Huber and Zahnd to team up for Cape Epic

Switzerland's Urs Huber and Thomas Zahnd are just one of the many elite teams taking on the Cape Epic stage race, which starts in South Africa in just over one week on Saturday, March 21. Huber won 12 races in 2008 and is currently placed second in the UCI's marathon rankings, and it will be Zahnd's fourth Cape Epic. The pair will form Team Stoeckli-Craft, and the Cape Epic will run eight days over 685km through March 28

Huber will be participating in his first Cape Epic this year, whereas Zahnd has completed the race three times. "The three Cape Epics I've done to date have been an awesome experience. It'll be great to have Urs as my partner this year. I'm interested to see how it would work with a new partner as Sandro Spaeth was my partner for three years in a row," Zahnd said.

The pair does not often train together as both riders live more than 100km apart. "But we train together when we attend the training camps like the one we did at the end of January," said Huber.

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Zahnd's training programme is similar to that of previous years. "I spent a lot more time cross country skiing as we experienced a heavy winter." Huber spends most of his time cycling, jogging and going to the gym. "I've also done a marathon 'a first for me' in which I finished second," he said.

Zahnd won third place in the Swiss Marathon Championship in 2006, one of the stages of the 2007 Cape Epic and first place in the St. Wendel Marathon last year. Huber finished third in the UCI Marathon World Championship and second in the European Championships last year.

Both know that one of the most important ingredients of success in the Cape Epic is the relationship with one's partner. "It's also important to perform well during all the stages," said Huber.

"You need to know your partner well and of course, have no technical problems," added Zahnd.

Stay tuned to Cyclingnews for full coverage of the Cape Epic.