{"id":16167,"date":"2018-02-19T11:05:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2018\/02\/19\/team-bulls-ready-to-rock-and-roll-r7118\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T06:09:51","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T06:09:51","slug":"team-bulls-ready-to-rock-and-roll-r7118","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/team-bulls-ready-to-rock-and-roll-r7118\/","title":{"rendered":"Team BULLS Ready to Rock and Roll"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karl Platt may have broken his hip just a few months ago but he\u2019s back to his best and is feeling confident ahead of this year\u2019s Absa Cape Epic and what could be a record sixth win.<\/p>\n

Five-time winner of the Absa Cape Epic, Karl Platt, will yet again line up with Swiss partner Urs Huber come 18 March at the Prologue on Table Mountain. The BULLS duo will be targeting yet another overall win as a combination \u2013 this despite Platt sustaining a fracture to his hipbone and pelvis after a crash during training in November last year.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-20708000-1519038407.jpeg\"<\/a>Karl Platt and Urs Huber of Team BULLS take the lead. Photo credit: Nick Muzik. Absa Cape Epic. Sportzpics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI fractured my hip and pelvis in a training ride last year which put me out for a while, but it provided some much-needed rest. I\u2019m starting to feel great again. I had a good Attakwas and despite not finishing higher up the list there was no pain and that is a good thing,\u201d said Platt.<\/p>\n

Joining them is the BULLS 2 combination of Tim Boehme and Simon Stiebjahn who are well versed in the tough and demanding nature of the Untamed African MTB Race. This year however, they\u2019ve been promoted from support duties and will be able to race for stage wins \u2013 the pair have after all finished on the podium with a bronze medal back in 2014.<\/p>\n

And what about back-up and support? Well, the BULLS set-up has brought along another young team to assume that role, an outfit comprising Martin Frey and Simon Schneller who will compete under the BULLS 3 moniker. As rookies, Platt says their primary role will be to support and assist both senior teams should anything go awry as well as to gain experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they (BULLS 2) have a good race this year. It\u2019s a different story and situation for Tim and Simon but they\u2019re now able to ride and race as they feel. If they see a chance they are free to go for it. For support we\u2019ve brought another young team, BULLS 3, and Martin (Frey) and Simon (Schneller) will ride as the dedicated back-up team for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-07668300-1519038406.jpeg\"<\/a>Platt, Huber, Boehme and Stiebjahn roll over the finish line in 2017. Photo credit: Ewald Sadie. Absa Cape Epic. Sportzpics.<\/span><\/p>\n

While much has been said about last year\u2019s route favouring the high-revving cross-country specialists, Platt reckons it was more a case of the timing and structuring of the global race calendar than the course itself and feels this year might very well present a different dynamic altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think last year\u2019s Absa Cape Epic was necessarily a cross-country rider\u2019s race, no. I think because the World Cup series started later everybody was in a different phase of training and could give it a proper go. This year the Epic World Cup is just two weeks before the Absa Cape Epic and that will be a priority for many riders. We also had some bad luck with mechanicals and Urs (Huber) was ill on some stages but that\u2019s the nature of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about what winning a record sixth title would mean to him and the team, the German was confident about his aspirations. \u201cOur goal is always to perform at our best. Sure, we\u2019re aiming for the win but there are many factors that come into play, and for a result here, everything has to come together. I am now properly recovered from my injury and training flat-out. I\u2019m confident that I will be ready and that everything will work out. My goal and the team\u2019s goal will always be to win the Absa Cape Epic. I\u2019ll be here for 2018 and 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karl Platt may have broken his hip just a few months ago but he\u2019s back to his best and is feeling confident ahead of this year\u2019s Absa Cape Epic and what could be a record sixth win. Five-time winner of the Absa Cape Epic, Karl Platt, will yet again line up with Swiss partner Urs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24,481,752],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-16167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-cape-epic","tag-karl-platt","tag-urs-huber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16167","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=16167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16167"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=16167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}