Four-time podium finisher, Kevin Evans, is looking forward to challenging for the ABSA Cape Epic title with new teammate, Max Knox. The 2014 ABSA Cape Epic starts on Sunday.<\/span>\n<\/div>\nThe announcement comes just six days before the start of 2014 ABSA Cape Epic, where Knox will be paired with compatriot Kevin Evans, giving FedGroup Itec \u2013 and South Africa \u2013 a very real chance of an overall podium finish in the world\u2019s most prestigious mountain bike stage race.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo South African team has ever won the Cape Epic and we\u2019re excited about the potential of this new FedGroup Itec pairing of Max and Kevin,\u201d said Scott Field, FedGroup Chief Financial Officer. \u201cBoth are in very good form right now and both have substantial stage racing and Cape Epic experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMax has ridden as a back-up rider to the eventual winners in the Cape Epic for a couple of years, but now he will get the chance to go for success himself. He\u2019s a great marathon talent and we\u2019re very pleased to add him to our team, not only for the Cape Epic, but on a permanent basis,\u201d said Gavin Meyer, Itec Managing Director.<\/p>\n
Twenty-six-year-old Knox has started six and finished five Cape Epics. The 2012 South African marathon champion switched his focus to Olympic Cross-Country racing in 2013 and is looking forward to returning to endurance events with FedGroup Itec.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never had a problem with endurance. My early season training hasn\u2019t changed really this year. If anything, I\u2019ve got more speed and power now combined with my endurance and I\u2019ve not raced much this year, so am very fresh,\u201d said Knox. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to combining with Kevin for the Cape Epic. You can\u2019t get a more experienced South African to race with. I\u2019m done with being a back-up rider in the Epic. I\u2019m very keen to go for the win for my new team.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a decade Kevin and I have been rivals. I think we can learn a lot from each other. I certainly want to win a Cape Epic title my career and I know it\u2019s the one major race title Kevin is missing from his impressive career. It\u2019s the most open Epic in ages and anything can happen in those eight days. But if you\u2019re not in the race with some form, you can\u2019t be in with a shot at the podium. We\u2019re aiming for an overall podium finish for sure,\u201d added Knox.<\/p>\n
\u201cMax is a great marathon and stage racer and his pedigree and record are among the best in South African mountain biking. It\u2019s good to see him refocusing on the endurance events,\u201d said Kevin Evans. \u201cIt\u2019s a late change to our team for Cape Epic and it took me a bit by surprise. It\u2019s taking a while to sink in that I have gone from African leader jersey contender to overall title contender, which is quite a nice adjustment to have to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his eight completed Cape Epics, Evans has finished second once, third three times and fourth once. He missed last year\u2019s edition due to illness but is showing good form in the build-up events to the 2014 edition. He was originally paired with Neil MacDonald, a two-time Cape Epic top-20 finisher.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeil remains an integral member of the FedGroup Itec team and will be key to our title defence plans at the upcoming joBerg2c and sani2c stage races. The Cape Epic is obviously a high profile goal for us, but we\u2019re committed to success at many other races throughout the year too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve secured another top South African racer, Johann Rabie, to race the Cape Epic with Neil. This will be the FedGroup Itec back-up team. Having a back-up team has become the norm for teams that are aiming at the overall title. We are just awaiting confirmation from the Cape Epic organisers on this second team entry,\u201d explained Field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The FedGroup Itec professional mountain bike racing team announced on Monday the signing of Max Knox, one of South Africa\u2019s most accomplished marathon mountain bike racers. Max Knox has been signed to the FedGroup Itec team and will join Kevin Evans in the team’s quest for a place on the overall podium at the 2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,1941,3189,522,487],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-fedgroup","tag-kevin-evans","tag-max-knox","tag-mtb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21254","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21254"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a>Max Knox has been signed to the FedGroup Itec team and will join Kevin Evans in the team’s quest for a place on the overall podium at the 2014 ABSA Cape Epic which starts on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n