There was a second stage win for the SCOTT-SRAM Young Guns of Michiel van der Heijden and Andri Frischknecht at the Grand Finale of the 2017 Absa Cape Epic, but the crowds at Val de Vie in Paarl had lined up to watch Olympic champion Nino Schurter and partner Matthias Stirnemann claim their maiden Absa Cape Epic crown.
Riding as a team for the first time, Schurter and Stirnemann (SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing), along with their Young Guns back-up team, dominated the final few stages of the 2017 Absa Cape Epic. It meant they went into the final stage with a seven-minute gap over second-placed Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy (Investec-Songo-Specialized).
With Sauser’s experience, however, Schurter and Stirnemann were taking nothing for granted on the 85km Grand Finale.
‘Today the plan was just to get to the finish. We didn’t want to do anything stupid,’ said an elated Stirnemann. ‘It was quite emotional for me, because anything can happen and at the beginning we thought Christoph and Jaroslav would attack, so we just wanted to stay with them.’
As has been the case all week, though, Sauser was unable to find his legs when he needed them most. ‘Right after the start we noticed that Christoph wasn’t doing so well,’ said Stirnemann. ‘Then I started to relax and we just rode sensibly so that there were no punctures or crashes.’
The Absa Cape Epic debutant could hardly believe that he had won the event on his first attempt. ‘This is amazing, just amazing. I really can’t believe it. I think I need to go home now and take it all in before I realise what this means. It’s been great to ride in the yellow zebra jersey, and of course even better to finish in yellow and win the Absa Cape Epic.’
For Schurter, a bronze, silver and gold Olympic medal winner in cross-country racing, the win comes in his fourth Absa Cape Epic – his previous best had been a fifth place in 2014. The current Olympic and world champion, cool and calm as ever at the end, admitted that the strategy was always to come and win the Absa Cape Epic, but only in 2018.
‘The plan was to come here in 2018 and win, but we are a year early.’ said Schurter. ‘This is very special. To win the Olympics and then come to South Africa and win the Cape Epic, that is great. After Rio it was always my intention to come and win the Absa Cape Epic, but this has taken us by surprise. I thought next year would be our year. We are ahead of schedule.’
The 2017 Absa Cape Epic winner had nothing but praise for his back-up team of Van der Heijden and Frischknecht. ‘I have to say, our back-up team was outstanding. To come here in their first Cape Epic and do so well, is incredible. They are very special guys and they make the team very special. They made no mistakes all week.’
Past champions like five-time winner Sauser have emphasised that the Absa Cape Epic can only be won with a back-up team. That point was proven yet again by the SCOTT riders. ‘You need a back-up team to win this event, and as we have seen this week you need a good back-up team,’ said Schurter.’
Grand Finale stage winner Michiel van der Heijden could barely contain his excitement, grinning from ear-to-ear after a phenomenal debut at the race.
‘I can’t describe it; this is just unreal,’ he said. ‘We have two stage wins – which I never expected at the start of the Absa Cape Epic – and the team has won overall. It’s incredible. We have definitely surprised ourselves. The strategy for this year was for us to check the race out and then to come back in 2018 and help the SCOTT team win. Now I don’t know what we’ll do next year.’
Prologue winners and race leaders for the first four stages of this year’s Absa Cape Epic, Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini, also finished with big smiles in Paarl despite dropping down to fifth in the overall standings. ‘We had more ups than downs this week,’ said Fumic. ‘Overall, it was a good week for us. We came here to win the Prologue and we achieved that. Now we are going to drink lots of red wine and gin & tonics.’
Christoph Sauser, who came out of retirement to try and win his sixth Absa Cape Epic, believes that the performances of cross-country specialists have changed the nature of the race, which is normally considered a marathon riders event.
‘I think this year has shown that the dynamic of the Absa Cape Epic has changed,’ said Sauser. ‘Previously you could go slow and warm up in the first hour, but this year it has been full on for the first hour of the race. You needed to ride really hard as there was no let up.
‘Going forward, I think we will see faster starts now and riders will have to change the way they train, focusing more on speed and cutting back on long hours as they race starts to get closer.’
Asked whether he’d consider racing again in 2018, Sauser said, ‘I think now it’s time for retirement.’
Stage 7 Men – Stage Results
1 Scott-SRAM Young Guns 18-1 Michiel Van der Heijden (Netherlands) 18-2 Andri Frischknecht (Switzerland) 2:57.14,9
2 Trek-Selle San Marco 2 13-1 Damiano Ferraro (Italy) 13-2 Fabian Rabensteiner (Italy) 2:57.32,3 +17,4
3 SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing 5-1 Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 5-2 Matthias Stirnemann (Switzerland) 2:57.53,2 +38,3
Overall Results
1 SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing 5-1 Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 5-2 Matthias Stirnemann (Switzerland) 26:35.06,5
2 Investec-Songo-Specialized 3-1 Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) 3-2 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) 26:43.13,9 +8.07,4
3 Centurion Vaude 2 16-1 Nicola Rohrbach (Switzerland) 16-2 Daniel Geismayr (Austria) 26:54.41,3 +19.34,8
4 Kansai Plascon 7-1 Hector Leonardo Paez Leon (Colombia) 7-2 Max Knox (South Africa) 26:55.39,2 +20.32,7
5 Cannondale Factory Racing XC 8-1 Manuel Fumic (Germany) 8-2 Henrique Avancini (Brazil) 27:04.57,0 +29.50,5
6 Scott-SRAM Young Guns 18-1 Michiel Van der Heijden (Netherlands) 18-2 Andri Frischknecht (Switzerland) 27:08.58,9 +33.52,4
7 PYGA Euro Steel 9-1 Philip Buys (South Africa) 9-2 Matthys Beukes (South Africa) 27:36.12,8 +1:01.06,3
8 Topeak Ergon Racing 4-1 Alban Lakata (Austria) 4-2 Kristian Hynek (Czech Republic) 27:48.45,2 +1:13.38,7
9 Centurion Vaude 6-1 Jochen Kaess (Germany) 6-2 Markus Kaufmann (Germany) 27:52.40,6 +1:17.34,1
10 Claes – Carabin 24-1 Frans Claes (Belgium) 24-2 Sebastien Carabin (Belgium) 28:03.21,3 +1:28.14,8
Picture of the winners celebrating courtesy of Photo by Shaun Roy/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
WOMEN’S RACE
A year after having heart surgery, Jennie Stenerhag wept on Sunday as she and Esther Süss won the Absa Cape Epic Women’s category.
‘I can’t stop crying. I am so happy … it is just unbelievable,’ said Swede Stenerhag. ‘I don’t know what date it is today, but I think it is four days until exactly a year after my heart operation.’
Stenerhag pulled out of the race while lying second in 2016 and then had surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat. ‘Since that day my biggest goal was to try and come back to win this race,’ said Stenerhag. ‘To pull it through, is something completely unreal. I cannot believe that I am standing here as the winner.’
Experience and consistency were key to that win when Süss from Switzerland and Stenerhag crossed the line as third women’s team at the final stage to Val de Vie Estate near Paarl. But they had done enough to claim a convincing victory overall in the Hansgrohe Women’s category.
The Meerendal CBC team’s total time was 31 hours, 39 minutes and 43 seconds, 35 minutes and 19 seconds ahead of Sunday’s runners up, Mariske Strauss and Annie Last (Hansgrohe Cadence OMX Pro), with the final stage winners Robyn de Groot and Sabine Spitz (Ascendis Health) a further 12 minutes back.
‘It has been a tough week. It has not been an easy week,’ added Stenerhag. ‘But Esther and I have been in such good form that I have not found it as tough as I expected. I think that was because we have been so good this week that it did not seem so hard.
‘Obviously (Spitz and De Groot) had some bad luck, but on the day they had the biggest bad luck we had ridden away from them, so I want to believe we could have beaten them anyway … and staying on your bike is part of the game.
‘I think we won by keeping everything smooth and consistent. We just kept calm and never thought we could win until now when we crossed the line. I think that helped because we never stressed about anything – just kept it smooth.
‘It is a fairytale. I put so much into it. Everything I have done for the last three months has been just with this as a goal. It is just amazing.’
Süss was ecstatic about the win. ‘I am only happy, happy, happy.’ said the 2010 Marathon World Champion. ‘It was quite tough and fast and you had to really be focussed because something can happen so fast. I am only happy.’
Stage 7 from Grabouw to Val de Vie was a tense three-way battle with the three podium finishers locked in a struggle for the stage win. De Groot and Spitz, after their bad luck the previous day, which saw them lose second position overall following a broken handlebar, were probably the most motivated and they just edged Strauss and Last in the sprint, with the race winners crossing the line third.
‘Yeah, we did not allow the troubles to get us down this week,’ said a disappointed De Groot after the finish. ‘We did not give up and focused on the stage win today, and it worked out.’
‘Our riding has been good all week, but we just had bad luck, but that is sport and you have to pick yourselves up from those moments and to experience these things. I think Sabine and I will never forget this week.
‘We have ended up being very good friends and get on very well. We looked at each other last night and said shall we come back next year. I think we need a few days and then we will probably commit to it.’
In the Virgin Active Mixed category the Scott-Sram Nextlevel duo of 22-year-old Rio Olympic Champion and 1996 world champion, 47-year-old Thomas Frischknecht were in a class of their own.
On Sunday they finished off a clean sweep of eight victories in eight days as they cruised to a massive 65-minute win overall over Grant Usher and Amy Beth McDougall (joBerg2c-Valencia), with Johan Labuschagne and Catherine Williamson (RBI Tech – Mitas) a further 45 minutes a back in third.
Photo by Mark Sampson/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
Stage 7 Women
Stage Results
1 Ascendis Health 51-1 Sabine Spitz (Germany) 51-2 Robyn de Groot (South Africa) 3:34.27,0
2 Hansgrohe Cadence OMX Pro 54-1 Mariske Strauss (South Africa) 54-2 Annie Last (England) 3:34.27,5 +0,5
3 Meerendal CBC 52-1 Esther Suss (Switzerland) 52-2 Jennie Stenerhag (Sweden) 3:34.41,9 +14,9
Overall Results
1 Meerendal CBC 52-1 Esther Suss (Switzerland) 52-2 Jennie Stenerhag (Sweden) 31:39.43,7
2 Hansgrohe Cadence OMX Pro 54-1 Mariske Strauss (South Africa) 54-2 Annie Last (England) 32:15.03,0 +35.19,3
3 Ascendis Health 51-1 Sabine Spitz (Germany) 51-2 Robyn de Groot (South Africa) 32:26.46,0 +47.02,3
4 Spur 50-1 Ariane Lüthi (Switzerland) 50-2 Adelheid Morath (Germany) 32:49.49,2 +1:10.05,5
5 Hollard-Velocity Sports Lab 138-1 Carmen Buchacher (South Africa) 138-2 Michelle Vorster (Namibia) 33:02.42,8 +1:22.59,1
6 DormaKaba SA 55-1 Candice Lill (South Africa) 55-2 Vera Adrian (Namibia) 33:15.00,7 +1:35.17,0
7 Meerendal CBC 2 53-1 Hielke Elferink (Netherlands) 53-2 Cornelia Hug (Switzerland) 33:57.00,1 +2:17.16,4
8 Merchants 438-1 Jeannie Bomford (South Africa) 438-2 Samantha Sanders (South Africa) 33:57.17,3 +2:17.33,6
9 LIVBeyond 667-1 Fienie Barnard (South Africa) 667-2 Dalene van der Leek (South Africa) 35:22.25,5 +3:42.41,8
10 Spur Foundation 57-1 Alice Pirard (Belgium) 57-2 Sabrina Enaux (France) 35:34.21,4 +3:54.37,7