{"id":13668,"date":"2022-02-28T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2022\/02\/28\/legends-platt-and-sauser-put-rivalry-aside-for-2022-cape-epic-r8387\/"},"modified":"2023-03-20T08:52:20","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T06:52:20","slug":"legends-platt-and-sauser-put-rivalry-aside-for-2022-cape-epic-r8387","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/legends-platt-and-sauser-put-rivalry-aside-for-2022-cape-epic-r8387\/","title":{"rendered":"Legends Platt and Sauser put rivalry aside for 2022 Cape Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tKarl Platt and Christoph Sauser today announced that they will line up at Lourensford Wine Estate together on 20 March. Sauser and Platt have been fierce rivals since 2006 and are \u2013 with five victories each \u2013 to date the two most successful riders in the men\u2019s pro category.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ACE17_Stage03_NM_8284.jpg\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" data-fileid=\"1697225\" data-ratio=\"66.67\" data-unique=\"v85aa1jmx\" style=\"height: auto;\" width=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ACE17_Stage03_NM_8284.11a0dcc7445342192932108dc0a4337f-1.jpg\" ><br \/>\n\t<em>Photo credit: Nick Muzik.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe pair will race as team songo.info NinetyOne Epic Legends and will race for the blue\u202fNTT Masters jersey instead of the yellow jersey of which they eachown a handful. Since their first head-to-head battle, at the 2006 Absa Cape Epic, they have been the fiercest of rivals and there was little love lost in the early years. Karl Platt won the Absa Cape Epic in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2016; while Christoph Sauser\u2019s victories came in 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015.\u202f\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\u202f\u00a0<br \/>\n\tTo many it might seem like an unlikely partnership, but it is rather a testament to mountain biking and the community of the sport. \u201cWe have always been great rivals but with a lot of respect for each other,\u201d said Platt. \u201cI think it says a lot about the sport that the two biggest rivals can race together.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ACE_STG7_EH-436.jpg\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" data-fileid=\"1697224\" data-ratio=\"66.75\" data-unique=\"94gwws7e5\" style=\"height: auto;\" width=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ACE_STG7_EH-436.079e856b780964dc363d3043d263683d-1.jpg\" ><br \/>\n\t<em>Photo credit: Emma Hill.<\/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\tThe blue NTT Masters jersey symbolises loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence and is associated with inner strength and stability, all characteristics that both Platt and Sauser possess in abundance. Given their combined experience and contributions to the event, it would be fitting to see two of the greatest mountain bikers add a further leader jersey to their mantle. The story of how their personalities and racing styles will gel is yet to be written.\u202f\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<br \/>\n\t\u201cThe competitive fire is burning, but I must honestly say that when I see the pros racing and how fast they start, I\u2019m really happy not to have to wake up three hours before the start and go through the whole breakfast-and-prep-and-warm-up routine.\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\u202f\u00a0<br \/>\n\tNow I just wake up late and roll to the start.\u201d Explained Platt.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ACE19_S2_NickMuzik_1018 (1).jpg\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" data-fileid=\"1697226\" data-ratio=\"66.67\" data-unique=\"ybt0ywxxi\" style=\"height: auto;\" width=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/220772482_ACE19_S2_NickMuzik_10181.c052ab64ffb7186244bdf6030f2065c8-1.jpg\" ><br \/>\n\t<em>Photo credit: Nick Muzik.\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\tThe community element of mountain biking is an area of particular interest to Sauser, \u201cthe Absa Cape Epic used to be in my head for pretty much all of my winter training as it was the kick off to season. Now it\u2019s totally different for me as I race in support of our charity, songo.info, to raise awareness, funds and to inspire the future generations.\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\u201cBeing part of the Specialized team is also incredibly important to me as it allows me to pass on my experience to the youngsters coming up through the ranks,\u201d he said.\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\u202f\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\u201cI am really looking forward to riding with Karl,\u201d said Sauser, in closing. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than racing through the trails in the Western Cape and doing it in the NTT Masters category will be a lot better than eating dust like in the Elite category.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"2017 ABSA Cape Epic by Zoon Cronje-04092.JPG\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" data-fileid=\"1697223\" data-ratio=\"66.75\" data-unique=\"h4l2n2arh\" style=\"height: auto;\" width=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/431020685_2017ABSACapeEpicbyZoonCronje-04092.58c56b4bebab3df72af1d2482f0f6c34-1.jpg\" ><br \/>\n\t<em>Photo credit: Zoon Cronje.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Karl Platt and Christoph Sauser today announced that they will line up at Lourensford Wine Estate together on 20 March. Sauser and Platt have been fierce rivals since 2006 and are \u2013 with five victories each \u2013 to date the two most successful riders in the men\u2019s pro category. Photo credit: Nick Muzik. The pair [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-13668","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\/13668","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=13668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62161,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13668\/revisions\/62161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13668"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=13668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}