Karl Platt from Germany and Urs Huber from Switzerland notched up their third success of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic when they won the third stage from Tulbagh to Wellington today.
The Bulls beat another German-Swiss pair, Centurion Vaude by Meerendal 2’s Matthias Pfrommer and Nicola Rohrbach, with Topeak Ergon Racing’s Alban Lakata of Austria and Kristian Hynek of the Czech Republic third.
“In the last 30km we went very hard,” said Platt. “We know the trails well here, so we knew we could push and make a move the closer we got to the finish.”
Platt said the strategy for the stage was to keep it cool and also keep an eye on their nearest rivals until it was time to strike.
“We put the pressure on after Bain’s Kloof Pass,” said Platt. “Simon Stiebjahn went into the trails ahead of us like a cannonball and we just followed him.”
Pfrommer said they were wappy with second on the day.
“I don’t want to say it is too fast for us, but Karl and Urs were really going. It’s a good day, but it was hard work out there.”
Karl Platt and Urs Huber won the third stage of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic in Wellington today. Photo: Shaun Roy
Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad of Spur-Specialized moved a step closer to clinching their third straight Cape Epic title by winning the stage.
The Swiss-Danish pair arrived in Wellington 32 seconds ahead of Topeak Ergon’s Sally Bigham (England) and Adel Morath (Germany) and 1.11 ahead of Ascendis Health’s Robyn de Groot and Jennie Stenerhag.
“I didn’t see that coming,” said Langvad.
“It was a very close race and we had no idea how it was going to finish. The racing was super close and very tough because we were all together until the last 20 kilometres or so.”
For more news and full results, go to Cape Epic.
Annika Langvad and Ariane Kleinhans won the third stage of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic in Wellington today. Photo: Gary Perkin
