginning every day has been hard.”
Huber said their focus was now on maintaining their lead.
“We were not looking at the stage win today. Right now our first goal is to win the Cape Epic.
“If we are in a position for more stage wins we will take it, but the priority is to wrap the event up.”
Nicola Rohrbach and Matthias Pfrommer of Centurion Vaude by Meerendal 2 won the 93km fifth stage of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic at Boschendal outside Stellenbosch yesterday. Photo: Sam Clarke/Sportzpics
Olympic medallist Sabine Spitz of Germany and her Ukranian teammate Yana Belomoina swept to an impressive win in the women’s stage.
The Sport for Good team finished nearly two minutes ahead of the Spur-Specialized combination of Ariane Kleinhans (Switzerland) and Annika Langvad (Denmark), who are the leaders on GC.
“We were supposed to win yesterday on the ‘cross-country’ stage but coming first on the queen stage is pretty good,” said an elated Spitz. The 44-year-old revealed that the decisive moment came in the final 10km.
“I must say that Annika is riding amazingly well. She’s so strong, especially on the flat where Ariane sometimes struggles.
“We were together with them all the way until we got to a sandy section where Annika had to wait. That was the moment we got a gap.”
For full results and news, go to Cape Epic.
Sabine Spitz of Sport for Good after winning the fifth stage of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic at Boschendal outside Stellenbosch. Photo: Emma Hill/Sportzpics
