Sauser and Kulhavy win Cape Epic stage 5

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It was a show of power with Christoph Sauser and Jarolsav Kulhavy (Burry Stander - Songo) winning the stage. Nino Schurter and Florian Vogel (Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing) were riding with Sauser and Kulhavy and the gap just grew between them and the other riders. But the Burry Stander - Songo team eventually dropped them too and proved that they were the strongest team in the race.

The fifth day was like a bonus day - relatively short at 75km, sweet and fun, with more singletrack than any previous Cape Epic stage. To avoid congestion on the trails, the start groups were staggered over 1.5 hours. The weather was quite mild today and chilly early in the morning.

Men

Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy of Burry Stander - Songo won stage 5 in 3:03:04. It is their third stage win in this year's Cape Epic and Sauser's 29th stage win in the history of the event.

They were followed by Nino Schurter and Florian Vogel of Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing in 3:05:19 with their first podium finish. The Bulls Karl Platt and Urs Huber finished in third place in 3:05:35, with Cannondale Factory Racing's Marco Fontana and Manuel Fumic in fourth place (3:09:10). Jose Hermida and Rudi van Houts (Multivan Merida) finished in fourth place in 3:10:08.

"This is my 29th stage win, and I am thinking of making tomorrow my 30th, but finishing in overall first place at Lourensford is what is most important," said Sauser.

Kulhavy said, "We got up this morning, and I'm not feeling that fresh any longer. But we went flat out right from the first kilometer even though we were tired from the previous days."

Sauser and Kulhavy continue to lead the men's GC with an overall lead time of three minutes and 43 seconds (overall 22:43:09). Platt and Huber are second at 22:46.52, with Thomas Dietsch and Tim Boehme of team Bulls 2 in third place overall (23:03:43). In fourth place overall are team Multivan Merida consisting of Jose Hermida and Rudi Houts with an overall time of 23:16:09.

Schurter said, "It was a good day for us. We were in the lead for a long time, drafting behind Christoph and Jaroslav. Florian got into a bit of trouble and we fell behind the leading group, but he got up again. It was a good day for Florian and a nice team result for us. It was a real mountain biking course with a lot of singletrack. If every stage was like this, I'd definitely come and ride the Cape Epic again."

Vogel said, "It was a pretty tough day for me as the last couple of days took its toll. When I looked at today's route, I thought it could only get better. There was a lot of singletrack, and I said to myself just go full gas in the beginning and try. You only have two options - dying or making it to the finish. Today's course was more cross country style - it was awesome and also not too hot. My best day at the Epic so far."

The African Leaders' jerseys were taken over by Philip Buys and Matthys Beukes of Scott Factory racing in 3:12:16 (overall 23:48:40).

"It was a very nice stage today. We feel very good and I think yesterday's third place gave us a boost mentally," said Beukes. "We just enjoyed today and the singletrack, and rode fast and hard."

Prince Maseko and Phillimon Sebona of Exxaro PwC Academy 1 won the Exxaro Jersey for the third consecutive stage in a time of 3:52:38 (overall 28:34:53).

"It was very hard today - it was the hardest day and I feel as if I'm broken, but hoping to recover and get back," said Prince. "We're almost done and I'm enjoying the overall lead. We'll keep it steady and get to Lourensford."

Ladies

Yolande Speedy and Catherine Williamson (Energas) won their fourth consecutive stage in 4:06:56 (overall 28:57:02). They now lead this category by two hours, three minutes and one second. In second place, with their third podium finish, were Sara Mertens and Laura Turpijn of C-Bear in 4:17:01 (overall 31:46:30). Hanlie Booyens and Ischen Stopforth of Pragma Volcan Ladies finished in third place in 4:29:26 (overall 31:00:04).

"It wasn't a lot of fun. It would've been more fun if you had fresh legs, but there were so many steep climbs and my legs are shattered," said Williamson. "It was quite hard today. The singletrack was really nice and we enjoyed that. The bit in-between was not as nice."

Speedy said, "It was a nice course, but I suffered in the beginning. Catherine pushed me on the climbs and I found my legs later. It was a tough day with steep climbs and I hardly enjoyed the downhills as everything was just aching so much."

Mixed

Theresa Ralph and Damian Perrin of Biogen Britehouse won today's stage in a time of 3:44:35 (overall 29:34:23). They were followed by the RE:CM team of Erik and Ariane Kleinhans in 3:45:09 (overall 26:47:35). Johan Labuschagne and Yolandé de Villiers of Exxaro Cycle Lab 1 were third in 3:54:25 (overall 28:29:51). Cherise Stander and Duane Stander (Africanmtbkid 1) finished in fourth place today in 3:55:34 (overall 29:37:27). Erik and Ariane Kleinhans (RE:CM) lead this category by one hour, 42 minutes and 15 seconds.

"It was full gas the whole way and not one section that we relaxed," said Ralph. "We were always pushing the limit and encouraging each other. The route was fun, with lots of winding trails and some technical bits. The singletrack was really nice and there were good intervals."

Erik Kleinhans said, "This is the first day that we didn't win the stage. We didn't want to take any chances as tomorrow is a hectic stage and we wanted to spare our arms and tyres today. Biogen Britehouse were in the lead for most of today. They created a gap down the first downhill and we managed to close the gap, but we'd really like to win tomorrow. It's our hometown and we tried to give our legs and arms a bit of a break. Biogen put in a lot of effort on the last downhill to win. They earned their win today."

Masters

The masters category was again won by Nico Pftizenmaier and Abraao Azevedo of the Bridge team in 3:18:35 (overall 24:54:12). This is their third consecutive stage win. They were followed by Bart Brentjens and Robert Sim (Superior-Brentjens 2) in 3:29:05 (overall 25:46.53). In third place were South Africans Neil Bradford and Tim Osrin of HCL/Harvest Foundation 1 in 3:37:15 (overall 26:17:23). Pfitzenmaier and Azevedo lead this category by 52 minutes and 40 seconds.

"We had so much fun today - it was a beautiful stage. We could play our cards today and the technical riding suited us," said Pfitzenmaier. "Abraao and I are well matched and we could stick to our pace and be comfortable. We played it safe and it's very good to have another stage win. My main aim is to enjoy the moment - it's meditation in action for me."

Grand masters

Bärti Bucher and Heinz Zoerweg of Songo.info again finished in first place in the grand masters in a time of 3:42:58 (overall 26:48:43). They have won all five stages as well as the prologue in this category. They were followed by Izak Visagie and Peter Stopforth of Cape Style Wines with their first podium finish in 3:57:23 (overall 29:47:34). Paul Furbank and Chris Brand of Genesis Capital finished in third place in 4:00:00 (overall 28:43:48). Pragma Marsilio Projects (Lieb Loots and Tony Conlon) finished in fourth place in 4:03.47 (overall 29:47:13). Bucher and Zoerweg lead this category by one hour, 55 minutes and four seconds.

Bucher said, "The singletrack was nice. We're looking forward to Stellenbosch and then Lourensford. We take it day by day."

Stage 6: Wellington to Stellenbosch, 99km and 2950m of climbing

With a maximum stage time of 10 hours, riders should prepare themselves for a long stage, the last real hurdle of the 2013 Cape Epic. The first 20 kilometers are primarily in the forestry plantation on the slopes of Du Toit's Kloof, with a steady 10-kilometer climb followed by an equally long, fast descent interrupted occasionally by some soft forest singletrack.

The second major climb is primarily through orchards that soon give way to mountain fynbos as the trails turns more rugged, including another singletrack descent, but riders need to watch out for the handle-bar-grabbing fynbos. By the time riders cross under the N1 national highway at the 35-kilometer mark, they will have completed almost half the climbing of the day.

The next section is fast going along farm and gravel roads along the Drakenstein Mountains towards Franschhoek. The route makes the turn towards Helshoogte Pass, as the trail hugs the steep slopes of the iconic Simonsberg Mountain. Riders will pass through wine farms and the Idas Valley before passing underneath the R310 road. From here it is one last steep climb, before a descent sweetened by some more forestry single-track that takes riders into the race village.

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