Hat-trick for Sauser and Stander

The South African/Swiss team of Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser again proved their class by winning Stage 2 of this year’s Cape Epic. This is their third consecutive win, having also taken top honours in both the Prologue and Stage 1.

With an overall time of 9 hours, 27 Minutes and 38 seconds, the team will wear the yellow leader jersey for Stage 3 on Wednesday.

Sauser and Stander were the first to cross the finish line for the third consecutive day in 4:32.43,4 (overall 9:27.38,0). They were followed by Hannes Genze and Jochen Kloss of in 4:33.30, 6 (overall 9:33.56, 3) with their second podium finish for this event and placed second overall.

In third place with their first podium finish this year were Lukas and Mathias in 4:34.07, 2 (overall time 9:48.42, 1). In fourth place was the Bulls team of Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm in (4:34.23, 6; overall time 9:35.01, 6), placing them in third position overall.

Nicolas Vermeulen and Kevin van Hoovels finished in fifth place in 4:40.18, 0 (overall time 9:49.53, 2).

The team of Sauser and Stander lead the team of Hannes Genze and Jochen Kloss by 6 minutes and 18 seconds and it is their 12th stage win in the Cape Epic since they participated for the first time.

Stander said “Today’s stage was hard. We followed a similar tactic to yesterday and tried to stay in front. Towards the end there were some steep climbs, but Susi (Christoph Sauser) was really strong and I just had to follow his wheel and on the flat stretch power to the end.”

His team-mate added “I was feeling super strong today and had a good day in the saddle. We were riding together about eight of us — for most of the day but we broke away near the end.

“It was really nice to win another stage, but we’ll only celebrate tomorrow if we manage to win the stage again.”

Hannes Genze, who finished in second place, was exhausted but excited.

“Our team worked perfectly today. Jochen had a flat tyre, but the world champion Jose Hermida gave us his front wheel to continue on. Andreas (Kugler) and Markus (Kaufmann) managed to get us back to the leading group of eight teams by pushing us a bit.

“That’s why I had enough energy at the end. I also had a crash today, which wasn’t very nice.

“We are very happy with second place. Of course being on the podium makes us feel stronger. Our goal in this year’s race is a podium finish. The other teams are very strong and there’s still a long way to go.”

Mannie Heymans and Adrien Niyonshuti are the leaders in the African Jersey in 10:05.25, 5, followed by Paul Cordes and Charles Keey in 10:17.39, 3. In third place are Brandon Stewart and Shan Wilson in 10:19.55, 1.

Eva Lechner and Nathalie Schneitter won the Ladies Category for the third day in a row in a time of 5:56.23,0 (overall time 12:27.59,7), ahead of Sally Bigham and Karien Van Jaarsveld in a time of 6:01.49,6 (overall 12:41.38,7). Naomi Hansen and Jodie Willett finished in third place in 6:07.58, 4 (overall time 13:26.15, 4). Lechner and Schneitter lead by 13 minutes and 39 seconds.

The team of Carsten Bresser and Udo Boelts) won the Masters stage for the third consecutive day in 4:59.31, 2 (overall time 10:30.14, 2). They were again followed by Robert Sim and Doug Brown in 5:10.34, 3 (overall time 10:57.08, 8) with Nandos team of Adrian Enthoven and Gerrie Beukes in third place in 5:23.08, 6 (overall time 11:17.19, 1).

The team, of Barti Bucher and Esther SÏ‹ss, won the Mixed category for the third day in a row in 5:23.08,0 (overall time 11:16.09,6), followed by Erik Kleinhans and Ariane LÃ in 5:42.13,3 (overall time 11:49.47,0). The Swiss team of Daniel Annaheim and Renata Bucher again finished in third place in 5:50.20,3 (overall time 12:13.29,2).