{"id":18770,"date":"2016-02-04T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T10:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2016\/02\/04\/can-anyone-derail-annika-and-ariane-r4090\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T08:43:36","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T08:43:36","slug":"can-anyone-derail-annika-and-ariane-r4090","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/can-anyone-derail-annika-and-ariane-r4090\/","title":{"rendered":"Can anyone derail Annika and Ariane?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Denmark\u2019s Annika Langvad and her Swiss partner Ariane Kleinhans (Spur-Specialized) have electrified the Absa Cape Epic Women\u2019s category for the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>Their natural athleticism, outstanding team dynamic and smart tactical approach has seen them dominate in spite of the field getting stronger each year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"w-full aspect-video\">\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"113\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gLZ5PBtiSNE?feature=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In 2016 they will again start as clear favourites, but will know that the chasing pack is a hungry one and contains some excellent combinations.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the strongest challenge will come from Topeak Ergon\u2019s Sally Bigham (England) and Adelheid Morath (Germany). \u201cIron Sally\u201d, as she is known, has won the women\u2019s race twice before and is a fierce competitor while Morath recently converted her cross country skills \u2013 which have taken her to two Olympic Games \u2013 into the marathon discipline. Riding together, they won the Swiss Epic in September last year \u2013 and the team they beat into second place was Langvad and Kleinhans.<\/p>\n<p>Meerendal Wheeler\u2019s Esther S\u00fcss (Switzerland) and Catherine Williamson (England) will also be waiting to pounce should the Spur-Specialized team falter. S\u00fcss has won the women\u2019s race twice (in 2011 and 2012, the latter with Bigham) and Williamson once (in 2013, with Yolande Speedy) so knows what it takes.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-76763100-1454581503.jpg\" data-fileid=\"673255\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"673255\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-76763100-1454581503.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-76763100-1454581503.jpg\"><\/a><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On paper Sport for Good\u2019s Sabine Spitz (Germany) and Yana Belomoina (Ukraine) have more than enough raw ability to win the Absa Cape Epic. Spitz is a former Olympic gold, silver and bronze medallist, a former cross country world champion and still highly competitive at 43-years-old. She is one of the most decorated women\u2019s riders ever while Belomoina, just 24, has emerged in recent years as one of the best cross country riders in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Both are, however, doing the race for the first time and the Absa Cape Epic tends to favour those with experience of its unique rigours and challenges.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-52492100-1454581506.jpg\" data-fileid=\"673257\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"673257\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-52492100-1454581506.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-52492100-1454581506.jpg\"><\/a><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Sally Bigham.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The South African challenge will be led by Ascendis Health\u2019s Robyn de Groot, riding with Swede Jennie Stenerhag. These two finished second last year and are in excellent form in 2016. They have been riding together for some time and appear to be getting stronger each year.<\/p>\n<p>Another team to keep an eye out for might be Team Meerendal Rocky EBE\u2019s Hielke Elferink (Netherlands) and Elisabeth Brandau (Germany). Both have raced the Cape Epic before with other partners and finished fourth.<\/p>\n<p>But all bets will be on Kleinhans and Langvad when the gun goes off at UCT on March 13. Langvad is one of the world\u2019s best mountain bikers in all disciplines &#8211; she is routinely at or near the front in cross country races and is a former marathon world champion. Kleinhans is herself an amazing athlete and very strong over longer distances.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"w-full aspect-video\">\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"113\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O5PVu7yemK8?feature=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"w-full aspect-video\">\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"113\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B6KPlbNhx5c?feature=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Denmark\u2019s Annika Langvad and her Swiss partner Ariane Kleinhans (Spur-Specialized) have electrified the Absa Cape Epic Women\u2019s category for the past two years. Their natural athleticism, outstanding team dynamic and smart tactical approach has seen them dominate in spite of the field getting stronger each year. In 2016 they will again start as clear favourites, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,24],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18770","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\/18770","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=18770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18770"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}