{"id":15569,"date":"2019-02-20T10:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T10:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2019\/02\/20\/mixed-aspirations-for-triple-world-champ-oscar-freire-at-the-absa-cape-epic-r7718\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T05:28:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T05:28:54","slug":"mixed-aspirations-for-triple-world-champ-oscar-freire-at-the-absa-cape-epic-r7718","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/mixed-aspirations-for-triple-world-champ-oscar-freire-at-the-absa-cape-epic-r7718\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixed Aspirations for Triple World Champ, \u00d3scar Freire, at the Absa Cape Epic."},"content":{"rendered":"

As a former three-time World Champion whenever \u00d3scar Freire pins a number to his kit he attracts a great deal of attention. Even if those victories came on far smoother roads than the ones he will need to conquer, alongside Natalia Fischer Egusquiza, in the 2019 Absa Cape Epic. Freire is after-all cycling royalty and given Fischer Egusquiza\u2019s impressive off-road palmar\u00e8s the MMR Mixed pair start as favourites for the Virgin Active Mixed Category.<\/p>\n

While Freire, who along with Alfredo Binda, Rick van Steenbergen, Peter Sagan and Eddy Merckx holds the record for the most road world title victories, needs no introduction his partner is less well known. Fischer Egusquiza is a multi-disciplinary talent; having raced on the road and in duathlon as well as triathlon events, in addition to her budding mountain biking career. She has proven herself to be particularly adept at the marathon distance; claiming the 2017 and 2018 Spanish XCM national titles while finishing nineteenth in the World XCM Championships last year. \u201cI\u2019ve changed my preseason planning this year because I will focus on XCO racing this season\u201d the 25-year-old MMR Factory Team rider explained. \u201cI have been working so hard in the gym and I\u2019m racing stage races, with the team, to build my base for the season ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n\"ccs-62657-0-99722000-1550659228.jpg\"<\/a>\u00d3scar Freire.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\"ccs-62657-0-54955400-1550659229.jpg\"<\/a>Natalia Fischer Egusquiza.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited about racing the Absa Cape Epic this year\u201d Freire enthused. \u201cLast year I didn\u2019t train as much as I wanted to, but this year I\u2019m racing with the MMR Factory Racing Team and I have raced a few stage races like the Mediterranean Epic to prepare the Absa Cape Epic. I\u2019m more like a diesel car now\u201d he laughed. \u201cBut I think my teammate Natalia Fischer [Egusquiza] and I will have a few opportunities to fight for the win on a few stages. We aim for a really great position on the GC, she is a superclass rider and we are working hard to make a good race\u201d the 42-year-old elaborated.<\/p>\n

Continuing the theme of playing down their chances, in what is shaping up to be a highly competitive Virgin Active Mixed Category, Fischer Egusquiza added: \u201c\u00d3scar has a lot of experience on and off the bike. I\u2019m learning a lot from him and there are two stages where we want to go for the win. To fight for the GC is hard but we will give 100% for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-32637400-1550659227.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The battle for the green jerseys is likely to rage all the way to Val de Vie with the MMR Mixed team facing off against compatriots Ramona Gabriel Batalla and Antonio Moreno Ortega, of Garmin Ixcor. Gabriel Batalla like Fischer Egusquiza would be equally at home in the UCI women\u2019s field, but has chosen to also make her Absa Cape Epic debut in the Virgin Active Mixed Category. Other contenders for the category include Martin and Jeannie Dreyer; Sebastian and Laura Stark; Swiss Epic mixed category podium finishers Benjamin Michael and Hannah K\u00f6lling; and accomplished IRONMAN athletes Emma Anderson Cryns and Jose Antonio Pe\u00f1a Salcedo.<\/p>\n

Freire and Fischer Egusquiza head up a strong Spanish assault on the Virgin Active Mixed Category with three of the top six teams flying the Rojigualda. As the former World Champion explained the event is more popular than ever with his country-men and -women: \u201cThe Absa Cape Epic is one of the best races in the world. Every team wants to fight for a spot on the start line and racing among the scenery of South Africa is more than amazing. The marathon scene in Spain is growing amazingly fast, so our cyclists want to grow their ambitions and fight with the best racers worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a former three-time World Champion whenever \u00d3scar Freire pins a number to his kit he attracts a great deal of attention. Even if those victories came on far smoother roads than the ones he will need to conquer, alongside Natalia Fischer Egusquiza, in the 2019 Absa Cape Epic. Freire is after-all cycling royalty and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-15569","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\/15569","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=15569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15569"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=15569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}