German rider Robert Mennen and his Czech partner Kristian Hynek from the Topeak-Ergon-Racing-Team secured the stage win. Team Bulls with Karl Platt and Urs Huber take the overall lead with a second place on the stage despite a hard crash by Platt. The German-Swiss duo is now almost eleven minutes ahead of the co-favorites Christoph Sauser (SUI) and Frantisek Rabon (CZE). The German triumph was completed by Team Bulls 2 with Tim Böhme and Simon Stiebjahn in third place.

A strong Hannes Genze (GER) finished fourth with his Swiss partner Konny Looser (Meerendal Centurion Wheeler). The pair now also occupy fourth place in the overall standings. The overall leading Germans Markus Kaufmann and Jochen Käss are pulling hard on the bad luck lever. A broken chainstay, which they repair with makeshift cable ties, throws them back to 112th place, almost two hours behind the leaders. Christoph Sauser and Frantisek Rabon - like so many teams - had problems with their brakes. Due to abraded pads, the clamp between them got caught in the brake disk. All in all, this cost the team several more minutes. It was an extremely tough day for the former road pro Rabon. The likeable Czech had never experienced such conditions on a bike before.

With a sixth place on the stage, the Swiss Lukas Flückiger and Martin Fanger (BMC) stabilized their good fifth overall position, even if Fanger had conditional problems. "We had to slow down at the end. Maybe we could have taken the leader's jersey otherwise. But that's part of a team race, that's just the way it is," said Lukas Flückiger at the finish.

Duo Kleinhans/Langvad with a race to catch up
The women's team RECM 2 with Ariane Kleinhans (SUI) and marathon world champion Annika Langvad (DEN) can make up some time after their mishap on the first stage. They finish around ten minutes ahead of the overall leaders, Switzerland's Esther Süss and Britain's Sally Bigham, Team Meerendal. This reduced the gap in the overall standings to around 14 minutes.

"It was a tough day and pretty dirty. We had a bit of trouble with the brakes. We got off to a pretty good start and tried to save some energy on the flat sections, which we did well. Things went well in the technical sections towards the end. Victory is still possible, I think, and we'll give it our best shot," said an optimistic Kleinhans at the finish.

Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) in the team with Theresa Ralph (RSA), Team Cape Brewing Company, ride consistently and retain their third place overall. In fifth place overall are Switzerland's Milena Landtwing and her team partner Hielke Elferink.

Riders' comments
Hannes Genze (GER), Team Meerendal-Centurion-Wheeler: "If you studied the profiles, you would have expected an easy stage. Far from it. The rain turned it into one of the hardest. I had two crashes, but they weren't serious. Konny (Looser) had a flat tire when Bulls and Topeak pushed harder and harder and then we were quickly four minutes behind."

Urs Huber (SUI), Team Bulls: "We are very happy that we are back in the game. Now everything is open again. There are still five days to go, a lot can still happen. A lot has already happened."

Kristian Hynek (CZE), Topeak-Ergon-Racing-Team: "The Epic is an amazing race, the atmosphere is incredible. Even in these tough conditions it's a great experience, even if we suffer. I'm enjoying it, as far as you can call it enjoying. But I don't think I'll be really happy until after the eight days, when we ride to the finish in Lourensford."

Nino Schurter (SUI), Scott-Odlo-MTB-Racing-Team: "We had to change brake pads twice, which of course costs a lot of time. It's a bit tougher for my partner Philip Buys than for me, but we're still in it."

José Hermida (ESP), Multivan-Merida-Biking-Team: "My legs are back. We had a blocked rear wheel from Rudi van Houts at the start. But we got back into the race well today and are still in 27th place overall.