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Mountain biking World Champion Annika Langvad and her road riding World and Olympic Champion partner Anna van der Breggen put down a marker in the opening Prologue of the Absa Cape Epic at the University of Cape Town on Sunday.
Greg Beadle/Cape Epic
The Investec-songo-Specialized pair removed any doubt they are going to be the team to beat this week as they powered along the slopes of Table Mountain and completed the 20km stage in a time of 51 minutes and 44 seconds. They will take a big two-minute 35-second lead into Stage 1 which starts and finishes in Hermanus on Monday.
Ariane Lüthi, who partnered Langvad to three Absa cape Epic wins, and Maja Wloszczowska from the Kross-Spur Racing team ended second in the Prologue, with Summit Fin’s Candice Lill and Adelheid Morath third, 14 seconds further back.
Langvad and Van der Breggen were the final pairing from the elite women’s race to set off in the time trial format and it was quickly obvious they were the team to beat. When they passed the first intermediate timing point after just six kilometres they had already negotiated the early climbs a massive 66 seconds quicker than any of their rivals.
Effectively the Danish and Dutch World Champions had reduced the stage – and probably the entire event – to a race for second within six kilometres.
At the highest point of Sunday’s stage, after 16km and just before the riders began the more technical downhill sections back to the finish, Langvad and Van der Breggen had doubled that lead to over two minutes, giving them a cushion to ride a controlled descent back to the start/finish.
They made sure there were no mistakes and crossed the line with a healthy, morale-boosting lead over all their rivals.
“Getting a good start is always very important,” said Langvad after the finish. “It is good for the morale and good for the motivation.
“I think it is the hardest and fastest Prologue I have ever done at the Absa Cape Epic.”
Van der Breggen was relieved and pleased to have the Prologue behind her.
“It is nice it has finally started … and it started in a nice way,” said the 2016 Olympic Champion. “Today was better than we expected, but we have seven more days to go and we will have to see what is coming up.”
As a road rider there were question marks over Van der Breggen’s speed in the technical sections but the current Road World Champion has established her credentials and was even lamenting the fact she had to slow down at times.
“I liked the Land Rover Technical Terrain today, but they are not the most technical sections of the whole race,” said Van der Breggen. “For me the technical sections are quite difficult because I want to go fast always. On a road bike you can always go fast, but here you can go too fast so I have to get used to taking some speed off sometimes. At least with Annika I absolutely have one of the best to follow and she can show me what to do.”
There was also some drama in the Absa African Women’s Jersey with dormakaba Ladies team of Sam Sanders and Amy McDougall claiming the stage win over Land Rover Jaguars pairing of Hannele Steyn and Katja Steenkamp.
Sanders and McDougall will take a 33-second lead into Stage One on Monday after the Galileo Risk team of Theresa Ralph and Sarah Hill were penalised 30 minutes for drafting.
While Sunday’s 20km stage on the slopes of Table Mountain's National Park was a test of speed and climbing strength, Monday’s Stage 1 will be place more emphasis on endurance with the 122km ride including 2 700m of climbing.
Stage Results
1. Investec-songo-Specialized 50-1 Annika Langvad (Denmark) 50-2 Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands) 00:51,44,7 2. Kross-Spur Racing 53-1 Ariane Lüthi (Switzerland) 53-2 Maja Wloszczowska (Poland) 00:54,19,9 +3.00,0 3. Summit Fin 54-1 Candice Lill (South Africa) 54-2 Adelheid Morath (Germany) 00:54,33,8 +3.00,0
Overall Results
1. Investec-songo-Specialized 50-1 Annika Langvad (Denmark) 50-2 Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands) 00:51,44,7 2. Kross-Spur Racing 53-1 Ariane Lüthi (Switzerland) 53-2 Maja Wloszczowska (Poland) 00:54,19,9 +3.00,0 3. Summit Fin 54-1 Candice Lill (South Africa) 54-2 Adelheid Morath (Germany) 00:54,33,8 +3.00,0 4. Meerendal WIAWIS Rotwild 51-1 Sabine Spitz (Germany) 51-2 Nadine Rieder (Germany) 00:55,11,4 +4.00,0 5. Silverback - Fairtree 52-1 Jennie Stenerhag (Sweden) 52-2 Mariske Strauss (South Africa) 00:55,45,4 +4.00,0 6. Galileo Risk 56-1 Theresa Ralph (South Africa) 56-2 Sarah Hill (South Africa) 00:56,49,2 +5.00,0 7. dormakaba Ladies 55-1 Samantha Sanders (South Africa) 55-2 Amy Mcdougall (South Africa) 00:57,22,8 +6.00,0 8. FreakShow SCOTT 57-1 Sonya Looney (United States of America) 57-2 Catherine Williamson (England) 01:01,22,7 +10.00,0 9. Land Rover Jaguars 46-1 Hannele Steyn (South Africa) 46-2 Katja Steenkamp (South Africa) 01:08,55,9 +17.00,0 10. T and T 351-1 Jeanette Treherne (South Africa) 351-2 Vivienne Turvey (South Africa) 01:18,44,9 +27.00,0
Best of images from the day.
Images by Greg Beadle, Sam Clark and Shaun Roy for Absa Cape Epic