It rarely occurs that Max Knox (Specialized) has the luxury of going into a cycling race with absolutely no pressure on him to win.
When he lines up to start the MTN Hilton Ultra Marathon in KwaZulu-Natal on the 23th September, he will be in that privileged position.
With his dominant performance at the MTN Gravel Travel and SA Championship, which enabled him to finish nearly 12 minutes ahead of David George (Nedbank360Life) and 23 minutes ahead of Kevin Evans (Nedbank360Life), Knox had basically secured an overall victory in the MTN National MTB Series.
There was some nervous energy around the breakfast tables this morning, with 125km looming ahead making day 3 the longest day distance wise of the entire JoBerg2c. And to make things a little worse, it was freezing in Reitz, proper freezing. Another mass start again saw us following a huge Massey Ferguson tractor for a 8km’s of neutral riding until the racing started. I had made a conscious decision to start slower and have a fairly chilled day.
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.
After the MTN Diemersfontein ultra-marathon this weekend (27-28 August), Kevin Evans and David George from the Nedbank 360Life team can lay claim to the brand new title of ‘Chess masters of South African mountain biking’.
Evans won the race over 105km in 4 hours 32 minutes and 12 seconds.
Friday the 13th seems as apt a day as any for the release of the next teaser from Sinamatella Productions on Dave George and Kevin Evans. Beset by accident and illness, this story hasn’t lacked for drama!
Kevin makes his comeback tomorrow in Tulbagh of all places. Let’s hope this beautiful town is kinder to him this time.
The Spanish/Swiss team of José Hermida and Ralph Näf (Multivan Merida Biking 3) finally secured their first stage win in this year’s Absa Cape Epic. Hermida boasts a number of titles including the Elite World Champion (2010), fourth place at the Sydney Olympic Games, six World Cup round victories, runner-up in the European Championships and five times Spanish National Champion. Näf was the European Champion in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2010, World Marathon Champion in 2006, and second in the World Championships in 2007. They finished today’s stage of 128km in a time of 5:00.47,0. They were followed by the 36ONE Songo Specialized team of Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser in 5:01.38,7, with the Flückiger brothers, Lukas and Mathias, in third place in 5:04.06,0.
One of the most prolific mountain bikers in the history of the sport in South Africa, Kevin Evans, is out of the Absa Cape Epic race.
Evans and team-mate David George were one of the favourite teams to take top honours in this year’s event. Evans’s brakes failed on the second steep descent of the day.
The inaugural Columbia Grape Escape took place this weekend with a star studded field racing their way from Big Bay to Boschendal over three days. Four times Cape Epic winner Karl Platt was the man with early form winning the first two stages in sprint finishes but it was Kevin Evans and David George’s domination on the third stage that allowed David to win the stage and Kevin the overall title for Team 360Life.