The technically demanding route with 1800 meters of elevation gain around the farm town of Greyton suits experienced riders like Nino Schurter. First-class single tracks await mountain bikers on the 88 kilometers around Greyton and the historic mission village of Genadental. "That was cool, that was real mountain biking today. Lots of trails, that suited us. We were always faster downhill than everyone else. Philip also had a great day today. Our 27.5-inch wheels also gave us an advantage in the tight corners today, we were able to make up time," said a cheerful Nino Schurter at the finish line.

A large lead group, including Lukas Flückiger and Martin Fanger (SUI) and the Multivan-Merida team with José Hermida (ESP) and Rudi van Houts (NED), broke away at the first feed station. This situation stabilizes again. At kilometer 63, Schurter and Buys are already one minute ahead of their pursuers. The attempt by Centurion-Vaude, Topeak-Ergon, Bulls 2 and Torpado-Factory-Racing to chase the leaders does not bear fruit. They extended their lead to one and a half minutes by the finish.

German marathon champion Markus Kaufmann and Jochen Käss (Centurion-Vaude) confirmed their good form with a second place on the stage. The series of punctures for the teams in the leader's jersey is broken. Robert Mennen and Kristian Hynek from the Topeak-Ergon-Racing-Team can continue to wear their yellow leader's jersey after finishing third.
Team Bulls suffers a severe setback. After just seven kilometers in the race, Platt has to pull out due to knee problems. Urs Huber continues the race alone and out of competition.

"I already felt it this morning before the start, but thought that it would somehow work out," says a disappointed Karl Platt. "I really wanted to ride through this race - I've never had to finish a Cape Epic early. It wasn't the hardest decision of my life, because I just couldn't ride any more even if I'd wanted to."

Platt suffered the knee injury in a crash on the second stage. Favorite Christoph Sauser also had a stroke of luck, finishing sixth with partner Frantisek Rabon (CZE) despite a chain break and a crash in which he went over the handlebars, allowing him to defend his second place overall. "The chain break came inconveniently right after our breakaway attempt together with Schurter and Buys, when Topeak was behind us. Then I got stuck with my pedals on an overgrown singletrail and flew headfirst over the handlebars," said Christoph Sauser (Meerendal Songo Specialized) at the finish.

Change in the women's lead
The tide turns in the women's classification, again due to a technical defect. Overall leader Esther Süss (SUI) explains the problem: "I noticed at the start that something was wrong with the bike. The rear damper sagged and I locked it. But that meant I was sitting too far back on the bike. I couldn't get the power onto the pedals and then I also got back pain." At the finish, she and her British team partner Sally Bigham were over twelve minutes behind Ariane Kleinhans (SUI) and Annika Langvad (DEN), giving them back the overall lead.

Rider voices
Christoph Sauser (SUI) Meerendal Songo Specialized: "My chain broke when we left with Scott. We didn't have such good legs, but that's clear after five days. But a race like this is also a mental thing. After my crash, the physio has to see what's wrong with my neck."

Lukas Flückiger (SUI) BMC: "We tried to get to the front. But I had to go over my limit when Nino attacked and I "exploded". Suddenly nothing worked anymore, I was empty and had to really fight in the last 20 kilometers."

José Hermida (ESP) Multivan-Merida-Biking-Team: "Today we were at the front at the beginning after our legs didn't really work yesterday. So today we wanted to see what we could do with our strength, from the second water point we were in front and had to suffer a little. But we wanted to save our strength. We are confident that we can still do something over the next few days. We've already won the final stage twice in particular."

Outlook for stage 5: GREYTON - ELGIN
The fifth stage of the Absa-Cape Epic rides from the fruit-growing town of Greyton to Elgin. With 2900 meters of elevation gain, it will be the queen stage, after 50 kilometers a relentless 5-kilometer climb awaits riders. The bikers roll along the flanks of the impressive Groenlandberg into the Oak Valley wine farm. Around four and a half hours after the start at 7.00 a.m., the fastest riders are expected to cross the finish line.

Highlights and winners clip of the 4th stage