Platt and Huber get off to an Epic start
by Jonathan Ancer,
2016-03-14 05:00:00.0
GERMAN powerhouse Karl Platt of Team Bulls put himself in the driving seat for a fifth Absa Cape Epic title as he and teammate Swiss Urs Huber blistered their way to victory in Sunday’s prologue.
They clocked 1hr 04min 35sec — giving them a minute’s lead over another Swiss-German pairing, Nicola Rohrbach and Matthias Pfrommer, of Centurion Vaude by Meerendal 2.
Despite fierce winds on Meerendal Wine Estate, Platt and Huber had a flawless ride, putting Platt one step closer to the top step of the podium — after 640km back at Meerendal next Sunday. If he manages it, he will match five-time winner Christoph Sauser, who is participating this year, but not racing competitively. Judging by Platt’s huge smile as he stepped on to the winner’s podium, things are going according to plan.
"I’ve never won the prologue," said Platt. "So to get off to such a good start makes me happy. The conditions were so tough, and we were battling sideways wind at the top. There was nowhere to hide, so to have such an awesome ride was the best way to start. I’m confident about our team shape and I’m excited about the week ahead."
Huber said he felt the weight of expectation going into the prologue. "People were talking about us as one of the favourites, so it is good that we lived up to that. It shows the rest of the field that we mean business!"
Trek-Selle San Marco A’s Samuele Porro and Damiano Ferraro, both of Italy, were third with the first South Africans, James Reid and Gert Heyns of Team Spur, fourth. Reid and Heyns will start stage one on Monday in the Absa African special jersey. They only came together in the week leading up to the race due to misfortunes befalling their teammates, and were looking good until Reid took a tumble towards the end.
The other pre-race favourites Kristian Hynek and Alban Lakata, of Team Topeak Ergon Racing, battled on the day and only managed a ninth place finish, two minutes and 19 seconds behind Platt and Huber.
In the women’s category, South African Robyn de Groot continued her impressive form, when she and Swedish partner Jennie Stenerhag (Ascendis Health) grabbed the category leaders’ orange jersey, finishing in 1:17.35.
In an exciting race, the South African/Swedish duo beat defending champions Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad into second place by 18 seconds.
Stenerhag said: "We both had some patches of suffering and some patches of feeling really good, and they didn’t happen at the same time, which was really good thing."
Monday’s stage one, which starts and finishes in Tulbagh, will test the mettle of the 1,200 riders with 106km of riding and 2,300m of climbing.
WINDING IT UP: Urs Huber, left, and Karl Platt win the Absa Cape Epic prologue on Sunday. Picture: EPA/KIM LUDBROOK
GERMAN powerhouse Karl Platt of Team Bulls put himself in the driving seat for a fifth Absa Cape Epic title as he and teammate Swiss Urs Huber blistered their way to victory in Sunday’s prologue.
They clocked 1hr 04min 35sec — giving them a minute’s lead over another Swiss-German pairing, Nicola Rohrbach and Matthias Pfrommer, of Centurion Vaude by Meerendal 2.
Despite fierce winds on Meerendal Wine Estate, Platt and Huber had a flawless ride, putting Platt one step closer to the top step of the podium — after 640km back at Meerendal next Sunday. If he manages it, he will match five-time winner Christoph Sauser, who is participating this year, but not racing competitively. Judging by Platt’s huge smile as he stepped on to the winner’s podium, things are going according to plan.
"I’ve never won the prologue," said Platt. "So to get off to such a good start makes me happy. The conditions were so tough, and we were battling sideways wind at the top. There was nowhere to hide, so to have such an awesome ride was the best way to start. I’m confident about our team shape and I’m excited about the week ahead."
Huber said he felt the weight of expectation going into the prologue. "People were talking about us as one of the favourites, so it is good that we lived up to that. It shows the rest of the field that we mean business!"
Trek-Selle San Marco A’s Samuele Porro and Damiano Ferraro, both of Italy, were third with the first South Africans, James Reid and Gert Heyns of Team Spur, fourth. Reid and Heyns will start stage one on Monday in the Absa African special jersey. They only came together in the week leading up to the race due to misfortunes befalling their teammates, and were looking good until Reid took a tumble towards the end.
The other pre-race favourites Kristian Hynek and Alban Lakata, of Team Topeak Ergon Racing, battled on the day and only managed a ninth place finish, two minutes and 19 seconds behind Platt and Huber.
In the women’s category, South African Robyn de Groot continued her impressive form, when she and Swedish partner Jennie Stenerhag (Ascendis Health) grabbed the category leaders’ orange jersey, finishing in 1:17.35.
In an exciting race, the South African/Swedish duo beat defending champions Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad into second place by 18 seconds.
Stenerhag said: "We both had some patches of suffering and some patches of feeling really good, and they didn’t happen at the same time, which was really good thing."
Monday’s stage one, which starts and finishes in Tulbagh, will test the mettle of the 1,200 riders with 106km of riding and 2,300m of climbing.
Change: 1.35%
Change: 1.55%
Change: 0.96%
Change: 1.04%
Change: 3.65%
Data supplied by Profile Data
Change: 0.68%
Change: 0.94%
Change: 1.35%
Change: 0.00%
Change: 0.97%
Data supplied by Profile Data
Change: 0.25%
Change: 0.14%
Change: 0.00%
Change: 0.22%
Change: 0.11%
Data supplied by Profile Data
Change: -0.53%
Change: -0.60%
Change: -0.87%
Change: 0.18%
Change: -0.81%
Data supplied by Profile Data