New and old partnerships will set the pace at this year\u2019s Absa Cape Epic, which takes place from 23 to 30 March. The race will see 1 200 cyclists take on the challenging 718km with 14 850m of climbing, visiting the towns of Robertson, Greyton and Elgin, and finishing eight days later at Lourensford Wine Estate.<\/p>\n
Four times Absa Cape Epic winner Christoph Sauser will take on the 2014 challenge with Frantisek Rabon \u2013 a former roadie \u2013 for the first time. The partnership between Nino Schurter and Philip Buys will also be another new South African\/Swiss combination. Mixed category champion Ariane Kleinhans will be riding in the Women\u2019s category for the first time with Annika Langvad. No doubt that all eyes will also be on Karl Platt, another favourite who won the Absa Cape Epic four times, when he partners again with Urs Huber as the old \u201ctried and tested\u201d team.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.cape-epic.com\/\/data\/news\/06_Frantisek%20and%20Christoph.jpg<\/span><\/p>\n New Partnership: Christoph Sauser and Frantisek Rabon<\/strong><\/p>\n Riding as part of team Meerendal-Songo-Specialized, Sauser is arguably the world\u2019s most celebrated mountain bike rider with both marathon and cross-country world titles (apart from being an Olympic medal champion and four times Absa Cape Epic winner title holder). Although 2014\u2019s new partnership with Rabon is untested, the same could be said of him and Czech teammate Jaroslav Kulhavy before they dominated the 2013 event.<\/p>\n Says Sauser: \u201cI\u2019m delighted that I\u2019ve found a very strong partner in Rabon. He has a great character and personality. He\u2019s also committed to win the 2014 Absa Cape Epic. However, many unexpected scenarios can happen, which we\u2019re very aware of.\u201d Rabon adds: \u201cIt\u2019s such an honour to ride with Christoph. He\u2019s such a legend and we\u2019ve become really good teammates, so I feel really good about us riding together.\u201d<\/p>\n Nino Schurter and Philip Buys will be competing as team Scott-Odlo Racing. Schurter is a specialist when it comes to short course cross-country races, where races last 90 minutes. As a world champion, there is little doubt that his immense physiology and skill will carry him to an elusive stage win and perhaps a podium spot overall. In turn, local lad Buys demonstrated he is up to this monumental task when he dueled Jos\u00e9 Hermida and Rudi van Houts to the finish line in Lourensford last year.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.cape-epic.com\/\/data\/news\/04_Philip%20and%20Nino.jpeg<\/span><\/p>\n New Partnership: Nino Schurter and Philip Buys<\/strong><\/p>\n Says Schurter: \u201cWe\u2019re racing together for the first time and I\u2019m really looking forward to it. Philip has great experience with stage races in the African heat and I\u2019ve got experience in cross-country races. This will make us super strong.\u201d Buys adds: \u201cI feel honoured to ride with the fastest rider on the planet. Although slightly nervous, my excitement overpowers it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mixed category winner Ariane Kleinhans has foregone her partnership with husband Erik to participate this year with Annika Langvad in the Women\u2019s category. Langvad might be seen as a newbie, but the two-time marathon world champion, Danish cross-country and time trial champion, is a good match.<\/p>\n Kleinhans comments: \u201cAnnika and I previously participated in a stage race where we won every stage as well as the overall. It was a very good test for our new partnership. We made a really good team both on and off the bike. We\u2019re very motivated to go for the overall win.\u201d Langvad adds: \u201cEven though we\u2019re two very different riders with two completely different histories, somehow everything just fits together.\u201d<\/p>\n Karl Platt and Urs Huber will ride together for the second time as the Bulls. The Swiss\/German team proved last year that they never give up fighting.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.cape-epic.com\/\/data\/news\/ACE2013Day7_GB-283.JPG<\/span><\/p>\n Tried and Tested: Karl Platt and Urs Huber<\/strong><\/p>\n Says Platt: \u201cI think we had a very successful partnership last year and we\u2019re looking forward to this year\u2019s event.\u201d Huber adds: \u201cOur second place in the 2013 Absa Cape Epic was a sign that we\u2019re a good team. Our goal is to win, which means we have to be focused and concentrate during the whole week, without making any mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New and old partnerships will set the pace at this year\u2019s Absa Cape Epic, which takes place from 23 to 30 March. The race will see 1 200 cyclists take on the challenging 718km with 14 850m of climbing, visiting the towns of Robertson, Greyton and Elgin, and finishing eight days later at Lourensford Wine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,24],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-cape-epic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21339","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=21339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21339"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}