Scott-SRAM Young Guns were followed home by Scott-SRAM MTB Racing’s Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann, with Cannondale Factory Racing XC’s Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini in third.
It was cross-country star Schurter who threw down the gauntlet, and in doing so helped guide his younger team of Frischknecht (the 2015 Swiss U23 cross-country champion) and Van der Heijden (the 2014 U23 cross-country world champion) to a surprise stage victory.
For most of the day the elite bunch stayed together, until the surprise leaders of Hector Paez and Max Knox (Kansai Plascon) emerged at the front of the pack.
Scott-SRAM Young Guns’ Michiel van der Heijden and Andri Frischknecht took stage four of the Cape Epic and were followed home by Scott-SRAM MTB Racing’s Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann. Photo: Greg Beadle/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
The pair appeared strong and three hours into the day’s racing they had forced a gap of 45 seconds between them and the chasing pack.
The Botrivier Pass, though, had the final say in the matter, as teams took strain up the sandy climb.
Both Scott teams managed the climb best, while once over the top Investec-Songo-Specialized suffered a torn sidewall.
“We never ride with a plan – we just like to ride,” said Schurter.
“Today it worked out very well for both our teams, so that’s fantastic. The last big climb was terrible, very sandy, but both our teams seemed to manage it best and we were able to get away.”
“We are very happy and very surprised. When we looked at the stage – 112km – our main aim was just to survive,” said Frischknecht.
“But this stage win is amazing; super cool. Riding with Nino and Matthias was great motivation, and when we managed the last sandy climb quite well, we started to think that we could take the stage. It was horrible (up the climb) but we made it!”
Schurter and Stirnemann have moved up to second on general classification and are 1’42” behind Fumic and Avancini – who has an overall time of 15:18:13 which was enough to retain the yellow zebra leader jersey.
“We thought Nino and Matthias would go for it today, so we just wanted to keep Susi and Jaro in check,” said Fumic.
“We managed to do that pretty well for most of the day, so we are happy again with the result. We weren’t too worried with Scott making up time, we knew we had a decent gap on them. Today was all about managing the pace and keeping Investec-Songo-Specialized close.”
Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy, who placed fourth today, are 2’15” seconds behind the leaders.
“We woke up this morning with the intention of making a move, and trying to ride into the yellow jersey,” said Sauser.
“Jaro must have ridden over 1 000 rocks today and right at the end he managed to hit one that tore his sidewall.
“We used two plus, but still kept losing air. We put a third plug in, but it cost us a lot of time. Tomorrow will be tough to make up time, but there is still the big stage on Saturday to come.”
Sauser concluded by saying that the racing was fast and very exciting, but he would rather have a boring race and be in the lead.
In the women’s race Meerendal CBC’s Esther Suss and Jennie Stenerhag claimed victory in 5:05:58.
Hansgrohe Cadence OMX Pro’s Mariske Strauss and Annie Last, and Ascendis Health’s Sabine Spitz and Robyn de Groot rounded out the podium.
Suss and Stenerhag now have an overall time of 18:19:21 with Spitz and De Groot 12’40” behind.
Meerendal CBC’s Esther Suss and Jennie Stenerhag win stage four of the Cape Epic. Photo: Greg Beadle/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
The Meerendal CBC pair were able to take advantage of some bad luck at a crucial point when Spitz sliced the sidewall of her front tyre and she and De Groot were forced to let the race leaders ride off into the distance.
Ascendis Health’s problems also allowed Strauss and Last to claim second, three minutes behind the race leaders, and consolidate their third position overall.
The disaster happened about 85km into the stage near the beginning of the long 15km Botrivier Pass, the main climb of the day just as the leading teams were starting to make their push for victory.
“We had a really bad sidewall cut pretty much on the pressure point on the day,” De Groot.
“It was just really bad luck and our day changed from a matter of trying to gain anything we could on the leaders, to rather trying to limit our losses.
“The first portion of the climb was quite sandy with some sharp rocks and Sabine must have hit one at just the wrong angle. Her tyre was cut badly and went flat straight away.
“I don’t know how much time we lost. We were just too busy trying to get it right so we did not have to stop again.”
Stenerhag was content to take the win and even more pleased to have extended their overall lead.
“Obviously we are happy with the win,” said Stenerhag.
“It is not that nice to win because of somebody else’s bad luck, but it is all racing and we have to be happy with the win and extend our lead a little bit.
Stage five will start and finish in Oak Valley after 84km and 2 100m of climbing.
