{"id":16974,"date":"2017-03-16T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2017\/03\/16\/2017-absa-cape-epic-sees-strongest-field-yet-r6279\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T07:05:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T07:05:54","slug":"2017-absa-cape-epic-sees-strongest-field-yet-r6279","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2017-absa-cape-epic-sees-strongest-field-yet-r6279\/","title":{"rendered":"2017 Absa Cape Epic sees strongest field yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Both the men\u2019s reigning Olympic champions, a Tour de France winner, a host of world champions and several previous Absa Cape Epic winners will be in the South African stage race\u2019s strongest field yet when it kicks off on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-58780-0-35751900-1489667949.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And the racing is going to be fiercer than ever, according to the top competitors at a press conference in Cape Town on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 10 teams that can win it,\u201d said defending champion Karl Platt of the star-studded Men\u2019s Category field. The German, who has won the event five times, will be defending the title with Swiss partner Urs Huber (Team Bulls).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year will be really exciting and more competitive than ever before,\u201d said 2014 winner Kristian Hynek of the Czech Republic, who will be racing with Austrian Alban Lakata (Topeak Ergon). \u201cThere will be many teams trying to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the other five-time winner, Christoph Sauser of Switzerland, said \u201cthis year there is definitely the most depth \u2026 especially with so many teams having back ups\u201d. Sauser returns to the race from a brief retirement and will be racing with former Olympic gold medallist and world champion Jaroslav Kulhavy (Investec Songo Specialized) of the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

As Sauser suggested, this year also sees the most back up teams ever in the race \u2013 seven teams will have support teams in the field who are on hand to help with spare parts off their bikes or to help fix mechanical problems.<\/p>\n

Lining up alongside the former winners will be reigning Olympic gold medallist Nino Schurter of Switzerland, riding with countryman Matthias Stirnemann (Scott-SRAM). Schurter said he and his teammate were mainly in South Africa to gain experience for an attempted win in 2018, but \u201cif we are in a good place (during the race) then for sure we will go for it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Former Tour de France winner Cadel Evans of Australia will be taking part in the Cape Epic for the first time but has retired from competitive racing and will \u201ctake it as it comes \u2026 I\u2019ve always wanted to do the Absa Cape Epic but have no idea what we are in for\u201d.<\/p>\n

He and BMC Absa Racing Team partner George Hincapie of the USA \u2013 another Tour de France veteran \u2013 are \u201cin it for the adventure\u201d, said Evans at the press conference.<\/p>\n

\n
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\n\"ccs-58780-0-31953500-1489667948.jpg\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The women\u2019s race is also shaping up to be a thriller, with two teams probably slight favourites.<\/p>\n

Defending champion Ariane L\u00fcthi of Switzerland has a new partner in German Adelheid Morath (Spur) this year after winning the last three events with Dane Annika Langvad.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike all the strong women on the start line we are going for the victory,\u201d said Morath. \u201cI am going for it 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n

In spite of her Cape Epic successes, L\u00fcthi said she was \u201cfeeling more pressure seeing how Adelheid is riding. She goes so fast on the uphill \u2026 gravity doesn\u2019t pull on her\u201d.<\/p>\n

Multiple South African champion Robyn de Groot has teamed up with German legend Sabine Spitz (Ascendis Health), herself a former Olympic gold medallist, and they should make for a powerful combination.<\/p>\n

Spitz said she had got a taste of the Absa Cape Epic in her first race last year and was looking forward to the challenge. \u201cThe course looks tougher than last year and the stages are longer,\u201d said the German.<\/p>\n

Also in the field will be 22-year-old Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds of Sweden, who will be riding in the Mixed Category with her Scott-SRAM Next Level team manager Thomas Frischknecht.<\/p>\n

She stressed however that she was riding this year more \u201cto get experience for the future \u2026 I really have no idea what to expect\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Absa Cape Epic starts with a prologue at Meerendal Wine Estate on Sunday and finishes the following Sunday at Val de Vie Estate in Franchhoek after stages in and around Hermanus, Greyton and Elgin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both the men\u2019s reigning Olympic champions, a Tour de France winner, a host of world champions and several previous Absa Cape Epic winners will be in the South African stage race\u2019s strongest field yet when it kicks off on Sunday. And the racing is going to be fiercer than ever, according to the top competitors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,24],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-16974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-cape-epic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16974","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=16974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16974"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=16974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}