After the start of the 110-kilometer stage at Robertson's Arabella Wine Estate, Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini set the pace early on. Closely followed by Alban Lakata and Kristian Hynek as well as the leading duo Rohrbach/Geismayr. However, they were unable to keep up with Fumic and Avancini and finished the stage in seventh place - third overall. "It wasn't a good day for us. We lost contact with the leaders and had no chance of catching up again," said a disappointed Geismayr.

Meanwhile, Jaroslav Kulhavy and his American team colleague Howard Grotts caught up with the day's leaders. From then on, the cross-country quartet pulls away and it comes to a sprint. Here the Cannondale riders have the edge, as Investec-Songo rider Grotts lacks the sprinting qualities. With their victory, Fumic and Avancini also take the yellow leader's jersey. They are now 40 seconds ahead of Kulhavy/Grotts and already over five minutes ahead of Rohrbach and Geismayr.

No engine runs without fuel

While the gas is pressed early after the start, two top favorites drop out of the decision: Matthias Stirnemann suffers from a stomach bug and only makes it across the finish line with Nino Schurter's help. A continuation of the race is not possible and so the battle to defend the title is already over for Schurter and Stirnemann on the second day.

"Matthias suffered a lot today. He has a stomach bug and wasn't able to eat, let alone keep it in his stomach. He was completely empty at the finish because of it," recapped Schurter. The world champion will continue the second stage alone and out of competition, but then he will also drop out, as he announced in a post on Instagram.

Martin Fanger and Simon Vitzthum, on the other hand, had a good day. The Swiss duo surprised everyone, missing out on third place by just a few seconds, but beating numerous top teams such as Karl Platt and Urs Huber. This success means eighth place in the overall standings for the pair.

Almost the same picture

In the women's race, Annika Langvad and Kate Courtney once again came out on top. Even a gradual drop in pressure in Courtney's tire could not prevent the Specialized duo from winning. "Kate noticed that her rear wheel was losing air. We tried to ride a little further, but then had to stop to 'plug' the tire," Langvad explains the situation with the puncture.

During the repair, the two are overtaken by Ariane Lüthi and Githa Michiels. However, Langvad and Courtney were able to close the gap again and later pulled away decisively after an attack on the mountain. "It was definitely a tough day, but a very nice one to ride," said Langvad's former Epic partner Ariane Lüthi. "We always had Annika and Kate a bit ahead of us, but we were never able to close the gap until they had the puncture. We thought that we might be able to win the stage if they took long enough to repair it. However, Annika and Kate rode so strongly that they soon caught up with us again and then still had enough power to take the stage win.

Behind the Swiss-Belgian duo, Mariske Strauss and Annie Last fought their way to third place. In a strong ride over the last 30 kilometers, the South African-English duo ousted Robyn de Groot and Sabine Spitz, who were still ahead of them. The day's classification also corresponds to the overall standings, in which Lüthi/Michiels are a good two minutes behind the leaders, while Strauss/Last are already over seven minutes behind them.

The next "Swiss duo" is the "Shimano S-Phyre" team with Cornelia Hug and the Swiss-based Dutchwoman Hielke Elferink. Despite a puncture, Hug and Elferink are in eighth place, which they now also hold in the overall standings.

Esther Süss, or rather her team colleague, is less fortunate: Angelika Tazreiter is brought down by another competitor and the Austrian suffers a shoulder injury that prevents her from continuing. Like Schurter, Süss will tackle the second stage in the newly named "Leopard" jersey for solo UCI riders - out of competition and behind the peloton.

A constant up and down

On the second stage, the Cape Epic participants will not have it any easier. At 106 kilometers and 2,000 vertical meters, the route, which starts and finishes in Robertson, is slightly shorter, but also has slightly more vertical meters. The riders do not have to prepare for two long climbs. The stage resembles a long corrugated road on which there are also technical sections such as the ten-kilometre Bosvark singletrack.

www.cape-epic.com