Centurion Vaude grab century stage
However, a puncture 10km from the stage's finish saw Karl Platt and Urs Huber roll across the line in second place, but gaining ground on their rivals in the general classification.The stage win went to Epic first-timers Nicola Rohrbach and Matthias Pfrommer of Team Centurion Vaude by Meerendal 2, who crossed the line in 4:16.48.Pfrommer and Rohrbach were ecstatic, punching the air and whooping with delight. "We are totally destroyed after that ride. But very happy," said Rohrbach.The two professional mountain bikers only came together about a week before the event as support for Team Centurion Vaude by Meerendal's Hermann Pernsteiner and Daniel Geismayr. Pernsteiner, fell on Stage 1, which opened the door for Pfrommer and Rohrbach to win the Epic's stage.Third place went to Italians Samuele Porro and Damiano Ferraro (Team Trek-Selle San Marco A).For much of the race there were four teams in the leading bunch, including South Africa's Darren Lill and Waylon Woolcock (USN Purefit), until Lill's chain broke about halfway through the stage.They decided to scale back the tempo, and Team NAD Pro MTB's Gawie Combrinck and Nico Bell took advantage of the opportunity to be the first South Africans to cross the line. However, Lill and Woolcock remain in front, about five minutes ahead of Combrinck and Bell, in the race for the red Absa African Special Jersey.Team Topeak Ergon Racing had more bad luck, when Kristian Hynek's shoe broke and they had to wait for their back-up team so Hynek could take Erik Kleinhans's shoe. Finishing in one red and one black shoe, the replacement also too small, Hynek said: "My foot is on fire, it's burning."In the Sasol Women's race, two-time defending champions Spur-Specialised's Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad took the stage win, snatching the overall lead from the South African-Swedish pairing of Robyn de Groot and Jennie Stenerhag (Ascendis Health). "It feels amazing to be back in the orange jersey," said a beaming Kleinhans.Today's 103km stage takes riders from Tulbagh to Wellington...
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