Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann won stage five of the Cape Epic which started and finished at Oak Valley Estate today.
The Scott-Sram MTB Racing pair finished the 84km race in 3:50:38 ahead of Michiel van der Heijden and Andri Frischknecht of Scott-Sram Young Guns (3:50:39).
Nino Schurter (left) and Matthias Stirnemann (Scott-Sram MTB Racing) won stage five of Cape Epic today to claim the overall lead in the race. Photo: Shaun Roy/Cape Epic
Rounding out the podium were Swiss star Christoph Sauser and the Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy of Investec-Songo-Specialized in 3:50:55.
Stirnemann said he was delighted with the win, especially after a slow start.
“In the beginning I was really struggling for rhythm,” he said.
“It took me quite a while to get started, but after the first climb of the day I started feeling much better.
“It was fast again from the start. In fact, the whole stage was hard going.”
Schurter was equally happy with their stage victory.
“On the first big climb of the day I noticed that Christoph was struggling and that’s when we decided to go for it,” he said.
“Both the Scott teams were feeling good. So, it’s great that we have now taken two stages for the team.”
Schurter and Stirnemann’s win today gave them the overall lead from Cannondale Factory Racing’s Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini, who finished 10th after suffering a flat early in the stage.
The Scott-Sram MTB Racing team lead the general classification with a time of 19:10:34, which places them 50 seconds in front of Sauser and Kulhavy.
In third place are Fumic and Avancini who trail the leaders by nine minutes and 12 seconds.
“The yellow jersey is obviously a bonus. The cross country guys have really been doing well at the Cape Epic this year,” said Schurter.
“We’re happy to continue the form. Tomorrow will be tough, but anything can happen and we are looking forward to it.”
Ascendis Health’s Sabine Spitz and Robyn de Groot won the women’s race in a time of 4:28:51.
After finishing second on stage five of the Cape Epic today, Esther Süss left and Jennie Stenerhag still leads the women’s race. Photo: Cape Epic
Coming in second, only 0.3 seconds behind the leaders, were Esther Süss and Jennie Stenerhag, with Ariane Luthi and Adelheid Morath of Team Spur third in 4:31:43.
De Groot said they tried everything they could to put the leaders under pressure.
“We have time to make up and we did our best today,” she said.
“It was a really hard stage from the start. We did manage to get away a couple of times, but not enough to make a difference.”
Süss and Stenerhag retained the yellow jersey with an overall time of 22:48:12 and are followed by South Africa’s De Groot and Germany’s Spitz, who are 12 minutes and 22 seconds behind the Meerendal CBC team.
In third place, 36 minutes and four seconds off the pace, are Mariske Strauss and Annie Last of Hansgrohe Cadence OMX Pro.
For more news or results, see Cape Epic.
