![\"ccs-62657-0-54021300-1426162340.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-54021300-1426162340.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn 2015 there are several world-class teams that have their sights on the top step of the podium. The pre-race favourites will be 2014 winners Ariane Kleinhans of Switzerland and Annika Langvad of Denmark (RECM Specialized), a superb pair of athletes who have combined into a formidable racing machine. Kleinhans has emerged as a marathon specialist while Langvad seems to be able to switch effortlessly from marathons to the shorter cross country discipline.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really want to win this race. We are really strong and well-prepared,\u201d said Kleinhans. \u201cWe have the same mindset \u2026 we want to win this race.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m also very stoked to see so many good ladies here this year, especially Gunn Rita,\u201d Kleinhans added.<\/p>\n
Langvad was unequivocal about their ambition for 2015: \u201cOf course we will try to go for another victory. That being said, this year\u2019s field for the women is phenomenally strong. I expect it to be quite a different race to last year and I\u2019m super excited to get going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a crazy race. It\u2019s gruelling \u2026 but just as much as you suffer you enjoy the race,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
They will face two other former women\u2019s category winners in Esther Suss, also Swiss, and Briton Sally Bigham.<\/p>\n
Veteran Suss has handpicked Belgian Alice Pirard to join her in Team Meerendal\/Wheeler this year and is a fierce competitor. Pirard is a marathon specialist and only 26-years-old: they will make for a strong combination in spite of the fact that the younger rider has not done the Absa Cape Epic before.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really strong field this year,\u201d said Suss. \u201cWe will do our best. We\u2019ll take it stage-by-stage and see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIron Sally\u201d was scheduled to be riding with a Cape Epic newbie in Slovenian Bla\u017ea Klemen\u010di\u010d (Sellaronda Hero), but the latter has pulled out after picking up a knee injury. She was replaced only a week ago by Austrian Christina Kollmann, a 27-year-old with a record of good results in marathons over the past two years. Bigham is an established marathon specialist and will still be hoping to win the women\u2019s category for the third time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so grateful to Christina, who has been really brave to take on the challenge (at late notice,\u201d said Bigham. \u201cThis is her second Epic \u2026 she does have some foresight about what to expect\u201d.<\/p>\n
The wildcard in the field will be Dahle Flesj\u00e5, who has entered the Absa Cape Epic for the first time. She will be partnered by Switzerland\u2019s Kathrin Stirnemann (World Bicycle Relief), also making her Cape Epic debut. Dahle Flesj\u00e5 has been determined to play down her chances and insists she will be riding to gain experience at the Absa Cape Epic. She does have limited stage racing experience, but is a hugely talented rider and Stirnemann is the reigning Cross Country Eliminator World Champion: they may surprise one or two of the other teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is such a hard race and such a different type of race to what we normally do,\u201d said Dahle Flesj\u00e5. \u201cFor us it\u2019s a little bit of an adventure and we\u2019ll see in the end how we end up after eight days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Survive and enjoy\u2019 is the motto for Kathrin and I,\u201d said Dahle Flesj\u00e5. \u201cWe are approaching it as a great adventure \u2026 and, of course, as experience for next year\u2019s participation in the Absa Cape Epic.\u201d<\/p>\n
A South African with podium ambitions this year will be current national marathon champion Robyn de Groot, who is riding with Sweden\u2019s Jennie Stenerhag. De Groot has had a storied career as a road cyclist and is proving to be as adept on her mountain bike. Stenerhag lives in South Africa and is a formidable marathon racer.<\/p>\n
South Africans will be backing this combination, but will also have a fondness for Kleinhans, who is married to South African professional mountain biker Erik and lives in Stellenbosch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perhaps the most dramatic increase in quality across all the Absa Cape Epic categories this year has come in the women\u2019s event. This year it will include the most decorated mountain biker on the planet, multiple world champion and Olympic gold medallist Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesj\u00e5 of Norway. The decision to give women equal prize money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,1770,310,2298,24,1548,1857,314,361,3209],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-alice-pirard","tag-annika-langvad","tag-ariane-kleinhans","tag-cape-epic","tag-esther-suss","tag-gunn-rita-dahle-flesja","tag-jennie-stenerhag","tag-robyn-de-groot","tag-sally-bigham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20368","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=20368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20368"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}