Now in its sixth year, the Absa Cape Epic presented by adidas got underway at the weekend with the opening prologue, which sets the seeding order of first stage of the eight-day stage race.

Prologue

For the first time in the history of the race, the 16.5km Prologue circuit took place on the slopes of World Heritage site Table Mountain. The 1200 teams raced for the honours of wearing the leader jerseys out of Gordon’s Bay for stage 1’s 112km stage race between Gordon’s Bay and Villiersdorp.

Crowds were very excited when top South African team and last year’s winners of the Prologue Kevin Evans and David George (MTN Energade) had the best split time halfway through the course (20:45). However, they could not hold on to their lead and lost around 15 seconds on the last single-track section. In the end, Evans and George finished only 5,3 seconds (41:04,1) behind Christoph Sauser and Burry Stander (Team songo-info), who won the Prologue in a time of 40:58,8. They were followed by Hannes Genze and Jochen Kaess (Multivan Merida) finishing in third place (41:45,3).

Sauser is the reigning Cross Country World Champion and double World Cup Overall Champion with 16 World Cup wins behind his name. He has been racing professionally since 1993 and won the 2006 Absa Cape Epic with fellow Swiss rider Silvio Bundi. It is the second year in a row that he races with 21 year old Stander as team Songo.info. Stander is the current South African Under 23 Cross-Country Champion – a title he has won six times in different age groups. He also finished second in the Under 23 World Championship, second overall in the World Cup Andorra, 5th overall in the 2008 World Cup Series and 15th at the Beijing Olympic Games.

“We hit the gas from the word go,” says Sauser, “and actually deemed Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm to be faster than what they were in the end. We had a brief look at the route yesterday, got lost a few times, but finally had the key sections imprinted in our minds. So we could go fast.”

South African rider Hanlie Booyens and British team mate Sharon Laws (Absa Ladies) won the Ladies Category in a time of 56:26, 5 minutes ahead of Sarah Koch and Daniela Hartmann (2 Swiss Epic Girls) in second place (01:02:30,2) with South African team Robyn Adendorff and Sarah van Heerden (WSP – Jeep Girls) in third place (01:08:01,7).

Booyens and Laws won the Absa Cape Epic Ladies division in 2004. They also raced together at La Ruta in Costa Rica the same year. In 2006 they raced the TransAlps and it was their last race as a team until now.

Top riders Alison Sydor and Nico Pfitzenmaier (Adidas Big Tree) won the Mixed Category in a time of 49:03,5 minutes, followed by Ivonne Kraft and Lukas Kubis (Haibike-VMT) in second place (50:02,5). Third place went to Yolande Speedy and Paul Cordes (IMC/Momentum GT/Activeworx) in a time of 51:49,1 minutes.

Gateway/Cycle Studio RT’s Jonathan Stenson and Peter Turnbull were the highest placed Brit men following the prologue – full results available here.

Stage 1

Young South African mountain biker, Burry Stander, proved he could compete with the best by finishing first with his teammate, reigning Cross Country World Champion Christoph Sauser (team songo.info) in the first stage of the world renowned Absa Cape Epic presented by adidas. With only a 4 minute and 6 seconds gap between the first and second place winners (overall), this year’s event promises to be one of the most exciting to date.

Songo.info crossed the finish line of Stage 1 in a time of 04:50:11. They are the overall leaders of the race with a time of 05:31:09. The German Bulls team Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm finished in second place in a time of 04:52:23, which also secured them the second place overall (05:35:15). In third place were Tim Böhme and Thomas Dietsch (Bulls 2) in a time of 04:54:42, finishing in fourth place overall (05:38:28). Bart Brentjens and Chris Jongewaard (Trek-Brentjens) finished in 4th place today, but secured the third overall position (05:37:44).

Brentjens and Jongewaard together with Sauser and Stander broke away from the rest of the riders early on in the race when riders had to tackle the first climb at Steenbras Dam. They soon gained a time advantage with Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm leading the chasing pack and on the 200 meter single track downhill and technical part, they were able to maintain their comfortable lead.

“Although one can’t really pre-empt what all could happen during a stage race, today went very much according to plan. We decided to stay with whichever team would attack and maintain their pace until the finish. We managed to overtake Bart and Chris in the climb at Groenlandberg. Unfortunately we had a flat 10 km before the finish which we repaired with paper – a quick fix – so that we didn’t lose too much time and could maintain our lead,” commented Sauser.

The first ladies to complete Stage 1 were Hanlie Booyens and Sharon Laws (Absa Ladies) finishing in 06:38:33, also keeping them in the overall lead (07:34:59). Finishing in second place were the 2 Swiss Epic Girls, Sarah Koch and Daniela Hartmann (07:43:13), securing their second place overall in a time of 08:45:44. In third place were Robyn Adendorff and Sarah van Heerden (WSP – Jeep Girls) in a time of 07:43:29. They are also placed third overall in the Ladies (08:51:31).

Nico Pfitzenmaier and Alison Sydor (Team Adidas Big Tree) walked away with the leader jersey in the Mixed category in a time of 05:31:26 putting them in the overall lead (06:20:30). They were followed by Marcel Bartholet and Esther Süss (Wheeler – IXS Pro) in a time of 05:44:38 (2nd overall – 06:37:48) with Paul Cordes and Yolande Speedy in third place (05:51:22). They are also third overall (06:43:11).

“According to the course profile, today was the toughest stage of this year’s Absa Cape Epic,” said Alison Sydor. “We wanted to do well and to be in the lead overall, you have to win the toughest stage. Actually our plan was to start riding conservatively, but we were riding with strong groups and both had good legs, so we simply went for it. When you have a good day, you must make up time if you can. Nico is a great partner and the best I’ve ever had. He’s extraordinarily generous with his energy and really supports his team mate. That is what this race is all about – you have to work together to do well as a team.”

Gateway/Cycle Studio RT’s Jonathan Stenson and Peter Turnbull are currently lying in 53rd position and are the highest placed all Brit team.

Live results and more at www.cape-epic.com