Sauser and Knox speed to stage 2 win

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By winning the second stage of the DCM Pioneer Trek on Tuesday, Max Knox (Ghost) and Christoph Sauser (Songo.info) proved that you can't keep a good team down. In what is undoubtedly one of the tour's toughest stages, they managed to ride away from the rest of the riders with a display of almost faultless mountain biking. Their winning time for the stage (from Calitzdorp to Riversdale) was 5 hours, 23 minutes and 25 seconds.

Kevin Evans and David George (Nedbank 360Life) finished second in 5:30:49 and Adrien Niyonshuti and Jacques Janse van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka) were third in 5:48:50. Ben-Melt Swanepoel and Nico Bell; (Team Need Sponsor) were fourth, also in 5:48:50.

Knox and Sauser's stage victory has no influence on the overall standings. They received a 60-minute time penalty after stage one because Sauser missed a route marker which resulted in him taking a short-cut.

This means that an overall win is no longer possible for them, because they were 86 minutes behind Evans and George before the second stage started.

All that is still at stake for them is their honour.

The deciding moment during stage two occurred when Knox attacked shortly after water point three with Sauser following suit. That was enough. It was game, set and match for the second stage.

Evans and George had the luxury of simply watching them ride away.

The pressure was on Janse van Rensburg and Niyonshuti and Neil MacDonald and Waylon Woolcock (RE:CM) to do the serious chasing, but unfortunately they were not able to do so. They were walking and pushing at that stage, because the terrain was just too rough to ride in some places.

Needless to say that this led to some swearing.

Afterward, Knox said jokingly that the reason why they won the stage was that there were no good looking girls nearby. This allowed Sauser to focus on where he was riding without looking around to appreciate the local beauties.

Evans "nearly drowned" early in the race when they were racing through a river.

While the other riders wisely decided to get off their mountain bikes and walk through the water that reached halfway up their bodies, Evans decided to do it his own way and he raced kamikaze style into the water. He managed to stay on his bike for a moment or two before he and the bike suddenly totally disappeared under water.

He joked afterwards that he did not realize that his sunglasses are under water goggles as well.

Evans also joked about Katot's route.

My dad, Leon, who is responsible for the layout of the Cape Epic route, is known as "Dr. Evil". I think Katot proved today that he is the Afrikaans version of Dr. Evil. It was very tough out there, and I feel sorry for the back markers.

Mixed

After winning the first stage in the mixed category of the Cape Pioneer Trek on Monday, Erik and Ariane Kleinhans (Contego/Giant/Sludge) also won the second stage (Calitzdorp to Riversdale).

But despite their victory, Erik Kleinhans was not in a celebrating mood. On the contrary, he was downright upset after finishing.

"The section that we had to ride between water points three and four was ridiculous. I fail to understand the logic behind the route planning. In my opinion, that section was just painful."

Things did not get much easier for team Kleinhans when, at long last, they were able to ride on tar.

The chain of Ariane Kleinhans' mountain bike became so entangled that she was unable to pedal. Erik Kleinhans had no other option but to tow her to the finish over the last seven kilometres.

The Kleinhans couple still managed to win the 128km stage from Calitzdorp to Riversdale in six hours, 23 minutes and 46 seconds. In doing so, they increased their overall lead in the mixed category by eight minutes.

Switzerland's Katherine Stirnemann and Sandro Soncin (BH Hai Bike) finished second in 6:31:03. Andreas Kuster and Thomas Holtkamp (Metz Davos) were third in 6:50:34.

According to Stirnemann, she had never before experienced such a tough route.

"At one stage we were barely moving at 6km/h."

Women

Ischen Stopforth (Bizhub) still managed to laugh while talking about her racing experience.

"What we experienced today (yesterday) is so typical of Katot (Meyer). For yesterday (Monday) he planned the perfect route, but today he gave us a racing experience from hell."

"Having to make your way through all those loose rocks while going uphill was certainly not easy and the descents were really scary."

By winning yesterday's stage in 6:39:00, Stopforth and Britain's Catherine Williamson (Bizhub) had all but ensured a victory in the Cape Pioneer Trek's women's category.

Hannele Steyn, one of the true legends of South African mountain biking, and her partner, Leanne Brown-Waterston (Display Ladies) are second overall in the women's category, 65 minutes behind.

The 45-year-old Steyn, who has won basically everything that can be won in South African mountain biking, admitted that the going between water points three and four was tough.

"As mountain bikers we should not really complain because that is what our sport is all about. But having said that, I think if we only had to walk three kilometres that would have been OK, but to expect us to walk six to eight kilometres is certainly too much."

Most riders agreed that riding through the Rooiberg Pass early on during the stage was a definite highlight.

It has probably rained recently because the veld was a kaleidoscope of yellow, orange, pink, purple, red, white and green colours.

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