Strong, cold winds made yesterday’s Stage 2 of the Absa Cape Epic exceptionally tough and the talk afterwards was about how Czech strongman Jaroslav Kulhavy powered through it.
This is day three of the world’s leading mountain bike stage race, which takes riders from a prologue on Table Mountain around the Western Cape over eight days. It covers 739km in total.
Kulhavy and four-times Absa Cape Epic winner Christoph Sauser of Switzerland (Investec-Songo-Specialized) won their second stage in a row yesterday, extending their overall lead to more than six minutes.
“Jaro was super, super strong and did a lot of work,” said Sauser about Kulhavy riding in front and taking the brunt
Second-placed Czech Kristian Hynek, riding with Austian Alban Lakata (Topeak-Ergon), also paid tribute to Kulhavy: “Jaro is a machine… it was amazing how he was working on the front,” said the defending champion.
However, he had not given up hope: “Jaro’s engine is unbelievable but even he can have a bad day.”
Kulhavy was typically reserved: “That wind was crazy but it was a good stage and there were some nice trails over the last 20km.”
The 92km stage started and finished at the Oak Valley Wine Estate in Durbanville.
In a day of thrilling racing, Hynek and Lakata managed to break away with Sauser and Kulhavy at the top of the tough Nuweberg climb, about 20km into the ride. For the rest of the day, they were chased by the Bulls’s German-Swiss combination of Karl Platt and Urs Huber and Mutivan Merida’s Jose Hermida of Spain and Dutchman Rudi van Houts.
The latter two teams had closed the gap to a few seconds by 45km but their effort appeared to take it out of them and Kulhavy pulled the leading two teams away across the second half of the stage.
Hynek and Lakata could not hold on and dropped back, eventually finishing two minutes and 18 seconds behind the rampant Sauser and Kulhavy.
The Bulls finished fourth but lie second overall – 11 seconds ahead of Hynek and Lakata. Hermida and van Houts are 35 seconds further back, and the fight for second and third podium places is sure to be fierce in the remaining five stages.
Fifth place yesterday went to Swiss pair Martin Gujan and Fabian Giger (Novus OMX Pro), who also lie fifth overall.
Next home was the first South African pair, Waylon Woolcock and Darren Lill, who put a poor Stage 1 behind them to finish strongly. USN’s Rourke Croeser and Travis Walker were ninth but retain the red Absa African special jersey, with Scott factory Racing’s Philip Buys and Matthys Beukes behind them.
Today’s Stage 3 is the longest and takes the riders from Oak Valley to Worcester – about 128km and 2 200m of climbing. Riders will be relieved to hear that the wind is expected to drop. - The Star