Evans and George win opening Cape Pioneer Trek stage

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Kevin Evans and David George (360Life) continued their total domination of local mountain bike racing on Monday by winning the first stage of the DCM Cape Pioneer Trek. Ischen Stopforth and Catherine Williamson (Bizhub) took top honors in the women's category.

It was the third victory in 15 days for Evans and George who also won at the Crater Cruise and the Seweweekspoort respectively.

The two were part of a lead group that included also Christoph Sauser (Specialized) and Max Knox (Ghost); Adrien Niyonshuti and Jacques Janse van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka); and Neil MacDonald and Waylon Woolcock (RE:CM). They stayed together until the first serious climb, leading to the king of the mountain prime.

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But then, the moment Evans and George accelerated on the climb, the proverbial "pawpaw" hit the fan. Sauser and Knox and Niyonshuti and Janse van Rensburg tried valiantly to keep up, but it was to no avail.

Evans and George increased their lead with each pedal stroke to win the 107km stage from Oudtshoorn to Calitzdorp in four hours 12 minutes and 20 seconds.

Ben-Melt Swanepoel and Nico Bell (Team Without Sponsor) were second in 4:18:05 and Niyonshuti and Janse van Rensburg finished third in 4:18:54.

The main conversation topic afterwards was what happened to Sauser, the world marathon champion, and Knox, last year's overall winner. The best explanation is that they were caught up in a comedy of errors.

Everything started to go wrong when Knox, who had already fallen behind on the climb, had to stop to fix a puncture.

While Sauser was waiting for Knox to do the necessary repair work, he decided to use the time to clean his sunglasses. This turned out to be a big mistake, because he did not notice when Knox came riding past him.

The second fiasco occurred when Sauser decided to set off racing again. He missed a marker which led to him taking a short cut. Then, while waiting for Knox at a water point, he realized that Knox might be waiting for him somewhere else.

When he backtracked on the route, he found that Knox was, as expected, waiting somewhere else.

But still it was not the end of their troubles. A few kilometres further on, Sauser punctured, which resulted in losing more minutes.

Knox was quite philosophical about the way his defence of the title went awry. "This is mountain biking. Last year, I had the near perfect race. I did not have to stop once to fix a puncture or do any other mechanical repair work. We also did not crash or get lost.

"This time my luck has changed and I have to deal with it."

In spite of their six-minute lead, Evans and George refuse to take anything for granted.

"It would be foolish to think that we have won the tour on the first day. There are still five days of racing left and in mountain biking anything can happen at any moment.

"The good thing about our six-minute lead is that we now have a buffer on the other teams. If something should go wrong, we would not be under immediate pressure," said George

Women's race

Thanks to mountain biking, Ischen Stopforth (Bizhub) is turning into a real wildlife expert. Two weeks ago, during the MTN Ride Crater Cruise, she learned that red hartebeest can run very fast when frightened and during the first stage of the DCM Cape Pioneer Trek, the lesson she learned was that first impressions can be misleading.

If you see a branch lying next to a mountain bike route, it may turn out not to be a branch at all.

Stopforth only realized the truth of this while she was on her way to win the first stage of the women’s DCM Cape Pioneer Trek with Catherine Williamson (Bizhub) yesterday.

"We were racing along quite nicely, just trying to stay out of trouble. I saw a branch lying next to the road but I did not take any notice of it until, unexpectedly, the branch began to move.

"Only then did I realize that it was actually a Cape cobra. What's more, it did not take kindly to us riding through its territory. It attacked me, and even tried to bite me.

"I have also learned that it is possible to accelerate, even when your legs are tired. I think it was pure adrenaline that caused Catherine and me to race those last five kilometres so much faster than planned."

Mixed race

Erik and Ariane Kleinhans (Contego/Giant/Sludge) were the first mixed team to finish.

Their victory was even more special because they had met exactly a year ago at the Cape Pioneer Trek. The meeting developed into a romance that led to their marriage a few months later.

Ariane takes up the story of how they met and fell in love during the DCM Cape Pioneer Trek.

"Actually it happened by pure chance. I had lost my water bottle during one of the stages and I was becoming very thirsty," is how Ariane explained the chance meeting that led to their marriage shortly after the Cape Epic.

"I saw this guy standing next to the road, busy fixing his bike. He gave me some water and soon after the race was over, we met each other again.

"I only found out later that he actually gave me his last few drops of water. So I decided that it was time to pay him back for his gallant gesture and invited him to dinner.

"That was when everything in the romance department started. I went to visit him in Stellenbosch and we just decided that we were meant for each other."

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