![\"ccs-62657-0-75132500-1458221739.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-75132500-1458221739.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>A lone Alban Lakata after his partner Kristian Hynek had to pull out with a elbow injury during stage 4 of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Wellington, South Africa on the 17th March 2016. Photo by Mark Sampson\/Cape Epic\/SPORTZPICS<\/span><\/p>\nIn fact, Lakata\u2019s Epic history had him making his way to the top of the podium with results that include: 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd in the race. He was just missing the Epic crown. But it was not to be.<\/p>\n
Hynek required stiches on his elbow from a deep gash he sustained in the crash. He fell on his side and his ribs were also painful.<\/p>\n
The team were in third place when Hynek withdraw, but have suffered a string of misfortunes, including wheel troubles for Lakata on the Prologue, a shoe malfunction for Hynek forcing him to swap shoes with his back-up team member Erik Kleinhans, on Stage 2, and Hynek\u2019s race-ending crash on Stage 3.<\/p>\n
It was only Stage 1 that proved incident-free with the pair finishing strong in second place, a mere 38 seconds behind the Bulls. At the press conference later, they looked composed and it seemed they would be the only team able to topple the rampant Bulls.<\/p>\n
Hynek won the Epic in 2014 but rode with Germany\u2019s Robert Mennen, who was called up at the last minute because Lakata snapped his Achilles tendon in a skiing accident.<\/p>\n
After he crossed the line on Thursday, Lakata, the 2015 Cross Country Marathon World Champion and six-time Austrian national champion, was visibly disappointed. He said it felt that he was doomed never to win the Epic. \u201cThis race is so difficult, and anything can happen. It has been really tricky this year because it\u2019s been so dusty \u2013 you can\u2019t see where you\u2019re going,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s more taxing to ride in front, but at least you have a cleaner line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lakata had ridden alone behind the leading group on Thursday because he did not to interfere with the racing- besides, he added, \u201cit\u2019s difficult to find motivation when you\u2019ve lost your partner \u2013 but it\u2019s not his fault\u201d.<\/p>\n
Lakata said he had chatted with Hynek before the start of the stage and the two had resolved to come back next year \u2013 stronger, more prepared, and hopefully with luck going their way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alban \u201cThe Albanator\u201d Lakata cut a lonely figure as he completed Stage 4 of the Absa Cape Epic on Thursday \u2013 yet another quest to win a coveted Epic title doomed. His Topeak Ergon Racing teammate, the Czech Republic\u2019s Kristian Hynek, crashed about 5km before the finish of Wednesday\u2019s stage. Hynek started the stage on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,482,24,1810],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-alban-lakata","tag-cape-epic","tag-topeak-ergon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18504","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=18504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18504"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}