{"id":18518,"date":"2016-03-16T14:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T14:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2016\/03\/16\/toil-and-tears-among-triumph-for-the-women-on-stage-3-r4369\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T08:32:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T08:32:52","slug":"toil-and-tears-among-triumph-for-the-women-on-stage-3-r4369","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/toil-and-tears-among-triumph-for-the-women-on-stage-3-r4369\/","title":{"rendered":"Toil and tears among triumph for the women on Stage 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad of Spur-Specialized moved a step closer to clinching their third straight Absa Cape Epic title by winning Stage 3 in a time of 5:18.47.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-68060700-1458135874.jpg\"<\/a>Annika Langvad & Ariane Kleinhans of Spur-Specialized win stage 3 of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race held from Saronsberg Wine Estate in Tulbagh to the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Wellington, South Africa on the 16th March 2016. Photo by Gary Perkin\/Cape Epic\/SPORTZPICS<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Swiss-Danish pair arrived at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology\u2019s Wellington campus 32,1 seconds ahead of the Topeak Ergon and added another 1.11,3 to their overall lead on Ascendis Health, they didn\u2019t have it all their own way today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see that coming,\u201d Langvad told Kleinhans as they celebrated their victory.<\/p>\n

The three contenders in the Sasol Women\u2019s category, as well as Sport for Good, remained within a minute of each other at all three water points on the 104km transition stage from Tulbagh. While it didn\u2019t end in a sprint finish, they all described the racing as fierce and exactly what the women\u2019s category has been calling out for.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very close race and we had no idea how it was going to finish. The racing was super close and very tough because we were all together until the last 20 kilometres or so,\u201d said Langvad.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-75829200-1458136018.jpg\"<\/a>Adel Morath & Sally Bigham of Topeak Ergon during stage 2 of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race from Saronsberg Wine Estate in Tulbagh, South Africa on the 15th March 2016. Photo by Gary Perkin\/Cape Epic\/SPORTZPICS.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Dane believes that it was their nous that saw them eventually emerge from the pack to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t win because we were stronger today, but only because we chose best when to use our advantage. After the last descent we went through vineyards and the corners were very slippery\u2026 that\u2019s where we made our advantage count.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the triumphant scenes of Kleinhans and Langvad, were the tears of Adel Morath (Topeak Ergon) and clear signs of the day\u2019s toil when Jennie Stenerhag (Ascendis Health) required medical attention.<\/p>\n

Sally Bigham revealed that her German partner Morath had ridden the entire stage with her knee in pain after a crash yesterday. With that said, they both enjoyed today\u2019s racing.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-26614800-1458137249.jpg\"<\/a>Sally Bigham consoles Adel Morath after stage 3 of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race held from Saronsberg Wine Estate in Tulbagh to the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Wellington, South Africa on the 16th March 2016. Photo by Sam Clark\/Cape Epic\/SPORTZPICS<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToday was the best women\u2019s stage that I\u2019ve been involved in during my Cape Epic history,\u201d said Bigham, riding in her sixth straight Cape Epic. \u201cWe had a great time and really enjoyed the close racing. The separate starts worked well today and it will be very good for the sport if we have more racing like today \u2013 there was lots of attacking and counter-attacking. It helps when the Masters men don\u2019t get involved in our race because it can have an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morath echoed Bigham\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an amazing stage\u2026 we watched each other, we attacked each other, it was very tactical. It was super hard so in the end everyone was suffering and looking forward to seeing the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having made up ground on Ascendis Health, Bigham is excited about what their English-German partnership can do during the rest of the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are working very well together. We don\u2019t talk that much during the race because there isn\u2019t much chance but we every day we are learning more about riding with each other. We\u2019re looking forward to the remaining stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-34495800-1458137032.jpg\"<\/a>Jennie Stenerhag being carried off the finish line after stage 3 of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race held from Saronsberg Wine Estate in Tulbagh to the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Wellington, South Africa on the 16th March 2016. Photo by Sam Clark\/Cape Epic\/SPORTZPICS<\/span><\/p>\n

Stenerhag\u2019s was stretchered off to the race hospital after collapsing at the finish and within the hour announced that she would not continue the race.<\/p>\n

Despite Stenerhag\u2019s withdrawal, De Groot said that they actually enjoyed the race today and she intends to continue riding herself. \u201cLook, there were sections that were very hot. The racing was very exciting. It was a proper ladies race today\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

2016 Stage 3 Women<\/h2>\n

Stage Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Spur-Specialized 50-1 Annika Langvad (Denmark) 50-2 Ariane Kleinhans (Switzerland) 5:18.47,0
2. Topeak Ergon 53-1 Sally Bigham (England) 53-2 Adel Morath (Germany) 5:19.19,1 +32,1
3. Ascendis Health 51-1 Robyn de Groot (South Africa) 51-2 Jennie Stenerhag (Sweden) 5:19.58,3 +1.11,3<\/p>\n

Overall Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Spur-Specialized 50-1 Annika Langvad (Denmark) 50-2 Ariane Kleinhans (Switzerland) 17:05.39,4
2. Ascendis Health 51-1 Robyn de Groot (South Africa) 51-2 Jennie Stenerhag (Sweden) 17:10.07,8 +4.28,4
3. Topeak Ergon 53-1 Sally Bigham (England) 53-2 Adel Morath (Germany) 17:13.06,9 +7.27,5
4. Sport for Good 54-2 Yana Belomoina (Ukraine) 54-1 Sabine Spitz (Germany) 17:26.11,6 +20.32,2
5. Meerendal Wheeler 52-1 Esther Suss (Switzerland) 52-2 Catherine Williamson (England) 18:00.04,8 +54.25,4
6. Meerendal Rocky EBE 56-1 Hielke Elferink (Netherlands) 56-2 Elisabeth Brandau (Germany) 18:56.02,5 +1:50.23,1
7. Galileo Risk 55-1 Theresa Ralph (South Africa) 55-2 Yolandi du Toit (South Africa) 18:56.27,8 +1:50.48,4
8. Asrin Cycling 71-1 Janka Keseg Stevkova (Slovakia) 71-2 Sandra Santanyes Murillo (Spain) 19:13.25,9 +2:07.46,5
9. Energade Racing 202-1 Dalene van der Leek (South Africa) 202-2 Sharon Laws (England) 19:14.23,3 +2:08.43,9
10. Liv – MTB Pro 59-1 Muriel Bouhet (France) 59-2 Merce Pacios Pujado (Spain) 21:30.34,6 +4:24.55,2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad of Spur-Specialized moved a step closer to clinching their third straight Absa Cape Epic title by winning Stage 3 in a time of 5:18.47. Annika Langvad & Ariane Kleinhans of Spur-Specialized win stage 3 of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race held from Saronsberg Wine Estate in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,310,2298,24,2997],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-annika-langvad","tag-ariane-kleinhans","tag-cape-epic","tag-spur-specialized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18518","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=18518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18518"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}