GV of riders in Table Mountain National Park during the Absa Cape Epic Prologue held in Table Mountain
National Park as part of the Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race
2009 Western Cape, South Africa.
Photo by The Aerial Perspective /SPORTZPICS
The second Prologue in the six-year history of the Absa Cape Epic presented by adidas, which is a common feature in grand tours on the road, set the seeding order for tomorrow’s (Sunday, 22 March 2009) Stage 1 of the magical untamed mountain bike stage race.
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 1 200 teams raced for the honours of wearing the yellow and leader jerseys out of Gordon’s Bay for tomorrow’s (Sunday, 22 March 2009) 112km stage race between Gordon’s Bay and Villiersdorp.
The day attracted thousands of spectators, with people lining the course, picnicking along the route and cheering the riders on.
Songo.info riders South African Burry Stander and World Champion Christoph Sauser, Prologue winners
during the Absa Cape Epic Prologue held in Table Mountain National Park
as part of the Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race 2009 Western
Cape, South Africa.
Photo by Sven Martin/SPORTZPICS
Men’s Category
The Men’s Category during the Prologue was very competitive with what some labelled as “a slightly surprising result” and some of the favourites not making it to the podium. 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. 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 (32) 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 twenty-one year old Stander as team Songo.info. Stander is the current South African Under 23 Cross-Country mountain biking 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 World Cup Series and 15th at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Says Sauser: “We hit the gas from the word go 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.” Adds Stander: “Today I felt that the Prologue didn’t go as well as it did last year, so it was a big surprise to me that we won. This is testimony that we’re in good shape and takes the pressure off us.”
According to David George, his advantage is rather the physical fitness than the technical strength. “Let’s face it, I’m racing against the best technical rider in the world, Christoph Sauser, and I’ve actually been a roadie until last year. Considering all of this, my performance was not so bad.”
Hannes Genze of Team Multivan Merida says they are very happy with their result because Kaess was ill last week. “Jochen only recovered in the last two days. I didn’t think we could actually pull it off in the Prologue and Jochen was riding at his limit. Making it onto the podium was a sweet reward and a great way to start this year’s race.”
American mountain bike legend Tinker Juarez finished just inside the top-20 with a time of 46.30.9. Juraez has teamed up with South Sfrican rider Johnny Kritzinger to make up the DCM/Monavie-Cannondale team.
Ladies Category
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. Says Booyens: “It was very easy for us to connect again – we’re good friends. Today was an absolutely stunning ride - I didn’t even notice the burnt veld. We kicked off as the sun was rising and the whole of Table Mountain was glowing - it was marvellous. Of course we were a bit worried about today, but it went far beyond our expectations. I was surprised at Sharon’s strength – she has been doing a lot of road biking to strengthen her legs and the results are definitely there. We were going fast today, but definitely not overdoing it and are quite surprised at how well it went.” Adds Laws: “The next few days will be interesting – my longest ride prior to the Absa Cape Epic was a 200km road training run with only 56 km of climbing.”
Mixed Category
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.
Mountain biking legend Sydor and her racing partner Pfitzenmaier took a wrong turn at the start of the race, but quickly realised their mistake and turned around. According to Sydor, they have high expectations of the race this year. “We’re riding for charity organisation Big Tree and would really like to do well. We feel very motivated. Today’s course was great, but it was a bit looser than yesterday and we were blinded by the sun, which made it slightly difficult as we needed to focus on the technical terrain. We’re satisfied that it went so well as we’ve not trained together at all. We communicated mostly via Skype, so our team capabilities were put to the test for the first time today.”
Pfitzenmaier won the Mixed last year with then team mate Ivonne Kraft. He says riding with Alison went perfectly. “We both have good intuition and didn’t need to speak in order to communicate. We’re professional and experienced riders and could see each other’s strengths, build on that and attack on the hills.”
Ivonne Kraft, who finished in second place with team mate Lukas Kubis, says: “Winning last year with Nico was the top achievement for us as a team. We both felt we needed to change the dynamics of our racing and therefore entered with different team mates this year.” After the race. Kraft, Yolande Speedy and Inbar Ronen will be going to Pietermaritzburg for a ‘girl’s camp’ prior to the start of the World Cup which takes place from 9 to 12 April this year.
Race Notes
On the way down from Table Mountain, Karl Platt of Team Bulls, one of the favourites and two times winner of the Absa Cape Epic fell off his bike and dislocated his shoulder. Handicapped by the injury, the Bulls Team lost some valuable time en therefore a chance to win the Prologue. They still finished the 16.5 km loop in 42:51,7 minutes, only 1:52,9 minutes behind the winners.
Gordon’s Bay, the small, idyllic seaside town on the Eastern edge of False Bay sees the start of Stage 1, taking riders over 112km and 2 769m of climbing to Villiersdorp. The first stage of the Absa Cape Epic has never been easy and will be no exception this year. The early steep ascents will stretch out the field, just in time for some rocky single-track. Then riders cross under the N2 and into the Grabouw plantations towards Nuweberg. Still to come is a familiar highlight of the Absa Cape Epic - Groenlandberg. The 5km climb starts off at about 8%. The surface is loose and difficult to maintain momentum, but the gradient eases up near the top. Riders need to take care on the very treacherous downhill, and halfway along the flat 10km gravel section there is a hot spot sprint. Riders need to save something for the last 15km – with several sharp rises on farm roads and dual track - it could take a while to get to Villiersdorp, where riders will settle in for two nights.
Ladies Category
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. Says Booyens: “It was very easy for us to connect again – we’re good friends. Today was an absolutely stunning ride - I didn’t even notice the burnt veld. We kicked off as the sun was rising and the whole of Table Mountain was glowing - it was marvellous. Of course we were a bit worried about today, but it went far beyond our expectations. I was surprised at Sharon’s strength – she has been doing a lot of road biking to strengthen her legs and the results are definitely there. We were going fast today, but definitely not overdoing it and are quite surprised at how well it went.” Adds Laws: “The next few days will be interesting – my longest ride prior to the Absa Cape Epic was a 200km road training run with only 56 km of climbing.”
Mixed Category
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.
Mountain biking legend Sydor and her racing partner Pfitzenmaier took a wrong turn at the start of the race, but quickly realised their mistake and turned around. According to Sydor, they have high expectations of the race this year. “We’re riding for charity organisation Big Tree and would really like to do well. We feel very motivated. Today’s course was great, but it was a bit looser than yesterday and we were blinded by the sun, which made it slightly difficult as we needed to focus on the technical terrain. We’re satisfied that it went so well as we’ve not trained together at all. We communicated mostly via Skype, so our team capabilities were put to the test for the first time today.”
Pfitzenmaier won the Mixed last year with then team mate Ivonne Kraft. He says riding with Alison went perfectly. “We both have good intuition and didn’t need to speak in order to communicate. We’re professional and experienced riders and could see each other’s strengths, build on that and attack on the hills.”
Ivonne Kraft, who finished in second place with team mate Lukas Kubis, says: “Winning last year with Nico was the top achievement for us as a team. We both felt we needed to change the dynamics of our racing and therefore entered with different team mates this year.” After the race. Kraft, Yolande Speedy and Inbar Ronen will be going to Pietermaritzburg for a ‘girl’s camp’ prior to the start of the World Cup which takes place from 9 to 12 April this year.
Race Notes
On the way down from Table Mountain, Karl Platt of Team Bulls, one of the favourites and two times winner of the Absa Cape Epic fell off his bike and dislocated his shoulder. Handicapped by the injury, the Bulls Team lost some valuable time en therefore a chance to win the Prologue. They still finished the 16.5 km loop in 42:51,7 minutes, only 1:52,9 minutes behind the winners.
Stage 1
Gordon’s Bay, the small, idyllic seaside town on the Eastern edge of False Bay sees the start of Stage 1, taking riders over 112km and 2 769m of climbing to Villiersdorp. The first stage of the Absa Cape Epic has never been easy and will be no exception this year. The early steep ascents will stretch out the field, just in time for some rocky single-track. Then riders cross under the N2 and into the Grabouw plantations towards Nuweberg. Still to come is a familiar highlight of the Absa Cape Epic - Groenlandberg. The 5km climb starts off at about 8%. The surface is loose and difficult to maintain momentum, but the gradient eases up near the top. Riders need to take care on the very treacherous downhill, and halfway along the flat 10km gravel section there is a hot spot sprint. Riders need to save something for the last 15km – with several sharp rises on farm roads and dual track - it could take a while to get to Villiersdorp, where riders will settle in for two nights.
Visit www.cape-epic.com for more details and to see where the riders are online during the race.
