Investec-Songo-Specialized’s Annika Langvad and Kate Courtney continued their dominance after they won stage four of the Cape Epic in Wellington today.
The pair now have five victories in five days and have built up a sizeable lead over the rest of the field.
The second-placed overall team, Team Spur’s Ariane Luthi and Githa Michiels, last night had to withdraw from the eight-day race, due to the Belgian having fallen ill with a fever after stage three.
Investec-Songo-Specialized’s Annika Langvad and Kate Courtney pictured making their way into the race village in stage four of the Cape Epic in Wellington today. Photo: Cape Epic
Heading into the fourth stage, the withdrawal gave orange jerseys Investec-Songo-Specialized’s Annika Langvad and Kate Courtney a 24-minute buffer over the new second-placed team, Silverback-KMC’s Mariske Strauss and Annie Last.
Langvad and Courtney, Strauss and Last and Ascendis Health’s Sabine Spitz and Robyn de Groot stayed together in the front up until the 25km mark on the fourth stage.
From that point, Langvad and Courtney stayed in the front mix, and looked comfortable to defend their yellow jerseys.
Strauss and Last went through the 45km water point in first, with Langvad having stopped to collect water bottles for both her and her partner.
Langvad and Courtney’s refuel paid off, as they ascended to an almost two-minute lead over Strauss and Last on the Slanghoek Traverse technical section.
At the 69km mark, they had increased this lead to just less than three minutes and later by over four minutes. As the race wore on, Langvad and Courtney ended up winning the stage by well over eight minutes.
View the results here.
