Sauser and Kulhavy win Cape Epic overall

Image 1 of 113

The Burry Stander - Songo team of Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy walked away with top honours as overall winners of this year's Cape Epic, following Sauser’s consecutive victories the last two years. With a six minute and 21 second lead at the start this morning, Sauser and Kulhavy finished the last eight days of 706 km and 15,950m of climbing in an overall time of 29:40:45.

The German-Swiss duo of Karl Platt and Urs Huber of the Bulls were second overall in 29:47:55.. In third place were the Bulls 2 team of Thomas Dietsch and Tim Boehme in an overall time of 30:07:36.

Multivan Merida's José Hermida and Rudi van Houts finished in fourth place overall (30:19:55) with Cannondale Factory Racing's Marco Fontana and Manuel Fumic in fifth place overall (30:47:10).

In this year's Cape Epic, 1258 participants started. By the final morning, 1105 racers were in the start shoot.

Men

José Hermida and Rudi van Houts of Multivan Merida won the final stage of this year's Cape Epic in 2:22:20 in a sprint finish with South Africans Philip Buys and Matthys Beukes of Scott Factory Racing in 2:22.21. Nino Schurter and Florian Vogel of Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing finished in third place in 2:26:04.

Today's stage winner Hermida joked, "Today was a really hard stage, but we both wanted that big bottle of champagne. That's what motivated us to win this stage."

Van Houts said, "It was a hard day, but we're very happy to finish the Cape Epic on a high."

The Swiss-Czech duo, Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy of team Burry Stander - Songo, finished in fourth place in 2:27.19. They dominated this week's Cape Epic by winning four of the eight stages.

"I had a crash in the last 5km," said Kulhavy. "I'm very happy with our victory. It's perfect for us and Burry's family. I learnt a lot from Christoph - he is very experienced and this is his second home. It was an amazing week for me."

Sauser said, "This year, the competition was the toughest. I've never won the Cape Epic off the lead. It's unbelievable! From stage 4 we never looked back. You can't look back at the Epic and just take it day by day. We rode for 30 hours and with every pedal stroke you had to push."

"It's the whole three months that lead up to the event that is important. The pressure is immense as there's not really a back-up team. We had a few moments at the end, but what counts is getting here. We also had a lot of support from Burry's family and his fans - that definitely gave us wings too."

Runner-up Platt said, "It was an exciting race. It would've been cool if the Yellow Zebra leader jersey changed hands every day. We were hoping for a win, but in the end we did everything we could. Today we had no bullets left. We're happy with second place. It was a great performance for the Bulls as we have two teams on the podium."

The African leaders jerseys were won by Philip Buys and Matthys Beukes of Scott Factory Racing in an overall time of 30:47:43.

"It was very hard today and I rode beyond what I thought I was capable of. We're delighted with our podium finish and very grateful," said Beukes. "We did much better than we expected to do."

Buys said, "My legs were surprisingly good today. I struggled at the start but soon got used to the pain. We were leading with the Mervida team for most of the way."

Prince Maseko and Phillimon Sebona of Exxaro PwC Academy 1 won the Exxaro jersey in an overall time of 37:08:34.

"I'm very happy. It's like a dream come true," said Prince. "We experienced a lot riding with the professionals. Today I rode with Sauser for part of the way which was fantastic. I'm really happy."

Sebona said, "I'm so happy to be at the finish after eight days of fighting. I'd like to thank my partner for pushing me and I hope Exxaro will be proud of us this year. You don't remember the suffering and the pain. It's all temporary, but the happiness if there forever. I'd like to thank Exxaro for everything."

Ladies

Yolande Speedy and Catherine Williamson (Energas) won the category in an overall time of 38:58:52. The Pragma Volcan Ladies Hanlie Booyens and Ischen Stopforth were second overall in 40:32:56, with C-Bear's Sara Mertens and Laura Turpijn in third place in 41:11:14.

C-bear won today's stage in 3:18:58.

"It was better than I thought and we played it safe knowing we had the lead," said Speedy. "We kept it steady on the climbs and I was very careful on the downhills. We're very happy that we made it and we had amazing support. I couldn't have asked for a better partner. It's amazing to take away this win. It's such a prestigious event."

Williamson said, "I won't forget this week in a hurry, and it's a very special win knowing what we've been through. We've really had the true Epic experience. We just tried to keep humoring Yolande today. I was acting like a marshal. I needed one of those stop-start signs today. We made a lot of friends and they were helping us frequently. This is the biggest victory yet. I won't forget this one at all. It's brilliant; it's massive."

Turpijn said, "Three times second and two times first. We knew Yolande unfortunately had to take it easy, but we decided to go for another stage win."

Mertens said, "We really wanted it. It's great! Before it was living the dream but now it's playing the game with Laura."

Mixed

The RE:CM team of Erik and Ariane Kleinhans won their category in a time of 34:59:54. In second place were Australians Peta Mullens and Jarrod Moroni of Target Trek-Moronis Bikes in 37:18:49 with Exxaro Cycle Lab 1's Johan Labuschagne and Yolandé de Villiers in third place in 37:27:30. Erik and Ariane Kleinhans (RE:CM) won today's stage in 2:54:45.

Erik Kleinhans said, "It was a fantastic experience and our biggest goal of the year. We're very glad to be here without any issues. We tried to keep it consistent and we had a safe race. We know how to win these races and were very prepared for this. We're extremely happy. Ariane was a bit nervous and we made some small mistakes today. Over the last 20km when we came over the big climb, we knew we'd be safe. It's a fantastic feeling; it's amazing."

Ariane Kleinhans said, "It's a huge relief. It's such a long, long way with so many challenges. We had such amazing support from our team RE:CM. It feels really nice and I'm so happy."

Masters

Nico Pftizenmaier and Abraao Azevedo of the Bridge team won the masters overall time of 32:27:38. Bart Brentjens and Robert Sim (Superior-Brentjens 2), won stage 7 and finished in second place overall in 33:28:58. In third place overall were South Africans Neil Bradford and Tim Osrin of HCL/Harvest Foundation 1 in 34:04:22.

Pfitzenmaier said, "It feels amazing to win. We had a good race. We took it day by day and became stronger and stronger. It really feels like crossing the finish line of the Tour de France. Today's stage was tough with a lot of climbing, but the rewards were the magnicifent views. You get into a rhythm and routine, but I'm glad it's over."

Grand masters

Bärti Bucher and Heinz Zoerweg of Songo.info won the grand masters in a time of 35:01.16. They won all seven stages as well as the prologue in this year's race. In second place overall were Paul Furbank and Chris Brand of Genesis Capital in 37:31:30 with Izak Visagie and Peter Stopforth of Cape Style Wines in third place overall in 38:34:01.

Bucher said, "This is what we worked for - an overall victory at the 10th Cape Epic. It was a great experience once again and I just want to thank my partner Heinz for making the week so great. He was really strong and I enjoyed riding with him. Another Cape Epic that I won't forget."

Full Results