SCOTT-SRAM’s Nino Schurter and Lars Forster surged to a comfortable victory in the Cape Epic 43.5km time-trial today, but it was not enough to take the overall lead.
The pair beat Cannondale Factory Racing’s Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini’s by almost two-and-a-half minutes.
SCOTT-SRAM’s Nino Schurter and Lars Forster, pictured here in yellow yesterday, surged to a comfortable victory in the 43.5km time-trial of the Cape Epic today. Photo: Greg Beadle/Cape Epic
But Fumic and Avancini retained their yellow jersey, remaining 1:14 clear of today’s stage winners.
The two rival teams were neck-and-neck up until the second water point, before Schurter and Forster took charge in the latter parts of the trial to lead by 41 seconds at the 31.5km mark.
Multiple cross-country world champion Schurter was quick to give credit to his teammate for their strong showing.
“We did well, but Lars was super strong today,” Schurter said afterwards from the hot seat, waiting for Fumic and Avancini to clock their time.
“He pushed hard and I think we even pulled some time off Cannondale. It was a good performance today.”
Forster was full of praise for the course. “I had so much fun today. The trails were so cool and flowy.
“It was also crazy. In the technical downhill we went so fast and the trees were so close. We nearly hit about three or four trees.
“But I had a lot of fun, and fun is fast.”
Schurter said their ride was “something in between” having fun and suffering.
“It was quite a loose surface and some turns were difficult, where you always had to be cautious not to go too fast around the corners.
“But we managed well.”
Fumic and Avancini on the other hand were forced to limit their losses throughout the stage after the former crashed and broke his suspension lockout system at the beginning of the race.
“I was riding more or less 40km without a locked suspension,” he said. “This left Henrique to do all the work, but he was really strong.
“He brought me to the finish. We’re happy with the second place and we kept yellow.”
The last team to sit in the hot seat today, 7C CBZ WILIER’s Louis Meija and Johnny Cattaneo, finished the time-trial in third.
