Evans and George fight back for Cape Epic stage win

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South Africans Kevin Evans and David George of Team Nedbank 360Life shrugged off the bad luck they’ve endured over the past week to claim a dominant victory on stage 6 of the 2012 Absa Cape Epic at Oak Valley on Saturday.

The sentimental favourites also continued their yo-yo-like status on the overall classification by moving from fifth back up to second with one day remaining. Race leaders and defending champions, Burry Stander and Chistoph Sauser (36One-Songo-Specialized) finished the stage in second place six minutes and 44 seconds down, while Alban Lakata and Robert Mennin (Topeak Ergon) rounded out the podium places 8:55 behind the winners.

With over 2000 metres of vertical ascent to conquer, George and Evans went on the attack at the base of the first major climb. Stander and Sauser initially left it up to the other teams to defend the minor podium places being threatened by Nedbank 360Life, but later Stander and Sauser decided to break clear themselves and pursue Evans and George.

“In order to win the stage and get back up to second on general classification, we knew we had to put on the pressure as early as possible. We have a lot of frustration built up from the last few days, but today we used it as our motivation. We had everything to gain,” said George. “The support of the crowds was incredible. We feel honoured to have such support.”

George and Evans experienced delays due to cut tyres on stages 1 and 5, losing significant time and the possibility of challenging Sauser and Stander for the overall win. On Saturday they charged straight through both water points on their way to victory.

“The first water point was quite early on at the top of the first big climb. We had a good rhythm and enough supplements in our bottles so decided to just keep going,” explained Evans. “I thought the second water point was 10km from the finish, so didn’t want to stop there. But it turns out it was about 20km from the finish! That was a hard, but rewarding effort today.”

Evans and George extended their lead in the African team competition, while Stander and Sauser still hold a substantial lead of 25 minutes and 57 seconds over Evans and George in the general classification, making Sunday’s short final stage virtually a victory procession.