Second Cape Epic win for overall leader's Schurter/Stirnemann

Image 1 of 19

Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann made it back-to-back wins at Cape Epic with the Swiss duo in a commanding position as overall leaders with one stage to come. The SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing riders covered the 103 km course 16 seconds faster than Hector Leonardo Paez Leon and Max Knox (Kansai Plascon), with Nicola Rohrbach and Daniel Geismayr (Centurion Vaude 2) third at 1:13 minutes.

Schurter and Stirnemann are on the cusp of their first Cape Epic victory as they lead Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy (Investec-Songo-Specialized) by 6:49 minutes ahead of the seventh and final 85km stage from Oak Valley to Val de Vie in Paarl.

"I don't know what happened today, but it was much less suffering than yesterday! It was a good day on the bike," said Stirnemann. "Every day I feel like I am getting stronger on the bike. I recovered well last night; that showed this morning when I could get my rhythm a lot quicker."

In the women's race, Mariske Strauss and Annie Last (Hansgrohe Cadence OMX Pro) took out the victory 30 seconds ahead of leader's Esther Suss and Jennie Stenerhag (Team Meerendal CBC). With one stage to come, Suss and Stenerhag hold a massive 35 minute lead over the stage 6 winners.

"I am extremely happy and it is nice that we have the bigger gap but we know with their handlebar that broke that it can happen to us as well. We still have to be safe until the finish line," Suss said.  

Brief Results