With 70km and 1 800m of vertical gain standing between Scott-SRAM MTB-Racing and overall victory on the Champs-Élysées of mountain biking at Val de Vie Estate, you could’ve forgiven them for playing it safe and cruising to the finish. Nino Schurter and Lars Forster went into the final stage from Stellenbosch University to Val de Vie Estate with a comfortable eight-minute lead over second-placed Cannondale Factory Racing. This meant they had to watch only Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini to cap off a successful week and claim overall honours at the 2019 Absa Cape Epic. This they did smoothly, giving Schurter his second victory and Forster a golden debut by a margin of 7:36 over Avancini and Fumic. “This was amazing,” Schurter said of the title after the finish. “It’s a really special one to win. It’s really tough to win this race you need to have a lot of good luck and a strong team. We are super stoked about it.” Annika Langvad and Anna van der Breggen (Investec-songo-Specialized) collected their seventh stage win at the 2019 Absa Cape Epic to give Langvad her fifth victory in the gruelling eight-day race. On Sunday at Val de Vie Estate the five-time World Marathon Champion Langvad, and World Road Race and Olympic Champion Van der Breggen, broke away from Candice Lill and Adelheid Morath (Summit Fin) within the last kilometre of the Grand Finale Stage to complete a one-sided victory. The Investec-songo-Specialized pair established their superiority on the opening Prologue on the slopes of Table Mountain National Park a week ago and never looked like being headed throughout the eight stages around the Western Cape. Even when Lill and Morath pounced on the chance of a stage win on Friday, when Van der Breggen was having a rare off day, it always looked like nothing more than a temporary setback for the dominant race winners.
2019 Stage 7 Results
Men
1. KROSS-SPUR 14-1 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (ESP) 14-2 Ondřej Cink (CZE) 02:53.07,3
2. PYGA Euro Steel 7-1 Philip Buys (RSA) 7-2 Matthys Beukes (RSA) 02:53.07,4 +0,1
3. CST Sandd 19-1 Sebastian Fini (DEN) 19-2 Martins Blums (LVA) 02:54.02,2 +54,9
Women:
1. Investec-songo-Specialized 50-1 Annika Langvad (DEN) 50-2 Anna van der Breggen (NED) 03:33.46,1
2. Summit Fin 54-1 Candice Lill (RSA) 54-2 Adelheid Morath (GER) 03:34.03,5 +17,4
3. Kross-Spur Racing 53-1 Ariane Lüthi (SUI) 53-2 Maja Wloszczowska (POL) 03:40.18,4 +6.32,3
2019 Stage 7 Results
Men
1. KROSS-SPUR 14-1 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (ESP) 14-2 Ondřej Cink (CZE) 02:53.07,3
2. PYGA Euro Steel 7-1 Philip Buys (RSA) 7-2 Matthys Beukes (RSA) 02:53.07,4 +0,1
3. CST Sandd 19-1 Sebastian Fini (DEN) 19-2 Martins Blums (LVA) 02:54.02,2 +54,9
Women:
1. Investec-songo-Specialized 50-1 Annika Langvad (DEN) 50-2 Anna van der Breggen (NED) 03:33.46,1
2. Summit Fin 54-1 Candice Lill (RSA) 54-2 Adelheid Morath (GER) 03:34.03,5 +17,4
3. Kross-Spur Racing 53-1 Ariane Lüthi (SUI) 53-2 Maja Wloszczowska (POL) 03:40.18,4 +6.32,3
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Sports