On a beautiful Saturday morning with perfect race conditions the 4th Absa Cape Epic started in Knysna and headed for Uniondale. With just about all the who’s of who in mountain biking in the world at the start line this was gonna be a Epic to remember. Bart Brentjens, Christoph Sauser, Roel Paulisen, Ralph Naef, Jose Hermida, Karl Platt are just some of the names that lined up next to us.

With the Prince Alfred pass and the Old Wagon Trail at the end of the stage as the 2 main obstacles of the day, the pace at the beginning were not like in other years, full out from the start.

Melt and I managed to stay in the leading bunch of about 12 teams till we hit the Prince Alfred pass where the “man with the hammer” just knocked on his door and we had to follow our own pace up the 13km climb to the top.

In the front Karl Platt and Stephan Sahm from team Bulls had an awesome ride to win the first stage with Roel Paulisen and Jakob Vogelsang in 2nd and the current marathon world champion Ralph Naef and Jose Hermida in 3rd.

Kevin Evans and Brandon Stewart managed a respectable 10th place and Melt and I finished in 13th place.

Tomorrow is a killer of a stage as we turn into the Kamanassie mountains before we head out to Oudtshoorn.

When I said 2morrow is gonna be a killer I did not know we would have a piece of the Trans Alp in the middle of the Karoo, but I must say I actually really enjoyed it.

Melt and I road at a clever pace the whole of the 35km through the roughest piece of mountain biking I ever experienced in South Africa. We were riding in about 12th place again but to the end managed to make up positions and finish in 7th place overall.

In the front the lead has changed hands and Roel Paulisen and Jakob Vogelsang won the stage and are also the overall leaders now. In second place was Karl and Stephan who also dropped down to 2nd overall. In 3rd place was Bart Brentjens and Rudi von Houts who moved up to 3rd overall behind Karl Platt and Stephan Sahm.

Some of the big favourites suffered a lot of punctures 2day. Last years winners Christoph Sauser with new partner Johan Pallhuber and Silvio Bundi riding with Gion Matesch lost lots of time and will probably come out hunting for the time they lost 2day in the next couple of days.
Kevin and Brandon once again finished in 10th place.

1st Paulissen/Vogelsang
2nd Platt/Sahm
3rd Brentjens/ van Houts
4th Naef/Hermida
5th Lakata/Peters
6th Spaeth/Zahnd
7th Heymans/Swanepoel
8th Sickmuller/Birkenfeld
9th Wilson/Rossouw
10th Evans/Stewart

3 down 5 to go.

With another 125km stage and the Kammanassie Mountains in the legs 2day was also not too easy. The race started with a fast tempo on the first flat jeep track. We then turned into some farm land that splited the bunch and all the teams found there place and position in the race again.

After Melt had a crash just before the first water point we were dropped fro the leading bunch and teamed up with Kevin and Brandon as well as the 2 adidas/William Simpson teams. A 4km climb on loose gravel at 14% average had even al the top teams off there bikes pushing.

The 8 of us stayed together till the 2nd water point. The next 60km we just kept a steady tempo and from there on the 2 Raleigh/MTN teams went clear and we kept it steady waiting for some of the front teams to crack.
On the final climb we could see 3 teams again and manage to close the gap to 2 min on them. Paulisen/Vogelsang once again won the sage with Platt/Sahm in 2nd and Naef/Hermida in 3rd.
Melt and I finished in 10th today with Kevin and Bandon in 9th.

I do not know what lies ahead 2morrow but hope it is not another 5 hour plus day.

Finally halfway!!

But how hard was it to get here. The so called rest day started in chilly conditions as we rolled out of Ladismith on 6km of tar road. As we turned onto the dirt fighting for position was critical which meant an increase in pace.

Just before the first water point a slowing in pace gave Kevin and Brandon the opportunity to try and get a first podium position for a South African team. At first nobody was interested to chase them down and they quickly got a 3 min gap. Their lead kept hovering around the 3 min mark until we passed the 3rd watering point of the day.

The final climb was on millions of loose rocks that made it difficult for them to stay in front and they were eventually caught with 20km to go to finish in a brilliant 4th place.

Melt and I had to fight for position all day through the sand and rocks to finally finish in 8th spot.

Naef/Hermida got there first stage win with Platt/Sahm in 2nd while Paulisen/Vogelsang had to settle for 3rd after losing time with mechanical.

What a nice day of mountain biking.

After the controlled start out of Barrydale 5 teams escaped from the bunch. The pack including all the favourites was happy to take it a bit easy up to the first water point.

At this point Platt/Sahm had suffered a slow puncture and Naef/Hermida were off the back. Paulisen/Vogelsang and Brentjens/Van Houts decided this was payback time for chasing yesterday when they had a flat and forced the tempo leaving the African teams in their wake in pursuit of the leaders.

The top 4 African teams, 2 Raleigh/MTN and 2 adidas/William Simpson stayed together for the rest of the day enjoying the awesome route. Melt and I finished the day in 11th and Kevin and Brandon 12th position.

In the front Paulisen/Vogelsang suffered some more mechanical problems and lost their lead to Platt/Sahm. The stage was won by Brentjens/Van Houts moving up to 3rd overall, with Platt/Sahm taking their 4th 2nd place in a row.

Both our teams dropped a position on the overall classification to 8th and 9th respectively as the Stevens Team was among the early escapees that stayed away.

As the Absa Cape Epic left Montagu we had to cover 111km to Villiersdorp including a 25km stretch on tar. After about 10km Melt and I decided to try and organise a group of riders that could work together over the fist climb, the 25km on the tar and then to see what big a gap we could get before the 6km hike a bike section.

We were eventually joint by Shan and Jacques as well as the road professional Jaco and Jacques from Excel. We managed to open up a gap of about 3 and a half minutes as we turned right of the tar and onto the technical hike a bike section. With the leaders so close together Paulisen/Vogelsang attacked Platt/Sahm and our lead demolished half way up the climb.

First Paulisen/Vogelsang passed us followed by Platt/Sahm and Bundi/Matesch. At the top we managed to hold onto yesterday’s stage winners Brentjens/Van Houts and Zahnd/Spath for the next 20km. Only on the final climb before Villiersdorp they dropped us and we finished in 7th place.

Paulisen/Vogelsang won the stage and claimed back the yellow from Platt/Sahm by 11 sec. Shan and Jacques finished just in front of us in 5th place and Kevin and Brandon, after a couple of punctures in 9th.

The end is in sight.

Today’s stage was a lot harder than the profile could ever have predicted. As if climbing the infamous Groenland Berg was not enough, the last 25km seemed like a never ending stretch over loose, rough trails. And don’t think anything in between was any easier….!!

Disaster struck the Platt/Sahm team as they broke a pedal up the Groenland Berg climb. Luckily for them they got a spare pedal from another rider and they had there work cut out to get to the front of the race again. Not only did they manage this, but they also went on to claim back the yellow jersey after Paulisen/Vogelsang had yet another puncture which totally demoralised them.

From the Groenland Berg climb Melt and I rode our own tempo finishing in 8th place. Our other team mates finished in 6th place and now we are lying in 7th and 8th place respectively on the general classification.

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