![\"ccs-62657-0-97334400-1521140983.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-97334400-1521140983.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Annika Langvad. Photo credit: Greg Beadle.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Dane took time off to finish her studies last year and appears to be in ominous form: \u201cLooking at the numbers it looks like I had the best (European) winter training ever,\u201d she said at a Cape Town press conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n
That form took her to first place in the Epic World Cup in Stellenbosch last weekend and now she will start as one of the favourites for her fourth win out of four starts.<\/p>\n
She will be racing with first-timer Kate Courtney (Team Investec Songo Specialized) but believes the American has \u201cprepared super well\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re among the favourites, which is a role we can take on quite well. Racing with pressure is not new to us,\u201d said Langvad.<\/p>\n
They will face formidable opposition, including from German Sabine Spitz and South Africa\u2019s Robyn De Groot (Team Ascendis Health\/WIAWIS Bikes). Last year Spitz and De Groot started as favourites but the German Olympic gold medalist crashed badly on two occasions and they dropped back to third.<\/p>\n
Multiple South African marathon champion De Groot struggled for much of last year with a neurological injury but has got over that and has trained intensely for this year\u2019s Absa Cape Epic, which starts on Sunday with the Prologue on Table Mountain, in the Table Mountain National Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a really rough time, with doctors saying I should maybe consider other things (to cycling),\u201d she said. But a new diagnosis towards the end of last year got her past that and she will be \u201cskidding in sideways just in time\u201d.<\/p>\n
Also pushing for a win will be last year\u2019s second-placed team of England\u2019s Annie Last and South African Mariske Strauss (Team Silverback-KMC).<\/p>\n
The Briton is clearly looking forward to the event: \u201cThe atmosphere is on another level \u2013 everyone is pushing forward and loving mountain biking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
They are one of the few established partnerships this year and Strauss believes this will be an advantage: \u201cIt\u2019s a tricky one, the Untamed African MTB Race and it is an advantage to have the same partner \u2013 you know each other and know you will gel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also among the favourites will be three-time winner Ariane L\u00fcthi of Switzerland \u2013 all of those with Langvad \u2013 riding with Belgium\u2019s Githa Michiels (Team Spur). She had been scheduled to ride with Christina Kollman, but the Austrian pulled out after complications arising from a tooth infection and Michiels stepped in.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a few hurdles to overcome in terms of language,\u201d laughed L\u00fcthi, \u201cbut I\u2019m very happy to be riding with her \u2026 she\u2019s very excited about the local trails and conditions too.\u201d<\/p>\n Defending champion Esther S\u00fcss of Switzerland will also have a new partner after Jennie Stenerhag of Sweden crashed and pulled out a few weeks back. S\u00fcss has teamed up with Austrian Angela Tazreiter (Team Meerendal CBC) and said: \u201cwe work well together and have the same goal; we will definitely be trying to win\u201d.<\/p>\n This year for the first time there will also be an Absa African Women\u2019s special jersey \u2013 for the first team of riders from the continent to finish. South Africans Candice Lill and Amy McDougall (Team dormakaba) will start as favourites.<\/p>\n They will be riding together for the first time after competing against one another on many local events: \u201cI know her strengths and she knows mine. It\u2019s is going to be very interesting riding together,\u201d said Lill.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is so exciting to see how the elite women are racing (at the Absa Cape Epic),\u201d added Lill. \u201cOver the last three or four years the racing has gone from strength to strength and having the Absa African special jersey for women is very exciting. It is going to inspire other African women to get on the start line.\u201d<\/p>\n This year supporting the winning riders goes beyond personal pride, there is also a chance to win an entry into the 2019 race in the Absa Cape Epic Fantasy League<\/a>. Check out our guide on the riders to watch in each category below and start choosing the riders to support you in your bid to win a 2019 Absa Cape Epic entry<\/a> courtesy of Columbia Sportswear.\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Women\u2019s race wide open as untested combinations take on the Absa Cape Epic. After a year\u2019s break three-time Absa Cape Epic Women\u2019s category champion Annika Langvad is back having \u201cbuilt up the hunger to race and kill yourself\u201d. Annika Langvad. Photo credit: Greg Beadle. The Dane took time off to finish her studies last year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-16107","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\/16107","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=16107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16107"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=16107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Team Spur’s Ariane L\u00fcthi. Photo credit: Ewald Sadie.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Team dormakaba’s Candice Lill. Caption: Greg Beadle.<\/span><\/p>\nWin an Absa Cape Epic team entry:<\/h2>\n