With the prize purse for the Sasol Women’s category equal to that of the Men’s category this year (for the first time in the history of the race thanks to headline sponsor Sasol Oil), competition is fierce amongst the women riders vying for top honours.
The Meerendal team of Esther Süss and Sally Bigham now lead the category overall by just under 14 minutes, followed by Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad (RECM 2), and Jennie Stenerhag and Theresa Ralph (Cape Brewing Company) in second and third positions respectively.
Says Annika Langvad of RECM 2: “The stage started in rain and I was feeling confident. We took no risks and there was no attacking. We’ll just keep our pace going forward. My break pads gave out because of all the mud, but we decided not to fix it because of all the time we would lose. We were only a few kilometres from the finish line. There’s still a long way to go and I’m hoping for lots of sunshine!” Adds Ariane Kleinhans: “It was important not to get into trouble, but still be alert to take any opportunities. It looked like a flat stage and we thought we might use it to make up time, but because of the extreme weather conditions it wasn’t possible. Towards the end we gave it our all.”
Sally Bigham of team Meerendal says she actually enjoyed it in the mud. “Our only major concern was not to crash or get mechanicals. I’m feeling good and strong, and we’re happy with today’s performance.”
Theresa Ralph of Cape Brewing Company says: “This stage was so hard and so muddy. We had the chain stuck because of the mud. Our vision was also affected. But otherwise it was just another day, another podium.”
Ischen Stopforth of team SasolRacing (ranked at 6th position after Stage 2) says: “There is no such thing as an easy stage! Today’s was supposedly going to be one and like always when that’s the case the weather works against us. This year is a tough Epic so far! More so than previous years as the really tight women’s competition makes it hard in this category. Looking at tomorrow it seems that finishing the stage should be our only goal. We still want to finish in the top 5 and also be the first African women’s team. Getting on the podium once or twice will also be really nice.”
Yolandi du Toit of SasolRacing 2 says that things are going really well so far. She adds: “The first two days we had fun, but today we had some trouble with mechanicals - so did everybody else. We were longer in the saddle today than yesterday. So much for expecting an easy stage! We just want to finish in the top 10. We have a great time riding together. We complement each other as riders and know one another really well. We’re friends and you need a friend when doing something like this.” At present, SasolRacing 2 is ranked 9th in the Women’s category.
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