Top South African rider Burry Stander, who competed at the Beijing Olympics, will team up with reigning mountain bike cross-country world champion Christoph Sauserin March’s gruelling Cape Epic.┬áThe event spans 685km and climbs 14,000m.
Sauser, of Switzerland, and Stander started last year’s race but the South African was forced to withdraw during stage three with a knee injury. Stander feels he has learnt from last year’s disappointment. Stander, 21, who lives and trains in Port Shepstone, is the current South African Under 23 cross-country mountain biking champion ÔÇô 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, fifth overall in the World Cup Series and 15th in Beijing.