Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy won the shortened stage two of the 2017 Cape Epic which finished in Caledon today.
The 62km stage was scheduled to be 102km with the finish in Greyton but medics warned that the heat could be dangerous to the health of riders.
Jaroslav Kulhavy and Christoph Sasuer in action during stage one of the 2017 Cape Epic. Photo: Dominic Barnardt/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
The Investec-Songo-Specialized riders took the win in 2:33:16, a mere second ahead of Scott-Sram MTB Racing’s Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann. Cannondale Factory Racing’s prologue and stage one winners Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini claimed third in the sprint, a further second adrift.
The stage result means Fumic and Avancini lost no real time and will start the third stage in yellow. Sauser and Kulhavy trail by 2:39 in the overall standings with Schurter and Stirnemann third, 5:22 back.
Sauser and Kulhavy, who lost time yesterday after Kulhavy punctured, caught up to the leading two teams (Shurter/Stirnemann and Fumic/Avancini) with about 10km remaining and were able to gap the front group by a handful of seconds as they approached the finish area in Caledon.
“That was very tough,” said Kulhavy, a double Cape Epic champion alongside Sauser, who racked up his 37th stage victory in the Western Cape event.
“The first half was so fast, and then we didn’t stop at all for water. I was worried at one stage, but we managed to pull through.”
In the women’s race, Meerendal CBC’s Esther Süss and Jennie Stenerhag took another stage win, finishing in 3:05:51.
They were followed home five seconds later by Ascendis Health’s Robyn de Groot and Sabine Spitz, with Spur’s Ariane Lüthi and Adelheid Morath rounding out the podium 5:02 down.
After 9:32:02 of racing, Süss and Stenerhag lead De Groot and Spitz by 8:58 and Hansgrohe Cadence OMX Pro’s Mariske Strauss and Annie Last by 21:17 in the general classification.
“I asked Esther whether we had any tactics and she said, no, we would just see how the race went,” said Stenerhag.
Suss said the stage victory felt unbelievable.
“It feels like a long time ago that I was on the podium at the Cape Epic.”
Spitz had a nasty crash yesterday but teammate De Groot said she was looking strong and feeling okay after the crash.
