Swiss riders Fabian Giger and Martin Gujan (Novus OMX Pro) sprung something of a surprise as they swept into the yellow zebra jersey in Sunday’s Absa Cape Epic Prologue.
Most of the big guns kept their powder dry on a day that favoured cross country specialists, but four-times winners Karl Platt and Christoph Sauser were second and third with their teammates.
Giger and Gujan were delighted with their performance: “I didn’t expect it at all but I’m very happy to get the win,” said Giger. “We left quite early (before the favourites for the stage) and had a good time out there.” They finished in 46 minutes and 18 seconds, an exceptionally quick time for the 20km Table Mountain course.
Many of the top riders described the course as being tough and without any opportunities to rest. The course was generally quite dusty after a long and dry Western Cape summer. Riders who went out late in the day, such as the professionals, had the worst of the conditions after earlier riders had dragged their brakes through sections of the course.
Team Bulls’s Platt (German) and Urs Huber (Swiss) were second, 18 seconds behind the Swiss pair.
“We didn’t start full gas,” said Platt. “We kept it steady and think it worked out.”
He said there had been one scary moment when he rode into a dust cloud as he entered a steeply descending singletrack: “I went ‘whoa! where’s the track?’, but then it was fine.”
Swiss Sauser and Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy (Investec Songo Specialized) finished third, five seconds behind Platt and Huber.
“It was hard for me,” said Sauser. “I struggled with the climbing.”
Defending champion Kristian Hynek of the Czech Republic and Austrian Alban Lakata (Topeak Ergon) finished seventh overall, 51 seconds behind the leaders.
But Hynek made the point later: “We didn’t want to take any big risks because you can’t win it on the Prologue … you can only lose it”.
The top South African finishers were sixth-placed Rourke Croeser and Travis Walker, who will wear the Absa African special jersey on Stage 1. Three seconds and two places behind them were Darren Lill and Waylon Woolcock (RED-E Blend).
Results:
1. Novus OMX Pro; 46.18,3 23-1; Martin Gujan (Switzerland); 23-2 Fabian Giger (Switzerland)
2. Bulls; 46.36,7; 4-1 Karl Platt (Germany); 4-2 Urs Huber (Switzerland)
3. Investec-Songo-Specialized, 46.42,1; 2-1 Christoph Sauser (Switzerland); 2-2 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic)
4. Kargo Pro MTB, 46.49,0; 15-1 Emil Lindgren (Sweden); 15-2 Brendon Davids (South Africa)
5. Multivan Merida; 47.00,4; 6-1 Jose Hermida (Spain); 6-2 Rudi van Houts (Netherlands)
6. USN; 47.08,1; 11-1 Rourke Croeser (South Africa); 11-2 Travis Walker (South Africa)
7. Topeak Ergon; 47.10,1; 1-1 Kristian Hynek (Czech Republic), 1-2 Alban Lakata (Austria)
8. RED-E Blend; 47.10,8; 36-1 Darren Lill (South Africa); 36-2 Waylon Woolcock (South Africa)
9. Topeak Ergon 2; 47.39,5; 8-1 Robert Mennen (Germany); 8-2 Jeremiah Bishop (United States of America)
10. Scott Factory Racing; 47.49,4; 7-1 Philip Buys (South Africa); 7-2 Matthys Beukes (South Africa)
Karl Platt and Christoph Sauser win NTT Masters category in fine style
