The 2017 Absa Cape Epic begins as the 2016 edition ended - with a victory for Manuel Fumic (GER) and Henrique Avancini (BRA). With a lead of 1:36 minutes over Schurter and Stirnemann, the two have already made a good start. "Our plan was to set a good time and that's exactly what we did. With its 26 kilometers and characteristics, the prologue is of course perfect for us cross-country riders. The race starts properly tomorrow and hopefully we'll still be at the front for the rest of the week," says Fumic.

World champion and Olympic champion Nino Schurter gives it his all on this day, but it's not enough. The heat causes problems for his team-mate Matthias Stirnemann. "It was very hot, which came as a bit of a surprise to us," explains Schurter, adding: "We want to try and win some stages here and that just didn't work out today. But we'll get a few more opportunities this week and maybe we'll even make it onto the podium in the overall standings."

"Quickly" back from retirement

Christoph Sauser is almost back to his old strength. It is well known that he doesn't do things by halves. The fact that he and Jaroslav Kulhavy finished the prologue in fourth place was less expected - not even by him. Sauser is accordingly happy about his result: "I'm over the moon. It's probably my best prologue performance ever. It feels great to return to the race like this. Maybe I won't say that again in the middle of next week.

Sauser and Kulhavy last won in 2015 and started this year with the aim of winning the Cape Epic for the sixth time (for Sauser). Their strong opening performance confirms that they are among the favorites.

Their biggest rivals, Urs Huber and Karl Platt, are not satisfied with their performance, sixth place. Platt complains about the climate: "It was very hot. Normally there is always a bit of wind here at Meerendal. But the cooling breeze just wasn't there today. Our ride didn't go according to plan either; I think we were a little over-motivated at the beginning and started too fast. I was just able to keep up this pace until the end. On the other hand, that was just the prologue, we still have a whole week to make up some of the three-minute gap day by day.

Nicola Rohrbach and Daniel Geismayr finished in seventh place.

Spitz and de Groot set the first mark

Sabine Spitz and her team partner Robyn de Groot make a perfect start to the 14th edition of the most important mountain bike stage race. Together with her South African partner, the 2008 Olympic champion beat the duo of Esther Süss (SUI) and Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) by 39 seconds at the start. Annie Last (GBR) and Mariske Strauss (RSA) are almost two minutes behind. "Sabine started very fast and I had to give everything to be able to follow," says de Groot, but Spitz plays the ball back: "Robyn was very strong in the end."

This is Spitz's fourth stage win at the Cape Epic, having already won three stages last year with Ukrainian Yana Belomoina. However, this is the first time she has worn the orange leader's jersey.

Another 70 seconds back was the track duo of defending champion Ariane Lüthi and Adelheid Morath in fourth place. Visibly dejected at being more than two minutes behind, Lüthi said: "We just weren't strong enough today. We did what we could, but it wasn't enough." When asked whether the upcoming long stages would suit her better, the three-time Cape Epic winner replies with a shake of her head and the words: "We're not strong enough."

Switzerland's Cornelia Hug finishes seventh with her Dutch team partner Hielke Elferink. Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds and Thomas Frischknecht ride to a clear victory in the mixed category in the prologue. Their lead over the second-placed duo of Grant Usher and Amy Beth McDougall was almost 1:45 minutes. Just behind the South Africans, Willy Williams and Kate Fluker from New Zealand took third place. In fourth place were Heinz Posch and Nina Brenn, an all-Swiss team.

A hundred to start with

The first of the seven stages is scheduled for tomorrow in Hermanus, east of Cape Town. The riders will have to conquer over 2000 meters of altitude on the rough 105 kilometers. After this stage, the first trends for the final classification should already be visible.

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