Absa Cape Epic riders in single track paradise

Stage 2 of this year’s Absa Cape Epic presented by adidas was known as the singletrack stage. Riders crossed farmlands, descended rocky scrub and navigated forest paths. The narrow, steep and rocky climbs split the race apart. One of the lead motorbike riders on the race, Martin Glisner, commented after test driving Stage 2’s 60km singletrack the day before that the challenging part of this stage was very rough, and he had to put bandages on his hands as they were hurting so much. “And I’ve got a thick skin as I’m on my motorbike all the time, so I felt really sorry for all the riders who had to face these conditions today. I told them to just take it easy.”
It was a close call for the top teams in this year’s Absa Cape Epic as they battled it out to win the second stage (Stage 2) of this year’s event. Bart Brentjens and Jelmer Pietersma of Trek-Brentjens attained their dream of a stage win in a time of 4:08.06,4 and were closely followed by Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm of the Bulls team (4:08.08,8), with South Africa’s Kevin Evans and Alban Lakata of the MTN Qhubeka Topeak Ergon team (4:08.10,7) following closely in the first sprint finish of this year’s event.

Team MTN Qhubeka Topeak Ergon is still in the overall lead by 4 minutes and 23 seconds (overall time - 8:43.53). The German Bulls team are now in second place overall (8:48.16,2), followed by Trek-Brentjens in third position overall (8:52.18,9).


Early on in the race, the Flűckiger brothers’ team of Lukas and Mathias (team Trek World Racing) launched an attack, pushing hard during the singletrack sections in order to build up a lead of up about five minutes. Due to the weather and terrain conditions of the day (including sun in the riders’ eyes and dust) many of the leading riders did not even notice the breakaway. But then Lady Luck had her own ideas on how the events of the day would play out with Lukas encountering a defect on his derailleur, whereafter he had to walk for 2km to the next vantage point to fix it. Unfortunately he didn’t find the matching product among their spare parts, so in the end he had to ride a majority of the stage with a limited range of gears, and had to dig deep to catch up. The Scott-Swisspower MTB-racing team (Nino Schurter and Florian Vogel) then saw the chance to escape and built up a lead of more than three and a half minutes, followed by MTN Qhubeka Topeak Ergon, Bulls and Trek-Brentjens. Lady Luck was not on their side either as they had a flat tyre and had to change their wheel at water point 3. As the spare wheel did not have enough air, they had to pump the tyre and lost a lot of time. Shortly after on a tar section of the stage, they had yet another flat. The three chasing teams passed them, with MTN Qhubeka Topeak Ergon and Trek-Brentjens realising they were fighting for a stage win (as some spectators already alerted them to the fact that the Flűckiger brothers were out). However, the Bulls team of Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm were not aware of this, thinking that they were fighting for second place. With Jelmer Pietersma (Trek-Brentjens) in front he tried to build up a gap on the last 100 metres before the finish line, confident that Brentjens would be able to outsprint the others to secure a stage win. The Bulls team never attacked as they were blissfully unaware that the stage win was up for grabs, only realising it when they arrived at the finish line.


Says Jelmer Pietersma of the Trek-Brentjens team: “We were initially behind, but managed to catch up with the leading riders. We’re not very good on the climbs, but caught up on the descents. Schurter and Vogel as well as the Flückiger brothers were a few minutes in the lead, but at the second water point we heard the Flückigers had some problems – I believe they broke a chain – and at this point we realised we were riding for victory. Both Bart and I felt quite strong today and when we only had a few hundred meters to go, we knew we could win.” Commenting on his strong sprinting abilities, Brentjens said that if he can see the finish line, he can beat most riders. “Today was really great with lots of single-track, but fast and small climbs all the way,” adds Brentjens. “The Flückiger brothers were unlucky as was Schurter and Vogel.
This year’s race has some really strong contenders. As it is, the Absa Cape Epic is a hard race and very different to any other events – one needs to use a different race tactic. It’s push, push, push all the way – and today’s stage was hard as you had to concentrate all the time and stay focussed. There were also some annoying sandy sections towards the end.” With regards to the possibility of winning another stage, Brentjens commented: “The stages count together, and one gets more tired as the race goes along. At least today we finished early and can take some time to relax.”

According to Bulls Team rider, Stefan Sahm, he felt better during this stage than yesterday. “Today was okay. The climbs and flat sections were better and there was some nice singletrack. In a way we were unlucky today as we thought the Flückiger brothers were ahead of us and didn’t realise we were fighting for first place. If we knew, we definitely would’ve pushed more. But hey, Karl always gets stronger towards the end; we have a lot of patience and can wait.” Adds Platt: “Today was a nice stage with lots of awesome singletrack. At the beginning of the stage, the sun shone right into our faces which made it a bit tricky as you couldn’t see the stones, only dust. We’re feeling really strong and although we finished in second place, we’ll take the jersey in the end.”

Alban Lakata, of the MTN Qhubeka Topeak Ergon team, and still in the lead overall says: “Unfortunately we had some bad luck at the beginning as we had a puncture. I damaged my rear wheel and had to change it, but managed to catch up with the leading group. The Flückiger brothers attacked in one of the singletrack sections but also had some bad luck, as did the Bulls Team. The other Bulls team helped them out with a front wheel, as did our second team by assisting us when I had a puncture. It’s really good to be able to get support from your team mates. It was a tough day and also very hot. The Absa Cape Epic is always a hard race as you have to look where you’re riding and your nutrition is really important.”

The Songo-Specialized by DCM team of Christoph Sauser and Burry Stander finished in 14th place today (4:23.43,3) and they are in ninth place overall (9:03.00,3). Stander felt sick during stage one, and hardly slept the night before stage two, suffering from severe stomach problems.