Legends In The Making At The Absa Cape Epic

Added: 18.03.2008

Ideally timed to take place three weeks prior to the start of the World Cup Season, it gives professional riders the opportunity to participate and still have enough time for recovery before the season begins.



Says Kevin Vermaak, founder and director of the event: "The Absa Cape Epic is, without a doubt, the most competitive stage race in the world. This year, for instance, we have an impressive list of international professionals, including Christoph Sauser, Bart Brentjens, Roel Paulissen, Jakob Fuglsang, Karl Platt and Thomas Frischknecht competing. Sauser and Frischknecht have 28 World Cup wins between just the two of them. Sauser is the reigning World Marathon Champion, and Fuglsang the reigning u/23 Cross Country World Champion. Bart Brentjens is the only mountain biker to have won two Olympic medals - Gold in 1996, and Bronze in 2004."



As the Absa Cape Epic has grown in stature, the interest from riders participating continues to reflect what a prestigious event this race has become. Vermaak states: "If teams are hoping for a stage win, they need to beat an Olympic Champion, a couple of world champions, some South African champions and several previous winners of the Absa Cape Epic. And the fact that riders compete in teams of two and need to rely on and stay together at all times, makes for an even more exciting event."



Swiss-born Christoph Sauser, the reigning World and European Mountain Bike Marathon Champion, will be teaming up with Burry Stander, one of South Africa's most talented young mountain bikers. Sauser, who has been racing professionally since 1993, won the 2006 Absa Cape Epic with fellow Swiss rider Silvio Bundi. It will be Stander's first Absa Cape Epic and also the first time that these two race together as a team to raise funds for the Songo.info charity. Twenty year-old Stander, of Kwazulu-Natal, is the current African and South African cross-country mountain bike champion. He finished sixth in the Under 23 World Championship and fifth in the Sea Otter cross-country championship in the USA last year. This year, he took first place in round one of the SA Marathon series in Barberton.



Seventeen-time World Cup Winner and Olympic medallist Thomas Frischknecht, the most prolific World Cup winner in the history of the sport, will be partnering with mountain biking legend Tom Ritchey, founder of Ritchey Logic World Cup Marathon Champion in 2003 and 2005, and Overall World Cup Cross Country Champion in 1996. Frischknecht will not be competing to win, but is partnering with Ritchey to promote Project Rwanda (Ritchey's brainchild and initiative, structured to benefit the coffee growers in Rwanda by providing them with specially modified bikes for the transportation of their goods).



Bart Brentjens, the 2005 winner of the Absa Cape Epic, Olympic Gold and Bronze medallist and with four World Cup wins, will be partnering with Austrian rider Alban Lakata. Regarded as the world's best marathon mountain bike rider during the nineties, Brentjens' self-admitted strengths lie in his experience and his endurance over long distances. Lakata is the current Austrian marathon champion and is an excellent uphill rider.



Kevin Evans, current South African mountain bike champion, will be teaming up with David George, one of the country's best road and climbing cyclists. Thirty year old Evans has participated in numerous events including Cross Country SA Cup, the TransAlp Challenge, the World Cup, the SA and World Marathon Championships, amongst others. He is also the only South African to have won a stage in the TransAlp (in 2007) and is the most consistently best finishing local rider in the Absa Cape Epic. David George is the 2006 Commonwealth Games road race silver medallist. He also won the Tour de Langkawi, Asia's biggest road stage race in 2006, and is a three-time winner of South Africa's most important road stage race, the Giro del Capo.



Karl Platt, the only rider to have ever won the Absa Cape Epic twice, is riding with Stefan Sahm. He won the inaugural race with Mannie Heymans and last year's race with his partner for 2008, Stefan Sahm. Platt has been a major force in the European Marathon Race series and has won races such as the TransAlp and the TransRockies. He is also the only rider to have won triple crowns. In 2004 he won the Absa Cape Epic, TransAlp and TransRockies. In 2007, the Bulls team of Karl and Stefan won another triple crown of biggest stage races - the Absa Cape Epic, the TransGermany and the TransAlp. These two make a strong team and are sure to shake things up a bit.



OTHER RIDERS TO LOOK OUT FOR



Belgian powerhouse, Roel Paulissen, won the race in 2005 and came close to finishing first last year. His team mate, Jakob Fuglsang, is a Danish youngster, pushing himself to the limit right to the end. They lost by seconds last year, and return with a lot more experience. Fuglsang now has the confidence after winning the u23 World Championship, and they will resolve last year's puncture issues. Their form has been excellent, with Paulissen winning quite a number of races this year.



As a four time 24 Hour Solo National Champion, Chris Eatough knows a thing or three about endurance. He specialises in 24 hour, endurance and ultra-marathon racing events. He has won six 24 Hour Solo World Championships and two 24 Hour Solo Norba National Championship titles. Bishop is eligible to represent the USA at the 2008 Olympic Games. They also won a stage of the TransAlp in 2002.



Then there is Brandon Stewart and Max Know. Stewart is one of the few South Africans to have won a stage in the Absa Cape Epic in 2006. Knox finished just outside the top ten last year.



The ever-present Kenyans are never content to sit passively in the bunch, a tactic that has almost earned them a stage win in the past. David Kinjah Njau and Davidson Kamasu Kihagi are sure to make an impression this year.



Fredrik Kessiakoff of Sweden and team mate Massimo de Bertolis of Italy, is another team to look out for. Kessiakoff came second with Sauser in 2005 and returns to the Absa Cape Epic with his new team colours riding for the Italian team Full Dynamix. Kessiakoff won the World Cup final race last year and comes off a recent victory in the first round of the early season Cyprus Cup - he is clearly on good form right now. De Bertolis is the 2004 former World Marathon champion so his competitors will certainly be keeping an eye on him.



Norway's Rune Høydahl is a mountain biking legend and has eleven World Cup victories to his name as well as the honour of being the only mountain biker with World Cup victories in both downhill and cross-country. His team mate, Kristian Torgersen, has excellent experience in mountain bike stage racing and will be a good ally.



The women's division is set to be as exciting as the men's. Alison Sydor, Canadian cross country mountain bike racer, has won three World Championships as well as silver at the Olympics in Atlanta. Her team mate, Pia Sunstedt of Finland, is a two-time overall UCI Marathon World Cup winner. They are a force to be reckoned with.



Susan Haywood has been the Short Track National Champion twice, the Pan American Champion twice, a member of the US National Team as well as Olympic alternate. She is also the 24 Hour Solo World Champion and won the 2007 Trans Rockies. She will be riding with Jennifer Smith of New Zealand, who was 4th at the XTERRA World Championships in 2006. These athletes both have immense stamina and perseverance.



From 28 March to 5 April, all eyes will be on the Western Cape as the world's top riders vie for position in what is billed to be the most competitive event in the race's history. Covering a distance of 966 kilometres, up approximately 18 529m of climbing, the race will finish nine days later at Lourensford Wine Estate.

Visit www.cape-epic.com for more details and to see where the riders are online during the race.

Share in the legend!

ENDS

Issued by Purple Pine PR

Contact: Peter Marx

082 619 5900

peter@purplepine.co.za

Gina Ganswyk

082 578 5010

gina@purplepine.co.za

For Absa Cape Epic

Contact: Tanya Odendaal

021 426 4373

tanya@grandstandmanagement.com

Notes to Editor:



2008 Absa Cape Epic presented by adidas



The 2008 Absa Cape Epic starts in Knysna on Friday 28 March and finishes at Lourensford Estate in Somerset West, on Saturday 5 April 2008.
The Absa Cape Epic is the largest mountain bike stage race in the world and the most televised mountain bike event of all time.
1200 riders from more than 40 countries ride 966 km's in nine days and climb 18 529 m's, which is the equivalent of riding twice up Mount Everest.
The 2008 race will see the introduction of a 17km team time trial prologue on the Friday before the start of the race. Each team will depart at 30 second intervals and race against the clock to determine their start seeding for Stage 1 out of Knysna the following day.
Since its inception in 2004, the Absa Cape Epic has generated more than 5800 hours of international TV coverage in Europe, America, the Middle East and Africa.
Amongst the entrants are Olympic gold medallists, world champions and reigning UCI World Cup champions. In 2007, 5 out of the possible 9 Olympic medallists participated.
Riders compete in teams of two in one of four categories: Men, Ladies, Mixed and Masters (both riders must be 40 years or older).
In 2006, the Absa Cape Epic became the first ever team mountain bike stage race at which UCI points were awarded. The 2008 race is the first and only mountain bike stage race to be classified HC (hors categorie) by the UCI and is one of only 4 HC races on the 2008 UCI calendar. HC is the highest classification awarded by the UCI and in road cycling this is reserved for the Grand Tours like the Tour de France.
The Absa Cape Epic and Exp. Sponsorship, Absa's sponsorship agency, were awarded the Gold award in the medium budget sponsorship category at the 2006 and 2007 Business Times Marketing Excellence Awards.
A new route is designed each year and is off-road from Knysna to Lourensford Estate.