{"id":21268,"date":"2014-03-12T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2014\/03\/12\/two-top-contenders-out-of-the-cape-epic-due-to-injury-r1265\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T12:11:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T12:11:10","slug":"two-top-contenders-out-of-the-cape-epic-due-to-injury-r1265","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/two-top-contenders-out-of-the-cape-epic-due-to-injury-r1265\/","title":{"rendered":"Two top contenders out of the Cape Epic due to injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ralf Naef, one of the contenders for the men\u2019s overall title at the Absa Cape Epic, has had to withdraw due to an injury picked up in a fall while training. And England\u2019s Catherine Williamson, a favourite for a win in the mixed category, is also out of the Epic after breaking her leg in a skiing accident. The eight-day, 718km race starts with a prologue at Meerendal Wine Estate, Durbanville, on March 23.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-41808-0-14095000-1394628175.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Image credit: Greg Beadle of Sportzpics<\/span><\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s Naef, previously a top 10 Cape Epic finisher and one of the world\u2019s top riders, was scheduled to partner countryman Lukas Fl\u00fcckiger in Team BMC. They were widely expected to be among the front-runners at this year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

BMC said in a statement that Naef \u201csustained an injury to his quadriceps a few weeks ago during training, and it has turned out to be more severe than anticipated\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fl\u00fcckiger will now partner with rising star Martin Fanger, who is also Swiss. The team\u2019s director sportif Alex Moos said: \u201cIt is Martin\u2019s first Cape Epic and a fabulous opportunity for him to experience multi-stage racing with the top riders in the world. Lukas has amassed lots of experience over the years and they are both really motivated and prepared to race. We remain optimistic!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ccs-41808-0-83096800-1394628163.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Image credit: Sven Martin of Sportzpics<\/span><\/p>\n

Fanger, 25, has showed considerable potential in recent years and his results last year included a 6th place in the UCI World Cup Cross Country race at Albstadt, Germany, in May.<\/p>\n

Williamson – winner of the women\u2019s category with Yolande Speedy last year – was to ride with South African Nizaam Essa (Team Asrin). She broke her leg in a fall while skiing last week but, according to Essa, is hoping to be back on her bike and competing again in three months.<\/p>\n

He will instead partner with Austrian marathon champion Christina Kollman. \u201cShe only weighs 48kg but has power and good technical skills,\u201d says Essa.<\/p>\n

He will meet Kollman for the first time when she arrives in Cape Town five days before the Epic, but is determined that they can challenge for the top step of the podium when the race finishes at Lourensford Wine Estate, Somerset West, on March 30: \u201cWe really want to go for it \u2026 we\u2019re hoping to win it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ralf Naef, one of the contenders for the men\u2019s overall title at the Absa Cape Epic, has had to withdraw due to an injury picked up in a fall while training. And England\u2019s Catherine Williamson, a favourite for a win in the mixed category, is also out of the Epic after breaking her leg in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":52447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,1403,4992],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-catherine-williamson","tag-ralf-naef"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21268","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=21268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21268"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}