Sauser/Kulhavy sail through windy stage in Cape Epic

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Cape Epic leaders Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy (Investec-Songo-Specialized) extended their advantage to over six minutes on their nearest competitors on a cold and windy day in the Western Cape of South Africa.

Defending champions Kristian Hynek and Alban Lakata (Topeak Ergon) held onto the leading team when they attacked the Nuweberg climb 20km into the stage, but with 12km to go, they pair could no longer hold the furious pace of Kulhavy and eventually finished 2:18 behind.

"Jaro is a machine … it was amazing how he was working on the front," Hynek said, but still had aspirations to move back up the standings. "Jaro's engine is unbelievable, but even he can have a bad day."

Karl Platt and Urs Huber (Bulls) lost ground on the leaders, finishing fourth today at almost six minutes behind the stage winners and although they remain second overall, they now hold only 11 seconds on the new third placed team, Hynek and Lakata.

Platt said "conditions were unbelievable … the wind was very hard", admitting that he had a bad day and could not contribute much to the chase.

Mutivan Merida's Jose Hermida of Spain and Dutchman Rudi van Houts lost 4:40 on Hynek and Lakata to drop back into fourth place overall, 35 seconds behind the defending champions.

The women's race was overshadowed by drama that saw the overall leaders Annika Langvad and Ariane Kleinhans penalized 1:13:39 for taking a wrong turn and unintentionally cutting 5km from the course.

"The route was clearly signposted at the point where RECM Specialized exited the course," lead official Peter Blakey said. "It was however deemed to not be a deliberate breach and therefore did not warrant a disqualification. It is the responsibility of the riders to ensure that they do not leave the course and therefore an hour penalty has been applied. This was based on the time penalties for other misdemeanors in the Absa Cape Epic rules."

The penalty included the one hour plus an advantage of 13:39, the pair's gain between water point 3 before their detour and the finish line.

Wednesday's Stage 3 is the longest of the 2015 Absa Cape Epic and takes the riders from Oak Valley to Worcester – some 128km and 2 200m of climbing. Riders will be relieved to hear that the wind is expected to drop from early morning, but temperatures might get up to the 30ºC mark in Worcester.

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