Speedy Lauds Williamson for Cape Epic Orange Jersey

African/British duo Yolande Speedy and Catherine Williamson (Energas) were the surprise package on Stage 2 of this year’s Absa Cape Epic through the Koue-Bokkeveld, known for its spectacular sandstone formations and summer temperatures regularly in the upper-30 degrees Celsius, finishing Tuesdays stage 2 in the lead in a time of 6:51.21,7.

They were followed by the Pragma Volcan Ladies, South Africans Hanlie Booyens and Ischen Stopforth in 7:18.30,2 (overall 14:37.37,8), ahead of Kath Kelly and Erin Greene of www.rrsport.co.nz third place in 7:27.53,9 (overall 15:06.25,6).

Speedy and Williamson now lead this category by 36 minutes and 7 seconds. Says Speedy (Energas): “I must confess my partner is a powerhouse – she’s really strong.” Responds Williamson: “It was a very long, hard stage, but winning a stage is brilliant.

“I kept looking behind me – I was really worried that the others were going to catch up with us. I think we ruined a few egos along the way today.”

“It was a super fast stage for us,” continues Speedy, “Even with the sting in the tail at the end. It’s very nice to win a stage. Even so, Hanlie and Ischen caught up with us and, we were riding as hard as we could to the finish!”

“Esther and Jane must have had some problems,” said Speedy of the prologue and Stage 1 leaders, Esther Süss and Jane Nuessli of BMC Wheeler, who had some bad luck. “We just hope that Esther and Jane are ok. It’s so sad that Sally and Milena had to withdraw yesterday due to illness.”

Says Süss: “I had a tummy bug and felt very weak. After the first few kilometers I said to Jane that my legs aren’t feeling strong, and that I’m not sure if I can do this. Jane said that whatever I decide to do, would be fine – she’ll support me.”

Adds Nuessli, who was in tears: “Esther just carried on. I’ve never seen such courage. She’s a real tough cookie and I’m so proud of her.” Süss added: I would not have been able to finish today without Jane. She supported me the whole way without complaining.”

Riders put mileage into their piggy banks early on when they scaled Middelberg Pass, 900 meters of altitude gain over the first 18 kilometers, on tar and smooth gravel. The descent onto the plateau was fast with a few sharp bends.

Riders made up some time until just before the halfway mark, where a four-kilometer climb took them to the highest point of the entire race (1 150 meters above sea level). They were then rewarded with a five-kilometer single-track section that wounded through red sandstone formations.

This stage felt fast and relatively flat, until the rugged and challenging wagon trail took the field into the Witzenberg Valley. Cleared for the race by local mountain bike-enthusiast farmers, this part of the race offered some of the finest terrain the Western Cape provides.

The best was saved for last: a technical five-kilometer single-track, an old wagon trail opened up for the 2010 Absa Cape Epic, which plummeted into the Tulbagh Valley. It was a challenging transition onto a new playground, from the rugged and remote Cederberg to the fertile Tulbagh Valley with its quaint village and wine farms.

Mixed Category:

It was a hat trick for the RE:CM team of Erik and Ariane Kleinhans when they won the Mixed category in 6:27.02,8 (overall 12:51.11,0), followed by Theresa Ralph and Damian Perrin of Biogen Britehouse (6:35.11,5; ovcerall 14:29.27,0). In third place were Peta Mullens and Jarrod Moroni of Target TREK-Moronis Bikes (6:45.03,6; overall 13:34.49,7).

Johan Labuschagne and Yolandi de Villiers of Exxaro Cycle Lab 1 finished in fourth place in 6:45.14,5 (overall 13:40.10,5).

Erik and Ariane Kleinhans lead this category by 43 minutes and 38 seconds.

Says Ralph of Biogen Britehouse: “We started hard and were in front of Erik and Ariane. I thought we lost them, but when I looked over my shoulder shortly after the climb, they were on our heels.

“We had a very nice cruise down the hill chatting and sharing the work, and rode together to around the 90 or 100 km mark. From there I just couldn’t keep up and we lost 4 or 5 minutes on them. It was such a pleasure riding with them.

“Yesterday we had some bad luck – Damian had a fall and we had to try and repair his bike ourselves. We lost a lot of time – probably an hour or so. Yesterday was a tough day,” said Ralph.

Stage 3: Saronsberg Wine Estate (Tulbagh) to Saronsberg Wine Estate (94 km, 1 950 m of climbing):

Mountains surround the town of Tulbagh and stage three offers a tour of the basin, with a figure of eight traversing the vineyards and farmlands, skirting these mountains. By now riders should be used to starting with a climb.

This 400-meter climb over 15 kilometers, with a short warm up, should be rather gentle on the legs.

This is followed by three kilometers of sweeping single-track, finishing off with a section through popular forest. This is a pleasant day, with lots of ups and downs interspersed with flowing single-track sections.

The day is more gentle, the soil is softer, the vegetation more lush and the hills shorter. If riders happen to hear the finish line, smell the race village, but their odometer only reads 55 kilometers, they need to keep pedaling.

The second part of the figure of eight is shorter, but includes the same amount of climbing as the first one. Dr Evil and the route-design team show their true colours after water points three: a 1,5-kilometer climb on a steep farm road, followed by a short descent and three more short but sharp climbs on rough surface, before it is finally (almost) all downhill and back to the fields of Saronsberg Wine Estate.