The Men’s category of Stage 2 of this year’s Absa Cape Epic was won in a sprint finish by the Bulls 1 team of Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm. They were closely followed by Hannes Genze and Andreas Kugler of Multivan Merida Biking, with winners of the previous two days Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser of Team 36ONE-Songo-Specialized in third place.

As the race’s history tells us, stage one is always a rude awakening for the riders. Combining the length, the climbing, the severity of the trail surfaces and the speed of fresh-legged hares at the front of the field – all was a shock to the system, even for the best prepared. Three major climbs loomed ahead of the athletes.

The South African/Swiss team of Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser (team 36ONE Songo Specialized) will wear the sough-after Yellow Zebra Jersey made by Craft, with Kevin Evans and David George wearing the Red Absa African leader jersey. Esther Süss and Sally Bigham (Wheels4Life) will be leading the Ladies in Orange, with Robert Sim and Nico Pfitzenmaier of Robert Daniel Momsen wearing the Telkom Masters Blue jersey.

There is a big week of mountain biking coming up. The the Absa Cape Epic starts on Sunday, taking the riders through 781km of Western Capes best trails. All eyes will be on the duo of Burry Stander and Christof Sauser to see if they can retain their title. Until then, take a look at this. Happy Friday.

Take a look at Greg’s winning run at the 2012 Pietermaritzburg UCI World Cup, amazing ride!

One of South Africa’s favourite teams to take top honours at this year’s Absa Cape Epic, Kevin Evans (33) and David George (35), will again be partnering to take on the challenging 781km and 16 300m of climbing from 25 March to 1 April in the Western Cape as team 360LIFE.