{"id":20617,"date":"2015-01-23T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2015\/01\/23\/kevin-evans-and-max-knox-partner-to-tackle-epic-for-second-time-r1933\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T11:22:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T11:22:21","slug":"kevin-evans-and-max-knox-partner-to-tackle-epic-for-second-time-r1933","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/kevin-evans-and-max-knox-partner-to-tackle-epic-for-second-time-r1933\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Evans and Max Knox partner to tackle Epic for second time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2015 edition of the race takes place from 15 to 22 March, and will once again take 1 200 riders through some of the Western Cape\u2019s most unspoilt territory. The Untamed African stage race begins with a prologue on Table Mountain, starting from the University of Cape Town, and finishes eight days later at Meerendal Wine Estate in Durbanville.<\/p>\n

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It will be the former SA marathon champion\u2019s 11th start, but he had to pull out in 2011 when he broke his collarbone. Evans has finished on the overall podium three times, with his best result being second place with David George in 2012. He will be riding for the second time this year with another local star, Max Knox, in Team Biogen\/Volcan. Last year Evans was penalised an hour for taking a shortcut on Stage 4, which dashed the pair\u2019s hopes of winning the race for the Absa African jersey (for the first all-African team to finish).<\/p>\n

So what are their objectives for 2015? \u201cTo try follow all the route markings,\u201d laughed Evans. \u201cWe want to have fun and, with some luck, top five should be achievable.\u201d Knox said he hoped to \u201chave a smooth race, enjoy the experience and give my best effort\u201d. Knox added that their training was going well and Evans was \u201cin some of the best shape that I have seen him in\u201d. Plettenberg Bay-based Evans added: \u201cWell I’m beating him (Knox) on Strava, so I\u2019d say it\u2019s all good for now.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Evans and Knox \u201crode for the first time together last year, at short notice, and got on really well, despite being competitors for a decade\u201d, said Evans. \u201cThat decade of racing against each other is why we automatically know each other\u2019s strengths and weaknesses.\u201d Asked about the importance of the team dynamic in the Epic, Knox said: \u201cLife is much easier if you and your partner can get on well. But over the years we have seen some combinations that have succeeded even though the two riders are of different nationalities. However, I think the fact that Kevin and myself are friends will benefit us.\u201d They will be riding Volcan bikes this year: \u201cI\u2019m going back to the bike that saw me stand on the podium in 2010, Volcan. They are busy building Max and I some custom bikes as we speak, so we’ll be on them soon,\u201d said Evans.<\/p>\n

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Evans said the combination of four-time winner Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy would start as favourites on paper, but \u201cover the years I’ve learnt that it\u2019s hard to predict a winner \u2026 there are too many variables\u201d. \u201cI think there are many strong teams and everyone on the start line is an opponent to never be underestimated,\u201d said Knox.<\/p>\n

Meerendal Wine Estate will host the finish of the race and the Grand Finale celebrations for the very first time on 22 March 2015. The Grand Finale will kick off with live entertainment, a Farmer\u2019s Market, delectable food and wine as well as glorious scenery. Dedicated vantage points will be accessible to the general public, so that all may have a piece of the mountain biking action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2015 edition of the race takes place from 15 to 22 March, and will once again take 1 200 riders through some of the Western Cape\u2019s most unspoilt territory. The Untamed African stage race begins with a prologue on Table Mountain, starting from the University of Cape Town, and finishes eight days later at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4520,76,24,3189,522],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-2015-absa-cape-epic","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-cape-epic","tag-kevin-evans","tag-max-knox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20617","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=20617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20617"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}