Cape Epic: Fumic and Avancini take men's lead on stage 3

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Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini grabbed the stage 3 win at the Absa Cape Epic mountain bike race Wednesday and overtook previous race leaders Nino Schurter and Lars Forster in the general classification after the pair suffered a puncture and ended up in fourth place. In the women’s race, favorites Annika Langvad and Anna van der Breggen took their fourth consecutive win in front of Candice Lill and Adelheid Morath. Jennie Stenerhag and Mariske Strauss were third.

Stage 3 featured with 107km and 2,800 meters of climbing, one of the most challenging of this year’s race. The day started with the ascent of the Nuweberg, followed by the Groenlandberg - the highest point of the route at 1,100 meters above sea level.

A white-knuckle descent followed, then it was upwards again on the stage’s Technical Terrain climb to Die Nek. In the Elgin Valley, far below, a mix of rocky singletrack, concentration-demanding dual track and two more infamous climbs awaited.

Nevertheless, there were riding rewards on offer too, following the last significant climb of the day, on the initially rocky but always thrilling Lebanon trails. Then the trail home followed the easiest possible route and included flowing singletrack through cattle filled pastures, to end the day with the second largest accumulated altitude gain in the 2019 Cape Epic.

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