{"id":13553,"date":"2022-03-24T17:54:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T17:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2022\/03\/24\/bmc-mtb-racing-hang-on-for-stage-4-win-at-absa-cape-epic-r8408\/"},"modified":"2023-03-20T08:52:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T06:52:05","slug":"bmc-mtb-racing-hang-on-for-stage-4-win-at-absa-cape-epic-r8408","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/bmc-mtb-racing-hang-on-for-stage-4-win-at-absa-cape-epic-r8408\/","title":{"rendered":"BMC MTB Racing hang on for Stage 4 win at Absa Cape Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tRobyn de Groot and Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot (BMC MTB Racing) rode a blemish-free ride on Stage 4 in the CM.com Women&#8217;s category at the Absa Cape Epic to win their third stage of the event.\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"w-full aspect-video\" contenteditable=\"false\">\n<div>\n\t\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"113\" id=\"ips_uid_1931_8\"  width=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/npesgiIv4qA?feature=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n\tDe Groot admitted after the 82km stage that the plan was to have a self-imposed rest day, but Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot&#8217;s winning mentality kicked in around 40km into the day; soon after BMC MTB Racing found themselves all alone at the front of the race.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ACE22_S4_Sam Clark_9493.jpeg\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" data-fileid=\"1698331\" data-ratio=\"66.67\" data-unique=\"xxm6f2bcu\" style=\"height: auto;\" width=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/1015402173_ACE22_S4_SamClark_9493.b1b1c47f2b87b11faf1ed36452d4b0a3-1.jpeg\" title=\"\"><br \/>\n\t<em>Pauline Ferrand Pr\u00e9vot and Robyn De Groot during stage 4 of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic. Photo Sam Clark\/Cape Epic.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe orange jersey wearers in the CM.com Women&#8217;s category, Sofia G\u00f3mez Villafane and Haley Batten (NinetyOne-songo-Specialized), hit a slight snag with barbed-wire entangled in a bike. This allowed De Groot and Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot to break away on one of the early hills.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tFaces Rola (Candice Lill and Mariske Strauss) also battled with a puncture, meaning BMC MTB Racing rode from halfway to finish all alone. De Groot appeared to be taking strain in the final 2km as Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot powered home, but she managed to hang in for another victorious stage.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ACE22_Stg4_DomBarnardt-1309.jpg\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" data-fileid=\"1698334\" data-ratio=\"66.67\" data-unique=\"hc75q9jlk\" style=\"height: auto;\" width=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ACE22_Stg4_DomBarnardt-1309.3f46b3c5778acc714ceb4e42107ba9d2-1.jpg\" title=\"\"><br \/>\n\t<em>Elite ladies including Pauline Ferrand Prevot, Robyn de Groot, Haley Batten and Sofia Villafane during stage 4 of the 2022 Absa Cape. Photo by Dom Barnardt \/ Cape Epic.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_body_aunit\" id=\"div-gpt-ad-1628069077697-0\" style=\"min-width: 300px; min-height: 250px;\">\n\t<script>\n    googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1628069077697-0'); });\n  <\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n\t&#8220;That was an unintentional solo breakaway,&#8221; said De Groot. &#8220;I had the PFP-Express in front of me, so I just hung on and made sure I got to the finish. It&#8217;s great riding with Pauline as she is a super motivator. She really got me through today!\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tFerrand-Pr\u00e9vot said the team plan was to try and get away from the other teams on the singletrack, an objective they achieved. Thereafter, her racing instincts kicked in. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what happened; I was just on fire! I felt so good out there today. I didn&#8217;t mean to hurt Robyn; I was just having so much fun.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tGeneral classification leaders in the CM.com Women&#8217;s category NinetyOne-songo-Specialized finished second on the stage, with Private Client Holdings (Hayley Preen and Mari Rabie) finishing third. Faces Rola came in fourth.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<br \/>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ACE22_S4_Sam Clark_9511.jpeg\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" data-fileid=\"1698332\" data-ratio=\"66.67\" data-unique=\"xook2d20g\" style=\"height: auto;\" width=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/38390237_ACE22_S4_SamClark_9511.12487b117dfce3faf2b5d5fa94831f1d-1.jpeg\" title=\"\"><br \/>\n\t<em>Sofia Gomez Villafane and Haley Batten during stage 4 of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic. Photo Sam Clark\/Cape Epic<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&#8220;That was another close day,&#8221; said Haley Batten of NinetyOne-songo-Specialized. &#8220;The women&#8217;s race has been so tight. I&#8217;m really enjoying it. We had a small mishap with the wire; it didn&#8217;t take too long to sort out, but it just allowed Robyn and Pauline to get in front. They are such strong riders. We tried, but we just couldn&#8217;t catch them. We had a lot of fun out there. The UFO Climb was steep and technical but the singletrack was great.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tPrivate Client Holdings&#8217; Mari Rabie said she was surprised but happy with another podium after finishing third on Stages 3 and 4. &#8220;We didn&#8217;t expect this. We had some luck as Candice battled with a puncture, but we had a good ride. I was really surprised how well we rode on the technical trails because that is not our strength. I&#8217;m very impressed with our ride today!\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ACE22_S4_Sam Clark_9548.jpeg\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" data-fileid=\"1698333\" data-ratio=\"66.67\" data-unique=\"4q9cup8e5\" style=\"height: auto;\" width=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/765827820_ACE22_S4_SamClark_9548.92af7c1c31d2a48b46839f05ed4fdb68-1.jpeg\" title=\"\"><br \/>\n\t<em>(LtoR) Haley Batten, Sofia Gomez Villafane, Pauline Ferrand Pr\u00e9vot, Robyn De Groot, Mari Rabie and Hayley Preen after stage 4 of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic. Photo Sam Clark\/Cape Epic<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBatten and Gomez Villafane will start the 115km Stage 5 in the orange Ciovita leader jersey and with an 11-minute lead over second-placed BMC MTB Racing in the overall standings. The race from Greyton to Stellenbosch is sure to produce another close finish in the CM.com Women&#8217;s category.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Stage 4 Results:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n\t\tBMC MTB Racing: 04:03:28.1\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tNinetyOne-songo-Specialized: 04:04:40.4\u00a0\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tPrivate Client Holdings: 04:09:27.4\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robyn de Groot and Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot (BMC MTB Racing) rode a blemish-free ride on Stage 4 in the CM.com Women&#8217;s category at the Absa Cape Epic to win their third stage of the event. De Groot admitted after the 82km stage that the plan was to have a self-imposed rest day, but Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot&#8217;s winning mentality [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-13553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-cape-epic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62142,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13553\/revisions\/62142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13553"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=13553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}