Grand finale at the Absa Cape Epic 2019: The final stage didn't sound tough at 70 kilometres, but 1800 metres of climbing - most of it on the wonderful single trails around Stellenbosch - is a real seal puller after seven days in the saddle. Although it looked like an easy overall victory for Scott-Sram, European champion Lars Forster was really relieved at the finish at the Val de Vie vineyard: "I wasn't feeling so good the day before yesterday and yesterday, I really had to fight. Luckily I had a partner who still had plenty of power to deliver. I'm so happy that we took the overall victory," said a visibly shaken Forster. His Swiss team partner, world champion Nino Schurter, also confirmed the special nature of this victory: "When I took part in the Epic for the first time and was able to win straight away, I was very lucky. You don't appreciate that until you're there again. This victory is something special for me and I'm happy for Lars, who rode superbly, that it worked out so well."
As expected, several teams started the final day with ambitions of taking the stage win. There were breakaways with the South Africans Philip Beuys and Matthys Beukes (Pyga EuroSteel) and Kross-Spur, Gutierrez and Cink, who had repeatedly flashed during the week that they would have liked to ride more than top 10. A chasing group with CST Sandd, Trek Selle San Marco, two Bulls teams, the two 7C CBZ Wilier teams and Specialised Foundation NAD were hot on the heels of the escapees. However, they were unable to catch up with the quartet, who coordinated and worked together until the finish. As the overall classification was not affected by these teams, there was no reason for the chasers and the decisive two teams - Nino Schurter/Lars Forster and Manuel Fumic/Henrique Avancini (Cannondale) - to risk everything.
Final sprint with photo finish: Cink/Gutierrez in front
The stage decision was then extremely close: a tenth of a second or ten centimetres between the front wheel made the difference between first and second place. As the team classification counts, Kross-Spur won because Cink crossed the finish line a touch ahead of Buys, after Beukes and Gutierrez were already through. The Spanish-Czech combo of Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez and Ondrej Cink could certainly have made a difference in the overall standings, but a defect in the first stage threw them back a long way. "At least we managed to take a stage win at the last opportunity. That was very nice," said Gutierrez at the finish in Val de Vie.
Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini remained in second place at the Cape Epic 2019 after the two had once again ridden in the yellow Zebra leader's jersey for a few days. In an interview, the marathon world champion from Brazil had explained very emotionally how important it would be for him to win the Epic together with "Mani" Fumic. In the end, there were 7:30 minutes between them and the overall winners Schurter/Forster. The gap to third place, Samuele Porro and Damiano Ferraro, was well secured at around nine minutes. As the Italo duo from Trek Selle San Marco rode consistently, Urs Huber and Simon Stiebjahn (Bulls) were unfortunately denied the step onto the overall podium. Here, too, there were over nine minutes between third and fourth place, with the South Africans Alan Hatherly and Matthew Beers (Specialised Foundation NAD) taking fifth place overall in the African classification.
Fifth Cape Epic victory for Annika Langvad
There was a full-throttle champagne shower at the award ceremony for the women, who - as expected - finished in the overall rankings: Annika Langvad with Anna van der Breggen (Investec Songo Specialised) ahead of Adelheid Morath with Candice Lill (Summit Fin) and Ariane Lüthi with Maja Wloszczowska (Kross-Spur). The overall times speak for themselves: 30 minutes each between one and two and three.
Even though the world champion Langvad always reacted very cautiously to an overall victory during the week, she was as exuberant as everyone else at the award ceremony. The burden was lifted because, as she had explained in an interview, she was travelling with a double job: getting herself through the stage and turning a road world champion into a world-class mountain biker in one week. She verbally coached the Dutchwoman through all the technical sections. Mission completed. Five wins in five starts at the Cape Epic, putting Langvad on a par with the legends Karl Platt and Christoph Sauser in the men's race. How could you beat Annika Langvad at the Epic? "I don't know myself," said the Dane, giving her competitors the answer.
Her team-mate Anna van der Breggen looked more than happy that the exertions were over. "That was a really tough week. A new experience for me, on the one hand it was exciting to experience it like that and to push my body to new limits. The suffering was hard to bear, but at the same time I enjoyed it. I don't think my body has ever been as exhausted as it was during that week of the Epic, I've never spent so many hours on a bike. It was so hard at the beginning, but now I'm enjoying the feeling of having achieved what we set out to do."
Well-known names at the front in the Masters and Grand Masters categories
Jose Hermida and Joaquim Rodriguez (Merida) won the Masters category, which meant an impressive 26th place overall. Abraao Azevedo and Bart Brentjens (CST Sandd Bafang) had an impeccable record in the Grand Masters: eight stage wins clearly make them the overall winners.
The team of former road pro and world champion Oscar Freire Gomez and Natalia Fischer Egusquiza won the Grand Finale in the mixed classification. But the overall victory of Laura and Werner Stark (TBR-Werner), a German couple currently living in Cape Town, was unchallenged with a 36-minute lead in the total time.
