Two-time Crocodile Trophy winner Huber ready for Cape Epic

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Crocodile Trophy winner Urs Huber will pair up with Karl Platt as the Bulls team for the first time at this year's Cape Epic. The mountain bike stage race, now in its 10th year, will kick off with a prologue at Meerendal Wine Estate on Sunday, March 17 and end eight days later on Sunday, March 24 at its long-established Lourensford Wine Estate finish. It will be Huber's fourth time competing in the Cape Epic.

Huber, 27, enjoys participating in the Cape Epic "because it's one of the biggest races for a mountain biker to win. Karl is a four-time winner of the Epic, so he knows everything about the race and how to win it. I'm sure that I can profit a lot by riding with him."

"Of course our goal is to win some stages and an overall podium finish, but it won't be easy. There’s never an easy stage in the Epic. We'll give our best and see what happens."

Huber started mountain biking in 2001 and turned pro in 2007. He and Platt have been training together quite a bit since the beginning of this year.

"It's important as this will be our first Epic as a team. I really hope that we have no bad days during the race and race well as a team. We'll give it our all every day."

Huber's favorite Cape Epic memory is finishing in second place in stage 1 in 2011. "But I couldn't complete the race as I broke my arm. My hardest Cape Epic was my first one in 2009. I didn't know before just how tough a race can be. Once you reach the finish line, you feel tired, happy and relieved. The race can be summed up in one word - indescribable!"

Huber won the bronze medal in the marathon world championships in Italy (2008), the European Championships in Germany (2008) and the Swiss Championships (2009). He is also a three-time winner of the iXS Swiss Bike Classic (2007-2009) and a two-time winner of the Crocodile Trophy in Australia (2009 & 2010). More recently, Huber finished third in the marathon Worlds as well as the European Championships in 2011, and was the Swiss marathon champion and TransAlp winner that same year.