Stage 3 | Live Broadcast | 2021 Absa Cape Epic

[Music] oh [Music] here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] through to the finish in the world it's the fourth day hello and welcome to 2021's abso cape epic stage 3 saronsberg in the beautiful bowl that surrounds tilbuch the fourth oldest town in south africa and the stage to savor today as they loop in and around these beautiful mountains it's going to be brutally hard it's going to be hot the temperatures rising the intensity is rising around this incredible race as these riders journey around the beautiful western cape it's a stunning place to be and a wonderful place to ride mountain bikes for eight glorious days it's the uh absolute epic's fourth visit to tilburg 2016 was the last time saronsberg was uh visited and the beautiful church street will be part of today's race as they race down this historic street lined with national monuments and rejuvenated and rebuilt after the devastating earthquake of 1969. hello and welcome nice to have you with us thanks for joining us wherever you are in the world it is another glorious day in the western cape and we bring you high drama excitement and great mountain biking uh from the stage three of the absolute cape epic annika langeville good morning good morning lovely to be here again and what a day we've got today ahead of us i think yeah today is going to be another very intense and hectic day i'm really excited about this one it's a little bit shorter than yesterday but same amount of climbing so it's really going to be a tough one and a lot of single track also right 91 songo specialized neil gardner have been dominant both in the men's and women's more so more dominant in the women's than in the men's do you see it those two teams emerging unscathed again today as the leaders well they've certainly revealed themselves as the strongest in the race they seem to just have that little bit extra over the other teams and we've reached the middle of the race now we're almost at the halfway point and really in the thick of it so if the marathoners have a plan it it'll probably be today that they're going to start having to action it uh because time is running out for their campaigns yes it is the cross country if you look at 91 songs specialized in the men's team they've got a cross-country world champion in jordan suru with matthew beers who's a marathon specialist and the women's team cena friend her partner laura sticker two a really really classy and fast cross-country races young and making the debuts here it is now the questions will start being uh asked and and perhaps answered by these riders as they head into the deep end of the absolute cape epic so stage number two started in series finished at syronsburg it took in the witzenberg valley it was the queen stage the absolute epic is one of the most spectacular mountain bike events of the year its phenomenal vistas are juxtaposed with the pain and suffering that the riders go through over this eight-day stage race this is the 17th edition of the south african event where teams of two work together to cover 620 kilometers and climb a staggering 16 000 meters both professionals and amateurs complete the same course starting with the prologue in cape town traveling through the western cape to finish at val de vie in palm today stage two is a transitioning stage from series to tilbach stage two is the queen stage the riders leave the series valley and head into the witzenberg mountains it is undoubtedly one of the most challenging areas for riding with a dual track giving way to long sections of single track it is paramount that the riders position themselves before the final brutal valley climb to the water point the bone rattling old wagon trail descent rounds off the day as they finish the 96 kilometers in the sauronsburg wine estate in the yellow zebra leader jersey team 91 songo specialized with jordan ceru and matthew beers their closest rivals in the gc are team canyon north wave mtb followed by both balls teams the pack leaves series for today's transition stage they all sit in a bunch for the first section of the race the young cross country specialist cena fry and laura stigger from 91 songo specialized are in the women's leaders jerseys for today's queen stage the marathon experts of salus med and facer cst are two and three in the overall ranking the gun goes off on the teams head out into the series valley they have an incredible day of south african mountain biking ahead of them the top three teams in the gc riding together through the series valley and staying together all the way up the old plato pass the fourth team in the mix is the computer mania team chile redeker the lead group crossed the witzenberg valley and head into the forest for the final ascent of the day at the 70 kilometer mark the leading men's group are racing through today's technical terrain and the beautiful single tracks of the wittenberg valley the bun still consists of 10 teams just biding their time and putting a plan together all the favorites are in the mix team canyon northway are sitting second in the gc and make the first attack of the day they split the leading group and it's only the leaders 91 songo specialized that go with them to protect their gc lead on the final rough and rocky wagon trail descent towards the finish line jordan saru and matthew beers take the lead and put on a master class in daniel riding the terrain flattens out and it's matthew beard the local south african champion taking the lead and bringing home their second win two out of three so far andre cirvolt and martin stawsik from team canyon northwave mtb managed to limit the damage and cross the line 26 seconds later team bulls are having another good day in the saddle usober and simon schneller finishing third one minute and 46 seconds down [Applause] the men's elite podium is propped up by yesterday's winners team bulls with superintendent second for the second time is team canyon northway with andreas cervald and martin scorsek and today's winners 91 songo specialized jordan saru and matthew beers they retain the yellow leader's jersey going into tomorrow's stage three in the women's race the group splits on the top of the valley climb african leaders strauss and lil are dropped as our lutien de it is once again the swiss austrian pair making the decisive move as the gradient kicks up they pull the trigger and extend their lead on the final climb they are flying down the final white knuckle single track descent towards the finish line at syronsburg wine specialized celebrate their third consecutive win while team salusmed come in second and faces cst in third cst the women's podium looks the same as stage one with faces cstf candice lille and mariska strauss taking third and retaining the deep red african leaders jersey second going to team saluzman ariane luty and robin defroit and three out of three wins for 91 songo specialized cena fry and laura stigger for the lead of just over seven and a half minutes in the gc so that's hard all unfolded on stage two the queen stage confirming the results they're 26 seconds behind siemens and storsa had a really good day just keeping themselves here in the mixer team bulls they are the marathon men and with some experience deep experience here with ushuba they could well be coming as strong as the race that progresses becking and diaz are making their presence felt and the poor and ravensteiner had a very good day for trek perelli yesterday just two minutes adrift the toy base continues to lead for here is still in the african jersey they won that stage for their category yesterday confirming all these results down to the top ten the younger south african combinations here plenty of them in the mix here which is good to see from a south african perspective class instruments from belgium down in thirteenth place and salah and the bella a first stage win for them in the xaro category the x-ray pwc academy riders doing really well and putting themselves in the mix for the overall consequently this is how it stands after stage two silvalton's torsek 213 back that is by no means a comfortable lead at this stage for 91 songos specialized but they will wear the yellow jerseys on stage the uber and schneller now in the third surpassing frying steep john who had uh battling day yesterday and lost touch with that lead group backing and diaz in fifth place portland ravensteiner in sixth place the toy and the base still inside the top ten joining them as uh the apps african contenders team type their nana time and ibuko giant closing out the top ten and uh colombo and zanotti after their torrid stage one well they're clawing their way back as best they can in 13th place lorenzo luro and lowland loyander tom and gunia didn't win yesterday but they lead the xaro category [Music] price to get dominant again although a minute and two seconds doesn't suggest that uh but it was that descent off the wagon trail that saw them just extend their lead over lutie and decrete with lil and strauss 435 back they had a puncture on the descent of the wagon trail which cost them time and they've had a trouble every day they had a fall the previous day marathon reddick are still in touch in fourth place rabbi and preen 12 minutes and 16 seconds behind on stage two [Music] try and stigger lead by seven and a half minutes and lieutenant are gonna have to start working out a strategy to try and close that gap as best they can over the next day perhaps today and tomorrow lil and strauss 18 minutes drift as i said crash on stage one a puncture on stage two has been very detrimental to their hopes marath and reddicker in fourth and jenny stenehart a winner in 2017 with amy mcdougall of fair tree now in fifth place [Music] in the other categories the stark and stark who won the stage yesterday in the mixed craig iran andrew juvenage took the stage really the dimension data masters it caused not to say that they wouldn't have won the stage but the leaders up until that uh stage were the bulls legends up in le carter and the car plant they withdrew yesterday due to illness to a car plant branches and vessels won the stage by four and a half minutes over bucha and quebec [Music] overall no change in the virgin act of makes to all the grand masters but overall now craig uriah and andrew dunich of ristonic lead by 24 minutes a considerable lead over mueller and bachmann the suspect with lont and rometz in third place in the dimension data masters the racing's still tight in the grand masters although branches and vessels finished with the leading women yesterday they are now six minutes clear at bucha and grabber [Music] so what's in store today a out and back loop around saronsberg and tilbuck this wonderful bowl and some beautiful new trails created the bone trail early on is going to be a really big challenge for the riders technical riding lots of single track today a high percentage of the riding today is on a single track and then the vast majority of the rest is on rough farm trails funties pass comes late in the stage today and that could be a telling moment in today's stage the land rover technical terrain the asaka boss comes after that that could be key the climb at the end of the day annika oh yeah very key and i'm interesting or curious to see what the team tactics today will be are will everybody be aiming for that last climb and last descent to actually you know burn the last matches for today or will they try to make a move beforehand and that's um looking at the team salesman [Music] and seeing how they approach each day stage so far in my opinion they should try and really put down some some pressure early on to to try and fatigue the team 91 central specialized as i see it by now that's that's the only card that they haven't played and that's now is a good day they need to start playing that card if they have ambitions to go for state routes in this race yep it is the two cross country young riders fry and sticker have been dominant but they're heading into a territory that they haven't been before surprise written four days of the of the swiss epic but uh leading the race here with the pressure on uh they need to you you feel that the marathon specialist now is the time to to apply some pressure and test them put them under yeah yeah true because seems like each stays staged until now um cena and fry they have arrived they're relatively fresh yeah towards the end of the the stage and in my opinion somebody should try and fatigue them early on in the in the stage to see how much will they still be firing if they were fatigued to put under pressure right from the gun we'll see how it all unfolds so we've moved from uh the co boca felt the series area through the wittenberg valley and now into the heart of the bullet tilbach the fourth oldest town in south africa and this beautiful church street is historic in many ways there are 32 national monuments lining the street and it'll be the scene of a hot spot sprint today that i mentioned at a hot spot sprint on the tower right there it's a nice animation we've been traditionally seeing the hot spot at the peak of a climb or an after a particularly tricky section and this time we have it as a sprint something different mixing it up a bit more spectacular and perhaps a little bit more open as well there'll be some some fierce racing for that so it's a prize money at the at the hotspot and also some pride as well and um maybe a tactical opportunity for some of the some of the riders they often use it as a tactical chance to get away and perhaps as a springboard for a move later in the day so they rolled away from saurons books wine estate this morning at seven o'clock and beautiful sunshine great conditions it seems like a long time ago that we had the rain and the mud of table mountain because the conditions of the last two days three days have been beautiful that was the men's elite and this is the women's elite batch starting on their own as they have done for the last number of years and we've caught up with a lot of the riders a lot of the uh the sharp end of the race before the stage started jordan matt the first thing i noticed is there's hydration packs on your back and it's something i haven't seen in the last couple of days with you we hardly ever see in the the elites yeah jordan's been riding his actually the last well since stage one and um i've jumped on the bandwagon for today because it's going to be a bit of a scorcher it's going to be about 38 degrees you think you're ready for that jordan yeah yeah yeah i'm used to to train on the heat for the olympics so yeah i'm ready for that now there's some nice new single trails that no one's discovered the last couple of days you've been lucky because matt knows the route and he's trained on the route what is your plan for today yeah just to to control and let's see if we can manage to to be in front yeah let's see how the other team will uh will push or not well good luck guys have fun out there thank you tim bulls how's the feeling ahead of today's 35 to 38 degrees temperature yeah filling is good after three stages or three days on the podium it's nice and today will be another hard stage for sure and also as you said the weather will be very very very hot so it's important to drink and eat from the beginning keep yourself dehydrated and not dehydrated there's some nice single tracks coming out that are brand new that no one's ever tested are you looking forward to that yeah i really like the stages here at the cape epic and i love the trails and i'm happy to be here and we are ready to rock this stage yeah there is going to be quite a difficult climb that everyone's talking about fancies pass how's the team feeling on that and what is the plan out there yeah we know this climb from last year we did it once time and it's really steep especially at the end and yeah you have to be 100 there and be ready to give all what you have here well good luck we'll see you out there be safe okay let's go morning guys expected highs of 38 today how are we feeling about those conditions um yeah so far we feel good we're looking forward for the steepest climb of the the whole cape epic so that's usually where we can uh play our cards and we had a better feeling yesterday after the stage or like we have better feeling day by day now and i look we look forward for it and well absolutely because fancy's pass is where everyone's expecting you guys to show off what you guys are made of yeah we will see i think we can have a good day today and as soon they said that the the steepest climb we for sure try for some something yeah well we're keeping an eye on that something good luck guys and have fun thank you let's see your team where they're happy with that were you happy so those were the leading protagonists in the men's elite race ahead of their stage what about our leading women this is a footage from earlier just after they started and we managed to catch up with some of the leading teams just before they left the start ariana robin a hydration packs is that necessary for a day like today 35 to 38 degrees expected out there well it definitely helps i find that it's much easier to drink with it and the usbs are super comfortable they really don't rock around or anything so for me it's just really good then i'm really sure in the first two hours i hydrate very well and then yeah i grab some bottles along the way and for you robin it's not something that you normally ride with no definitely not so this will be the first time racing with one um but yeah i trained with it the other day and realized that yeah through single tracks where it's tricky you need to concentrate you can't take a hand off a bar tough to hydrate and we know it's going to be super hot today so rather make sure you hydrate well be safe out there have fun we'll see you on the finish cool see you there thank you so the thoughts of ariane luty and robin de cruet both taking the hydration packs out there and it's becoming becoming a bit of a thing look at them streaming through the three unkercellon vineyards here one of the the oldest uh wine estate in this region and uh absolutely beautiful it is a stunning morning but as all the riders have alluded to and the hydration packs will tell you it is going to be a hot day um these riders uh perhaps won't feel the the the the real oven that uh the back of the field but the intensity at which they're riding certainly does uh compensate for that they will be they'll be suffering that's for sure early stages legs will be a little bit fatigued after well two long days and the prologue garnica for sure most riders will be feeling it by now and whenever a stage is starts out like this with some flat rolling easy rolling sections it's a good opportunity to to kind of get the body going and get the legs going and just warm up in general and get your system ready for the day ahead um but it's also a good point where maybe you can catch some of your arrivals yeah on the back side on the a little bit i would say like on the back foot on the back foot exactly um and in my opinion by now we have seen the teamwork of some teams like exactly how they execute each state and it's quite clear to their rivals what the strategy is and if they if they have ambitions and want to try something they should try to interfere with those plans in some way well look at this this is the lead group a little bit of a gap there but right up front there you caught the red jerseys the app's african leaders phillip base and peter detroit so they're looking to put themselves in the frame perhaps that i mentioned data hotspot this is the category leaders the masters there duvanage and uriah the starks the exoro and the vessel and branches the grand masters leaders this is a competitive batch almost as if not anything more competitive than the the elites the the different categories in here and you can bet every team in each category knows who their closest rivals are in the end will be keeping a sharp eye on them as they head out on stage three top ex professionals here some uh right young stars in the exora category this is a sad sight peter bruce of team encapsulations and emmanuel plim the his partner and walking the bike in a disaster for this pair who were 12th going into today's stage they had a difficult day yesterday they lost a lot of time yesterday but this looks absolutely awful for peter bruce and manuel is riding bruce is carrying his bike the estonian and uh well this is gonna not end happily but i wonder if they'll continue this there's is a bit of a solution let's hear what what happened yeah we're coming down the downhill and there was like a small jump and the rear wheel just exploded and it's like in half so we cannot do anything and yeah first time here so i'm devastated it was uh like hard to get here even we had two weeks to do it with visas and everything so we get it get here last minute and then every day we have problems bigger and bigger and today we had good legs try to get back to the top 10 in general and now this and i don't know i just tried to walk the 20 kilometers to the attack zone and maybe we can ride to the end in the time limit well more devastation in the women's race here this is mariska strauss and candace lil of faces cst a little coming together and just on their left is computer mania's cherie redeker so they must have had a little bit of a coming together the road a little bit rough and loose there yeah it's especially in the morning when the sun is low sometimes vision can be a little bit tricky i don't know exactly what the situation was here but speaking from experience i can tell you sometimes vision is super difficult because you have the sun the low sun in your eyes and you're going into unknown terrain um yeah it'll be interesting to hear what actually happened here i hope they they all fine and and capable of continuing here yeah sheree was lost all the time she was trying to find something she dropped perhaps a multi-tool in that grass and her partner wasn't there and that last shot we saw the group she wasn't in that group there's mariska strauss and candace lilz trying to work their way back on their wheel there um so they are going to be trying to get back and uh i think they did manage to get back but real disaster for computer mania this morning adelaide morale and cherie riedeker in a spot of bother meanwhile this is the men's elite group and the team not in there that we saw a little bit earlier on this pair that's phillip face and peter de toy of team paige eurostiel there we go early dip there neal we're getting reminiscent of uh phillip bass he's been known for his long breakaway attempts and uh can be a really good springboard as we said earlier for an attack really early on and he'll be relying on the relaxed pace of the main peloton or the main group at the front um and take advantage of this and get a bit of a gap about a minute at the uh the dimension data hotspot i'll definitely take um be glad to take some prize money there and we'll have to see whether or not they keep that momentum up and uh it's a long way to go if they want to make the full 91 kilometers all on their own absolutely this is the women's group now again we don't seem to see the computer mania pair this group but uh good to see the afros african jerseys back in that group there so they are intact as is the leading team ninety-one songo specialized cena fry and laura stiga looking ever so comfortable once again um they just seemed like they're really complete and they look like they've done this race before they look so experienced they really do every single move correctly and it's uh okay and here we see actually them coming into the dimension data hotspot sprint group sprint everybody all together and also here they managed to to actually take their sprint they're doing it in a really really beautiful fashion here and they just seem to be strong in every aspect they're very complete rider and just a moral victory as well just to show their dominance and uh it's all about what uh yeah we have a problem here yeah teresa ralph this is not good for the south african rider she's been had a great uh career at the absolute cape epic very long career and then having stood on the podium many times and also having worn the african jersey well talking about the apps africa jersey this is base and toy snaking up some of these beautiful single tracks 36 of today's route is on single track so it's going to be a testing day for hydration for feeding and uh for skills as well as they head up on these trails look at the gap there and so they've sustained their attack it wasn't just to go for that dimension data hotspot although that was perhaps a little motivation to attack early as they hit down these beautiful single tracks i'll tell you right now these trails today almost exclusively been designed and built by a team led by dion wilkins in the uh tobacco region he's passionate about the sport he's ridden a number of these events and he's put together a magical journey today for these riders oh this is not good news this is the figure euro steel team and uh philip base and peter de toy in trouble it looks like they're making some trailside repairs could be the cause of it could be the result of a crash and the 33 year old phillip base looks on that's bad news disappointing for them with them there is uh stefan some of team bulls and they're the group catches them well in fact i think they've been passed by the group perhaps already but that is not uh good news so it looks like their journey out in front is uh over and they'll now be battling it out with the rest of the mate group which is where we are right now but philippe is an experienced rider he'll know exactly what to do he's been riding this race uh he in fact his first absolute epic was in 2009 and the 33 year old um has won many stages in fact his first his stage winning campaign started in 2014 so highly experienced rider and we were speaking about earlier his breakaways and that was in 2014 when he was riding with birkus a dramatic breakaway back to the front we've got jordan saru in the front just setting the pace keeping things at an even speed making sure that uh the that there is no lull keeping the pressure on making sure their rivals have to work for it yeah the canyon northwest they're also wearing the hydration packs team bulls in there becking and his partner in there as well the fabian ravensteiner and samuel poro both bulls the main teams in this group also bmc ktm philippa colombo and yuri zanotti after their troubled first day they lost so much time there they're looking to try and get back a lot of that time today they were second on the prologue in table mountain fantastic prologue and the young team the swiss and the italian are really they've been doing very well on the under 23 world cup circuit definitely have the fire power and uh we hope to see how they do today so how it all plays out and to see them right to their full capabilities it's just on the hydration pack gerald we wanted to just pick up on something that was mentioned in the interviews in that uh over the years we've seen a higher proportion of single track come into the race and i think uh we're looking at the percentages of 30 36 percent of single track and that's a significant amount of um amount of single track where riders are not able to reach down and take a drink because if you can see these corners there is not much opportunity to reach down grab a bottle and take a sip so just to put that little nozzle in your in your mouth and drink while you're navigating these trails makes all the difference you have just keeping yourself it's all about hydration is all about taking small sips over a long period of time and not big gulps at certain periods in order to let your body absorb all the fluids and the carbohydrate substances in the fluid as well well unfortunately we will have occasions when the signal won't be uh as we would like it to bring you uh clear images from the trail so we'll reconnect as soon as we possibly can the um beautiful mountains surrounding the witzenberg mountains on the eastern side the uh buntuk mountains create this beautiful bowl around uh tilburgh and saronsberg the finish line so there's a look at the women's times for that dimension data hotspot at 20 kilometers all together as they went through there the top six teams galileo infinity spot that was teresa ralph it lost a little bit of time there and then it expands out to mites honey custom apparel and guy computer mania 9 minutes and 18 seconds yeah it's devastating and really a rough start to to this stage and we saw pictures of sherry rediger trying to straighten her handlebar and it looks like the the issues that they they have really cost them a lot of time here not an ideal start to today's stage it's all about staying calm and staying focused and working their ways slowly towards the front again these magnificent trails the bone trail is famed and fabled here and they'll be riding some brand new trails as well oh he has trouble this is becking and diaz this is a major problem a broken chain for the dutchman and the portuguese rider scott we're very much in the mix and now time leaking away as they affect the repairs yeah this is a really stressful situation you can practice these things beforehand to deal with these issue issues under pressure but once you're out there in the race it's just different you need to you can first of all you can see you're in the terrain you have to throw your bike in a bush and try to it's not an ideal working position and you easily can drop a link or something on the ground um it's often good to have a strategy how to approach these situations a good thing is to maybe the one who has the mechanical sets sets the the the plan and the other one kind of works for him because if two try to fix the same issue sometimes it gets really messy and and very inefficient so it's good to have one dictating and the other one doing somewhat like a dentist maybe that's why it feels familiar to me yes so that is problem for the buff scott team definitely a difficult situation for them and they had a great day yesterday a great day out yesterday then they're a team with the ones their backup team with the ones that had the broken chain and uh just on the on the mechanical side of things uh fixing a chain efficiently is one thing but being able to put out of your mind the riders tearing up the road and putting minutes into the interview i think that's what um one of the the other things that's really important to do is to put that out of your mind uh get the panic get the panic out of your mind and just deal with the problem as it is and the bulls of course called platt and stefan psalm and of course it was uber after after stefan sam were masters of that there were masters that just dealing with the problem putting everything else out of their mind and then getting back on in the moment is it that that switch you're in race mode and then you're in mechanic mode switch off race mode completely focus on mechanic mode switch back race mode and so they can't yeah exactly and it's not an easy transition because you don't expect to have mechanicals so it's like you have to make that switch immediately and of course with a lot of experience having had to deal with these things makes it a whole lot easier but every every mechanical is new and you need to be you need to have some sort of insight into your equipment and how it works and and how to fix it if something is is is wrong well this is the area we're in around tilbach at this time of year after a very wet winter the dams are full the uh orchards are lush and start coming to bloom and they're starting to fruit up and it really is just the most beautiful part of the western cape it's no less beautiful in in march it's just different at this time of year and uh the ridge line there the witzenberg mountains and then far in the distance that dome that is most hook uh mountain that you can see at the end of that range is looking sort of in the south easterly direction the river cuts through down in that part and then around to the big peak is saronsberg that last peak we come into sight there and snooka peak is the other major peak in this range of topping out around 1800 meters so it is a stunning stunning area brought to you by this beautiful drone footage that we're bringing to you live innovating all the time in the absolute cape epic with uh coverage of the event and yes sometimes uh things conspire and we won't be able to bring you live footage just uh of every step of the way but uh pretty much as best we can we'll do uh justice to the race and bring you all the action that possible but uh it's not bad that's the postcard either no no whenever i did these races i always loved going back and watching all the footage and the photos from the race because when you're in the race yourself you're you have to be super focused on on what's really just ahead of you and around you at that moment and you don't always have the time to to look around now if you're racing at the shop in the field this is hayley preen of the land rover ladies more drama for marie robbie and haley preen of the land rover ladies that's not a good sign phone ringing and where is her partner marie [Music] and we had a crash and i think there's a broken wrist after water point two after water point two [Music] is holding her right wrist up there because that is where the trouble is and this is lachlan morton of vf education nippo and his right his partner kenneth correa and lachlan morton well he's a real character what's the problem lucky not good no no chain no chain and here you see all the drama going down and now we are on day four and the fatigue is starting to set in and you you're just a little bit less alert and and you see it takes very little and then everything goes wrong so lachlan morton the part of the ef education nippo uh world tour team but he does a lot of alternate riding and uh well this is pretty alternative as well for him and now without a change meanwhile the african african uh african women's leaders strauss and lil together with the grand masters are coming through this beautiful trail the bone trail and lucky just moving out the way to allow the riders to come through yeah they really look like they have found their rhythm again they didn't look too stressed they're really just settling in and then slowly moving forward so that's a good strategy so the tech zone water point is at 28 kilometers not entirely sure where that is on this bone trailer trusting that uh luckily luck morton is able to walk up towards that and then get uh the necessary support to get himself back on the bike so hayley preen the south african road race champion second uh at the uh cycle tour just a week ahead of this event i'm sad to say that the land rover ladies race is over but with what looks to be a wrist injury fairly serious wrist injury perhaps a broken wrist tanya marie robbie there just on the phone and alerting the medics to the problem they have and we could see from the body language that uh we could pretty much say it was all over for the pair not good so it's drama plenty on day three of the 2021 absolute cape epic day four bigger part in stage three and this is how it stands after 47 kilometers that's at the second of the water point tech zones in the men's race the top eight teams pretty much all together with uh bmc ktm completing that top eight buff scott mtb buff scott mtb well that might change might have changed because we did see them with a broken chain a bigger part it was it was it was both teams were there that's six and seven yeah position and uh so they uh that's where we are after 48 kilometers of this uh sparkling beautiful day apologies we're not able to bring you a live footage consistently all the way through but this is back live we believe and uh yeah this is live and riding with uh clearly an issue there johnny hoogalam there's a name to conjure with riding with renee hasselbach johnny hookerland a man who rode on the world turned famously was involved in that uh crash on the tour de france back in 2013 when he was knocked off his bike by a vehicle meanwhile this is sarah hill and her partner vera losser of liv lapierre the level up here racing pair from uh cereal and vera loss of the namibian terry hill another winner of the apps african jersey and riding with very laws of namibian who would have been watching the tokyo olympics tokyo 2020 she was in the lead break up the road uh main break of the day in fact very experienced road cyclists multiple namibian champion on the road heaven rapid steiner and uh samuel poro at the back of this uh group emc ktm in there as well they're going at high speed here with uh stefan some on board with stefan can you hear us stefan [Applause] all right keep watching his images though and yesterday we had some great conversations with stefan along the route almost i was could almost say unprecedented in uh live broadcast being able to communicate directly with the guys on the bike and see here team bmc ktm they're at the back of this group but it's quite ominous for the others this team has some serious firepower if they can make it all the way to fanti's pass intact with a small select group we expect them to make a big attack and perhaps they'll be able to form an alliance with team canyon northwave and put 91 songs specialized under some pressure we'll see how it all plays out the store a long way to go they've still got to go through the two water points over three gorges and uh through the valley before they reach that fronties pass at the 70k mark the action should begin morning stefan sam on the ballsy bike can you hear us stefan [Music] [Music] oh it's very unfortunate we the the signal the audio uh signal isn't as clear as we'd like to be able to hear stefan and his thoughts on how things are progressing out there but it's nice to say that we get an idea of just how fast these uh riders are going through this rough farm trail it's it's just on the edge of one of the farmers fields and we pass through many many uh farms in what is a traditionally fairly dry region this really try and lose this terrain yes and if you look at the terrain uh we often look at the the danger points in the route we see the land rover technical terrain which is of course the concentrated mountain biking section the pure mountain biking section selected by the roots designers but just as dangerous or just as potentially dangerous are these sections you saw back there the really grassy nature of the surface of the trail that can hide sharp rocks maybe a small piece of metal and uh just as likely to scuff your chances of of an overall victory or even just a stage a stage win that was our exhaust winners yesterday pwc one going through the claude los zellarda and falassani ndebele who are nicely positioned in the uh zara race racing hard against leroy and tom gunia to try and get back get onto the podium as benjamin and michael and janine schneider go through the second team in the mixed race at the moment and this is the team of teresa ralph and kim la court so they are really having a torrid day uh kim reporting teresa ralph well like we said they're in the thick of the uh thick of the absolute cape epic we're almost reaching the halfway point and this is where it really can't we've talked about the the hardships all the things that can go wrong all the obstacles along the way the prologue was uh was maybe you could say a physical test and this is a test of everything of the pure mountain micro for full mountain biking experience and annika this is where cena fry and laura stigger particularly and all the other i mean they're in the men's elite group alone there are 32 riders who are hiding this for the first time who are heading into areas of of uh okay how are we gonna i don't quite know how i might get through here or i know i'm gonna get through here but so there's a lot of questions being asked now for sure there's a lot of unknowns um especially for the more unexperienced riders in the in this race um but it looks like cena and and laura they're riding with such a great buffer energy wise that they they can they can handle all these unknowns when they appear um so far they absolutely they look at like a seasoned combination they really really do it's impressive to watch it really looks like they've been doing this race before which they haven't um and in my eyes the only weak point in their relationship is like how will they handle when the fatigue really sets in because they will get really really tired as well start feeling it especially from now on and will they start making mistakes when they start having mechanicals could they blow up because they they miscalculate their efforts will be interesting to follow so what we notice from that little screen there is that the buff scott teams are no longer in that group with the big mechanical they had a broken chain a bigger pot one of the teams in the other team is is not there but uh so that's the one dynamic that's changed there they're riding through an area they came through yesterday as they head back they did a loop out to sort of southwesterly direction to the bone trail and now they're heading back towards tillbach and then out deep into the corner of the valley which is where fronties pass lies and wait uh so much perhaps we're putting a lot of lots of emphasis on it but it comes so late in the race on day three fourth day but third big marathon day that we are anticipating that that is going to be a critical phase of today's race yeah definitely and we can see the team bmc ktm cruising nicely at the back of this group um when a team like them they have huge issues mechanical issues at the very start of the race and they can feel like that they're losing a lot of time on the gc a team like that can swap their strategies and start going for stage pictures instead try to save the energy and then pointing out some stages and say like this is our stage this is the day we're gonna go for it and i'm interested to curious to see if today's the day that they are targeting on paper it should be good for them there's a lot of flat fast rolling sections in between the single track sections we know that they are strong in the single track section so if they can save a lot of energy between the single track sections they have a huge advantage going into the single track and and the single trackers so we pick up the bass and detroit getting cheered along by the school children as they ride through the giant the other south african uh pair behind their michael you bear interest in the lung of it uh the the climber funties pass and then they go straight into the land over technical terrain at us kaibos which is a sensational piece of single track but it's quite long so so there's going to be that fascinating battle to get into that uh get to the top of the climb and get in there first it will basically be another big bunch of sprint of today going first into that single track and it's all about knowing when exactly the single track comes so you can start moving forward in a group and being well positioned when it counts and that's why it's always a good idea the night before having a quick brief with your team your teammate looking through what's coming what's on the menu for the next day and and if you have some local knowledge if you know exactly okay this is where the single track starts it's always an advantage um it's good to know it's good to be well prepared and have a strategy yeah it's exactly the local way the local lodge really plays into uh plays into the hands of the riders that have done the race so it might not only be locals it might be for example the bulls they've raced they've campaigned here for for many years and in fact in 2016 one of the writers lamented that uh it was a rookie it was a miraculous elias who was the greek the greek rider the greek marathon specialist and former world champion lamented the fact that the bulls know everything they know every meter of the trail and uh they said that uh they some suddenly without even knowing if the bulls were suddenly at the front and it was absolutely at the critical point in the race and uh history shows us that uh 2016 is when the bulls that was earth huber and carl platt won versus first victory and carl platt's fifth what the point made early on the in the interview from with shimon snella was that uh they know funties pass it's a new trail new area and it's not public the access area but they wrote it they got permission to ride at the head of last year's council event so they they have an idea what they're in for so uh yeah preparation um is is what it's all about homework and that's uh key as full of face and peter detroit here they took the dimension data hotspot they had a mechanical perhaps a fall and now they're trying to get back on uh to the back of that lead group and tang that they turn along the vuco giant there marco you bear interest in the lung at well these uh these riders will need to make a call now do they put in maximum effort just to get back on and burn matches so to speak or do they just take it easy and wait to fight another day they have got the red jerseys that are all absolutely absolute african jerseys at stake most likely they'll try and keep a steady rhythm but to spend all their energy just just to get back into this group uh they'll need to make it they'll need to make a decision as to whether or not it's worth that extra effort seven riders seven teams beg your pardon in this uh group and uh it is a team without hand-specking at group without unspeaking and jose diaz the bab scott mtb leading team because they've broken a chain their second string ruse and vergara there i say second string their other team is in this group as they transition across the valley floor here in the absolute gate epic stage three and the farmers just uh stopping and allowing the riders to go through and uh again all we can do is to thank the the farmers for allowing the the race to go through the land owners and of course uh the trail builders because without them we wouldn't have uh these incredible trials and the one man here in the slovak area dion wilkins amazing um series and the hanukkon brothers and the bits of bergani just incredible and many many more all the way around the western cape it's very special that uh we get to what the riders get we get to see it and the riders get to ride some some sections are completely untouched by a mountain biking tyre and uh and also not open to the public gerald you alluded to it earlier there are some public trails that the local mountain biking community can enjoy and then there are other trails that are prohibited and only riders at the absence of epic have access to them in the race yeah talk about motorbike club about 10 years and nine ten years ago got uh formalized and uh they've created a really great mountain bike fraternity in this area and have been active in building these trails and creating access and building up the relationship between the farmers and the landowners but if you want to come and ride in these parts please contact the motorbike club and ascertain where you can ride i'm sure one of the the rides will take you out on a journey sitting right at the back here the bmc ktm along with 91 songo specialized matt beers you always want to say they're chilling at the moment just i think they know what's coming relatively speaking yeah exactly um it's all relative but it is it is all relative but uh the fact that mafias is not near the front is uh leads us to believe that it's not necessarily a critical point in the race he's happy to take it easy to follow the leaders and get on board some hydration he is wearing a hydration pack we spoke about that earlier and how important it is to be hydrating throughout the stage to take small sips over over a period of time it's a more effective way of hydrating and refueling and uh matt is clearly an experienced campaigner and in the leader's jerseys in a good position no piggybuddy wherever you are around the world watching us thanks for joining us and being part of our our journey around this uh absolute epic hope we uh enticing you to perhaps come and write it one day but if you want to know what it's like being in the thick of things and you you have a particular question as we arrive at a very significant little section here the floating bridge that's coming up here i think it's it's extraordinary uh why not uh connect with us and connect with annika langeville because no one is more experienced that you can talk to right now than the five-time former champion world champion across country marathon she's sitting right with us here ready to answer your questions and uh that's give you insight into what it is like to tackle this uh event wow beautiful views yes and please use the abstractcap epic social media channel for your questions and they will be forwarded to us yeah through it be it youtube through uh instagram twitter facebook whatever it is uh we'll get those questions to annika and she'll put you in the picture as we go around between the dams here the thirsty bridge beautifully done absolutely stunning views a little pump track and the leading group all together at the moment as they buy their time keep their powder dry for the challenges still to come they've conquered the bone trail three gorges and funties pass at 6.2 kilometers around 403 meters of accumulated climbing over that uh phase and that is to come that is the series challenge and just after then is the asaka land rover uh technical terrain is now we arrive at the uh the bridge that's been specially constructed over this dam floating bridge goodness of thirsty uh hydration sponsors here at the 2021 absolute cape epic take a left and then swing onto the dam and uh floating bridges are well have been part and parcel of mountain bike stage races around the world but south africa for many many years they were much feared for a long time and now they're written as a matter of course beautiful sight the thirsty bridge here at the uh 2021 absolutely stage three maybe the rider's just putting a little bit of extra concentration would be most undignified if any of them went off track and uh ended up in the water might be a welcome dip it's gonna be a hot day today perhaps later on in the day when [Applause] we see um stefan some just taking uh did he take a breath or did he did he hit one of the trees i think he was just navigating some of the trees it went from really bright sunset sunshine into dark shadow and those term sessions can all can always be tricky because the vision sometimes is a little bit challenging especially riding as he is like at the very end of the big group sometimes there's a lot of dust in the air and makes the vision even more difficult this is really stunning the reflections guest farm is where they're riding through and they've agreed to have the riders ride through their land and to have that uh bloody thirsty bridge ship constructed over there they're down yeah still right towards the back the bmc ktm guys just pushing themselves back and you can see just taking on the food taking on nutrition all critical factors to today remember these riders have gone close to four hours on day one close to four hours on day two their bodies are fatiguing they're stressing all the time so fueling is absolutely you know apart from riding your bike eating is perhaps the next most important eating drink is the most important thing uh this week it is it really really is and you cannot underestimate how much it means right now they're fueling for this specific race for this specific stage and for the moment right now but actually they're also fueling for the coming days the days ahead if you could get by on the first and second day with without being like super concentrated about your nutrition and constantly consuming but at this point in the race if you don't get enough energy your recovery for tomorrow or the days ahead will be much much worse and so now it is really critical to to get that on point through the frilockite farm now as well as the acre they'll be heading into again these farm tracks making up uh the lion's share around 40 percent of the trail of these these they're not manicured they just uh jeep track relatively smooth in comparison to some of the the rough trails that they are going to ride and have written but snaking in and out of the orchards and the vineyards on these farmlands this lead group but just keeping a steady tempo yes and uh interestingly a long line which uh normally when we see in certainly in road cycling when we see a long line it means that the pace is high at the front uh but the narrow nature of the trails uh suggests that uh it really is just um the group is mostly compact mostly together and not a lot of pressure being put at the front and we did see a bit of a roll call with the titles earlier just to recap on that we have team buff scott mountain biking too that's the second team of vegara and ruiz and uh ever present canyon north wave 91 sondra specialized the race leaders trek pirelli both bulls teams and team bmc ktm and if we were to make a prediction if we were to make a wild card selection for a winner of the stage today it could easily be them it's team bmc ktm that's colombo and zanotti the young cross-country specialists uh having ravenstein and samuel poro have i think something in the tank maps as well they've looking to uh put their stamp on the the event model has been on the podium overall before uh with daniela ferraro so i think it's uh they're also in the mix here bulls have two teams it's all beautifully set up here well the trek really at one stage is deep into the race they know how to do it they know they're really if they have any um advantage or any edge over their competitors their physical characteristics are that they uh they seem to we say that riders get better every day that's not necessarily the case that it's more like there are the riders who decline less than the others if you were to look at it in pure output terms and uh if gerald are you going to be so bold as to say that uh trek pirelli are in for the stage when today i'll call bmc ktm you're going for trek pirelli no i'm not am i putting words in your house well let's ask that they will be very much uh any of these teams in this group are going to be keen there i don't know true but you could also hear canyon northway they were really excited ahead of this stage they were like we're looking forward to this brutal super steep climb at the end of the race you could feel like this is this is our terrain this is where we're gonna push it hard and they're in there first that's uh andre sivalt and uh his partner martin storsek and they they they're in their first race together here at the absolute cave epic so you you almost since they've now had three days they're they're nicely vetted in they've got the live the land they know who their the main rivals are they're not far off the the gc2 two minutes and 13 seconds we're in this and we this is our day you feel maybe this is the day they're going to put the hammer they're sitting at the front of this little like string at the moment so yes they could win the stage as well and the bulls could win this stage i'm a fan sitter it could come down to fate give me time yeah yeah absolutely but the team 91 sungo specialized had a key strategy for yesterday and that was kind of to get a first into the last descent and get a gap there and and then try to extend that build on that to the finish line and today could be a little bit the same at least this the nature of the course would invite for a similar tactic and they had success with that tactic yesterday so why not go for the same tactic today absolutely ah it's all on the table it's a feast to to enjoy blossoms on the right and the younger orchard on the left absolutely stunning uh heading through these farms towards bath plus the third water point this is blow bunk the flay and mod rouge these farms they'll be going through here stefan are you with us stephanie is with us but he's not with us if you know what i mean he we we're not able to to converse with him but we occasionally see his his images as they hug the river little stream on the left-hand side and continue just to tick it over real absolute epic day today really uh tough challenge coming towards the end of the stage with that fronties pass in a skype bosch and it's almost like a racer that is in a race there that that climbs six just over six k's for 103 meters we focus here on the women and the race leaders in the orange jerseys cena fry and laura stiga with ariane luty and robin decreed are in the first two positions the saluz med team keeping an eye on 91 songs specialized so the two leading women team still together um it looks like salud smith is happy to let team 91 sanger specialize take the lead here in the single track um so yeah we'll see how this is gonna end once they get to the really really steep climb you can see robin de horde here is drifting up the back just a little bit and it looks like they're a little bit on the back foot here they're not the ones applying pressure they're really letting team 91 zango specialize dictate the race at this point well we've got uh word out on the trail they have passed the 48 kilometer mark and as we saw there it is two teams in the lead 91 sangha specialized and team sellers made with team faces cst two minutes 44 back and team fairtree 546 back jenny steinerhog and amy mcdougall having a better day today they have struggled throughout the week so far but looks like they're coming into their own live lappier racing there we have the time checks at six minutes and 54 seconds so all in for the first two teams 91 song specialized and team sellers made right all together faces cst we're not sure whether they'll be in a hot pursuit they may just look to consolidate yeah and uh save their efforts because it's going to be a long week and the big losers today computer mania mountain bike are the the days big losers at this stage having had a fall with uh cherie redeker and they've lost plenty more time they were heading down through the three gorgeous trail um on the first loop if you like out of tilburg and then heading down so i'm gonna and then on towards where these riders are the elite men heading uh towards the deep end of this beautiful valley still peak up there on the left it is uh truly beautiful but it gets more and more remote up here and they'll find funties peak um if you're riding up there on your own you will wonder if anyone will ever find you who decided to sit down there and have a long sleep because it is very very remote and the single track that coming off there is is extremely tough annika you've had someone ask you a question yeah i see questions taking in so thank you very much for that we'll try and cover most of them as good as possible and the question is what does the morning routine look like for the pros well most of us are very lucky to be able to sleep in camp events at the venue meaning we don't have to travel far to get to the start line we are rare right there which makes everything so much easier and you're not in a tent we're not in a tent so whether it doesn't really matter if it's hot we can turn on aircon if it's wet if we have a nice roof over our heads so it's really a privilege um normally the stage for us would start is 7010 or 709 so we're starting a little bit behind the guys um i would wake up maybe around five o'clock so a few hours before in the camper van and in the campervan we we actually have our breakfast in there so we don't need to go outside of the campervan i would wake up and i would have my breakfast ready and i would literally go back to my bed and eat my breakfast under under the the cover and it would be very silent in the campervan at this point especially during the end towards the end of the race where everybody's getting more and more tired so it's a silent breakfast in a half dark campervan under your cover and you can feel your legs are really stiff and maybe your body is also sore so you really want to move around as little as possible are you a coffee drinker yes you have coffee in the morning so that's the thing um i could go to the woolworths they have nice coffee stations at the venue but then i would need to first of all i would locate that yeah the wagon with the the coffee the the pro camp is a little bit outside of the the normal camp and we changed the campsites a lot meaning that sometimes i get very confused where to go because i would wake up the next morning and it's like oh everything looks different so i would i would risk getting lost on my way to to find some coffee so most often we have a coffee machine um in in our little camp so i would go out and get some coffee and go back to my yeah and i would try to save as much energy as possible some riders love to do a little bit of a warm warm-up just spin their legs a little bit maybe i would do that definitely i would do that for the prologue but from there on i would go into energy saving mode and actually not spend too much energy before the the start gun actually goes off it's all about staying warm staying comfortable and saving as much energy as possible and eating so what's the breakfast do you have um i would eat maybe some yogurt muesli oats nuts racing it's very simple but it works and i guess everybody has their preferences um i remember my different partners a lot of them had the same breakfast like me some some oats some overnight oats maybe had them soaked and late night over i remember cat corny she always had waffles so she would actually have prepared the waffle mix the night before have it in the fridge and then in the morning cook it inside the camper van so that would allow me to wake up by the smell of fresh waffles which was not too bad to be honest no but everybody has their own little routine and you don't change much going into this race you you stick with what you know works very important what's the time when you go down to the start line um i would may i would go out and and um just yeah talk with my staff if there if there's any last minute information that i need to know and i would tell the mechanics i would just actually i would go for a little spin on my bike just basically around the camp just to make sure that the the gears work the brakes working i mean our mechanics they sort out our bikes like very well and and everything is working properly but you it's nice to just have that extra security that you actually shipped it through the gears and tried the brakes and everything just before you rode out to the start line you don't want to stand on the start line and realize that you're you don't have the right tire pressure or stuff like that so you may just just a little spin around the cam to make sure that everything is fine and then basically from there make your way towards the start line there you go hope that uh answers uh the query that was sent through to annika thank you if you want to connect with and i can find out what it's like to be uh deep inside the uh the cauldron that is the uh absolute cape if you can connect with with us through uh our social media platforms instagram twitter facebook youtube absolutely pepe or cape epic and uh i think i will be able to uh sure supply with uh a very detailed and uh interesting answer they're great with the great to see the uh level of preparation yeah that's required to excel and even just to survive at this race and right from the pro levels to to the amateurs they um the amateurs also need to be well prepared they need to have all their equipment lined up they need to know what they're wearing having tested the the equipment they've used before and many of them will have for their bikes repaired or at least serviced every single day these are the ravages of the race and the race is certainly a test of equipment there's uh no doubt that uh there's a certainly an absolute epic graveyard of equipment and uh if it can survive uh if it can survive this race it's uh it passes the ultimate test know that stefan sam is uh has been very much an equipment uh an equipment funding he's um in fact the race has spurned um an invention of his and i've seen him on the e-bike he has won the race before and one of the most important things to carry for any rider is a tire plug um the riders are almost all riding tubeless tires i think that's pretty much the universal standard for the moment and the tyre plug will just fill the hole that is caused by a sharp rock or a piece of wire or a stick or something like that um plug is a kind of a sticky um a sticky piece of spaghetti almost that's what it looks like and um stefan sam is uh has been developing uh for many years his uh his own method his own um version of a plug which fits into the handlebars and he has a as a team of um a team of guys to help them design so the absolute epic has spurned many equipment um evolutions you could say well we we talked about evolutions earlier about the hype the hydration pack yeah that's uh one of the things we've seen uh we saw it first in fact uh in the pro ranks we saw nino shota and florian vogel riding them and then we we wondered what he what he was up to and it turns out he was just wanting to stay very hydrated for the following day he was uh he was hydrating and uh him and florian vogel were looking to target stages that year the first year that they ra they raced at the abc epic and that trend is definitely uh we've definitely seen more of it with some many of the riders today stocking up with their hydration packs we've seen the cannondale team use them and they used it as part of the nutrition strategy to actually avoid stopping at the water points to stock up on water they carried with them two extra liters so they didn't have to stop giving them an advantage and putting the other riders under pressure having to chase after they had to stop and get and get refueled so the women's race has left that sort of almost first just first two-thirds of the trail which is the bone trail and three gorges they are now transitioning across the uh the valley and towards still back to go they'll bypass till they're gonna head out towards where the men are riding now and then into the real challenge of funties pass mariska strauss on the frontier with candace still they had a problem earlier today when they were involved in a small crash but a small crash for them turned out to be a really significant one um in the wrong way for canada for computer mania because sheree riedeker was involved in that and sadly sheree lost a lot of time there we're not sure how much time they've lost up to this stage but round about the 47k mark they had lost nine minutes so really really uh disappointing day for them a hard fighter lies ahead for them bart branches and uh peter vessel were the leaders in the grand masters they spent a lot of uh yesterday with the leading women's team and finished just behind them well now they're sitting behind the team of uh faces so cst and band of course is in some ways mariska's boss true yeah it's the team that mariska rides for that's true he's just there making sure she's okay sometimes it can be good good for the morale to have familiar faces around you especially in conditions like this where everything is just rough and you are suffering and having you know familiar faces around you feels really good sometimes good for the for the motivation you can see here most riders actually carrying two bottles on their bike and i can see another question coming through whether people would have water in one bubble and then in it some sort of energy mix in the other one and i can only speak from my own experience but i would definitely carry energy mix in both bottles whatever energy you can carry with you is worth doing it if you were having one bottle with only water that means you would have to have more energy in your pockets gel sparse and so on so really having that in your bottle is is is just a very good idea and an easy way to to make sure to constantly get carbohydrates inside your body so this is the lead group of uh men as they go up this beautiful cement and enjoy that for the time being it's forgiving as we flip back to our leading women's quartet four riders two teams here 91 tongo specialized cena fry and laura stigger they are the overall leaders by seven and a half minutes over team saluzman of ariane luty and the right of the backyard robin de cruet the swiss south african combination the swiss austrian pair up ahead in that particular order there's the austrian lara stiga and uh ahead of her the short track world champions cena fry silver menace at the olympic games silverman is the world champion and a superstar and one of justin and laura just had a number of really really good good brilliant young riders who are making their mark on mountain biking in the women's field at the moment the light of lorna laconte and evie richardson so really good to see yeah women's racing at the moment is so exciting to watch it's a there's a lot of good good writers out there top 10 to 15 all of them can can go for podiums it's really good for the sport it's great watching it's always exciting and very unpredictable sometimes and that's what makes it so riveting it really does so these uh before together i wonder what the thinking is for ariana and robin here how are they going to make uh some ring roads into that lead of seven and a half minutes at the moment you can see here they're really just drafting off of the team 91 central specialized habit to to just save some energy it looks to me like they're all gonna go and put the hammer down towards the end of the race none of them have as far as we know made some serious attacks and moves at the early parts of the stage so it looks like it's going to be tight tight and hard fight at the end of the race third you'd call a glimpse of the third team on the right there faces cst again it's boiling up to the fronties pass climb which is going to be a critical phase both in the men's and women's race the beautiful mountain in the uh distance there is uh saronsberg sliding over the almost the entire stage it's very much ever present as we bring you images from stage three it gets a little more rugged there look at this as they head towards the steeper climbs in the corner of this beautiful valley the fruit mountains beckon so there's the split in the group from the men's race so bmc ktm have lost a bit of time going through the i mean today the checkpoint at 71.5 kilometers so six teams now buffs got mtb2 that's avagara and ruiz bulls two and bulls one so the steve john and fry as well as use huber and simon schneller czech pirelli poro and his partner fabian ravenstein and 91 songwriter specialized the race leaders matt beers and jordan saru and canyon northway andreas sierra and his partner martin slosek uh we just saw the uh the bmc team bmc ktm team rejoining that group so let's see how it all plays out i think it was my prediction that the pmc team would be be animating the stage not winning the stage i think it might be backpedaling a little bit bulls there four riders uh there's the buff squad pair of agara and uh this one i'm not sure that bmc ktm are back i think i was mistaken maybe optimistic thinking optimistically there i think what uh mistook them for the e-bike riders and uh interesting to see what exactly happened it doesn't look like the pace pace looks like it has increased a lot we are on the decisive this is the selective climb it's the final big obstacle of the day in terms of where the selection can be made and when the stronger riders can make a difference we saw matt beer sitting right at the back towards the very back of this group for a long time on that transition across the valley and now he's inside the top three or four riders with jordan ceru as well as andrea sivath and martin storsek and as it starts going up and it's going to get much steeper but look how it starts stringing out now yeah you can see here it's very clear that canyon northway is really putting this terrain uh to their favor pushing it super hard at the front putting everybody else um on the back foot it's a good strategy here good strategy this is a good strong move here so at the back we see the buff scott team um that's vergara and royce and uh right back he is having uh let's see they were under a bit of pressure during the day um suffering with the distances colombo and zanate they're just trying to manage their pace and manage their efforts not to lose too much time but not to get too carried away about pulling back the time here this is still a midway through a very very hard eight days of racing for two young cross-country races so uh it's all about seeing what their limits where their limits are understanding and managing their efforts funties pass it is a critical phase of this day's uh racing it's uh the key sectors about six kilometers just over 6.2 kilometers in distance 403 meters of accumulated climbing over that so it is a significant challenge that could well determine how this stage is determined is finished in terms of the results so bart branson's peter vessel sitting behind the basis cst team of uh stratos and candice lille we're in third place at the moment they can actually see the thing that is the lead group ahead of them yeah women's team right in front of them meaning that the pace at the front is not all too high at the moment so it's gonna come down really to that last climb technical single track section but the question is how hard has candice little and marissa strauss working to get back to this point because they have to put in extra work in comparison to these women go to the front of that little group they're not involved in that race said they're the grand masters of course and now but scott vergara and ruiz have dropped a little bit off this group as the funties power starts to bite here yeah well this is the true test of the of the day in fact and we saw earlier jordan sarah way up ahead and the canyon north wave team staying in touch with jordan's roof but matt pierce is slightly distance can also see team bulls also dropping off the pace a little bit and uh we look up ahead we see iris uber and simon schneller stozek let's have a look up the road there's the world champion samuel poro martin storsek up front then it's uh servald and then it's uh fabit ravensteiner and stefan some that two other bikes in there just a reminder are our camera bikes on the e-bikes the bulls e-bikes of stefan sam and thomas deech uh they're keeping an eye so they've split up now to keep an eye on those two groups and they're all the race leaders ninety-one silver specialized but look at the gap it's growing and it's still early in this climb the the part that would suit canyon northway the better towards the end of the climate the steepest part will suit them better and there i i assume that they will open up the gap even more so this will be very interesting to see how big of a gap can they actually yeah gain towards the top of this climb because at the overall they have only less than two minutes two two two thirteen yeah and will manage to open that up that bigger gap absolutely this could be key there they are in the distance there so matt beers is well i mean he's an incredible rider but if everyone's got strengths and weaknesses um they're all relative but uh you know if there is a achilles heel if you like for matt bears it might be these really steep climbs it's tough for everyone but uh this might be an area that he that he finds uh tougher than uh than anything else and they may be suffering after the last two days they won two stages out of three and it's uh it's gonna be a difficult day for them they've uh clearly we have to remind ourselves that the racing has been tight up until now it's been really just a few seconds and we looked at the general classification um at the start of the day we uh we had 91 songs specialized only two minutes 13 ahead so it's still very tight and the riders are still very evenly matched back to the women yeah all together here the top three teams nice to see that they've regained contact here they face a cst pair of candice lill and mariska strauss now together with salus med and the 91 song goes specialized so they are preparing for the big climb fair tree are going well that's jenny steiner and father amy mcdougall now in fourth place remember computer mania the big losers today unfortunately due to a fall and time lost as a consequence of that just again rolling through on the flats yeah now that time check was taken a short while ago just before the catch that faces cst with faces cst regained contact with sellers made and 91 sangha specialized so they now are well into the 60 kilometers of the 91 kilometer stage they are together the three contending teams will most likely stay together until that all selective and all-important funties pass the steep climb that will decide the winners of the day on the gravel section of this farm road here and some uh there's robin duckworth and laura stick and others riding on the side to try and avoid the stones now left through the orchards so like the men this race is uh very very likely to be determined and the next 20 kilometers or so up fronties pass and the longer they stay together in a big group like this the more it pays into the favor of cena and lara and [Music] yeah it looks like it could be similar to yesterday and some teams should try and put put everybody else under pressure here but for now it's still wide open and there's a lot of drafting going on so riding smart being in the in in the the wind shade of the right in front of you is not a bad thing you can see here the the faces cst are really taking initiative so servalt and stasek of canyon northway they've gone to the front of the men's race that's ravenstein on his own behind there his partner samwelipura was back with the 91 songo specialized probably around fifth last time we saw 15 18 20 seconds back so this is a fascinating dynamic is unfolding here as they climb up by this brutally hard funties pass this is probably the hardest climb that they will have the whole week and look how the gap has grown it's growing bigger and bigger and they still have a lot of climbing to do meaning they will open up this gap even more this is a crucial part of the entire week the entire race which we're watching right now because up until this point everybody was kind of evenly matched and now we see one team really pulling away you've written grand raid no no i haven't i've heard about it yes because cervald won that earlier this year and he's won seven races this year including the world championships i mean that is apparently one of the iconic climbs in mountain biking and uh so he's got the legs he's got the the experience he knows how to how to handle this line sievold certainly is the on-form rider of the year uh when it comes to a long format racing and mountain biking and clearly confident at the beginning of the stage and uh i think i mentioned it earlier that his morale was really high and uh stozek i think also buoyed by that enthusiasm and it's clear that this is really their terrain they are deep into the stage race deep into the absolute cave epic and this is gonna where gonna be really where it all comes they know they're stronger on the day they can feel it they can sense it and uh they know that they've put some good time into their rivals 91 song specialized they sense that weakness and they will absolutely capitalize this is really where it comes they need to make it really work here for them and gain as much time as they possibly can tomorrow is another day but they will be thinking very much of today and what's in front of them and how much time they can put into 91 songwriters specialized the images from the helicopter of course make it look pan flat but you just need to look at how slowly and how heart and how bent over their handlebars these riders are to get an idea of how steep this terrain is i think if you're saw how fast they were going through the fortunes exactly if you're a statistician and you're uh if you're into uh your your stats you'd be looking at the watts and the watts would completely be at odds with the speed um which clearly means that this is a super steep climb strung out it is uh that's poro on his own trying to reconnect with the ravensteiner the italian champion up there the white figure going up there but already rounding the little hairpin at the top uh the canyon northway team i predict they will have more than two minutes over 91 specialized at the top of this climb question is how will 91 sunken specialists be able to close that in a downhill i mean yeah it is their terrain but on the other hand they are gonna arrive there totally cross-eyed yep there is one advantage that they'll have is that they they cross if they go over the top of the pass with the bulls team and that's both bulls teams they will be able to uh at least have they have a similar agenda to the bulls they don't want to let a canyon north wave go up the road so there could be some cooperation with them on the flats um on in the last five kilometers they will no doubt work together and of course the team up the road are alone so they'll have to rely just on each other to set the pace so let's see how that cooperation plays out in the chase group with both bulls teams the trek pirelli team and of course the race leaders 91 songo specialized right now i think they've dropped into the uh boss uh single track and uh this is going to be critical for andrea sivalt and the canyon north wave to manage their efforts through here after really going hard up that climb silvolt on the front scorsek and then our e-bike camera behind them and stefan sam but this is the land rover technical terrain and uh bosch a quite sublime piece of single track really is stunning it's a spectacular piece of single track and huge fun um and uh even the riders who are the white hot part of the race this is the really this this is the selective part of the race and no doubt they'll take maybe a little bit of time to enjoy it even though the pressure is on reverend steiner okay so i'm gonna pull my predictions back a little bit i don't think they have two minutes at the the very top of this climb question is still how much are 91 sungo specialists willing to risk in this descent because that's where they have to make up time bulls so where are 91 songo specialized here they come so it's uh to their advantage that they are together they don't have to um they don't have to overtake any other riders and being together means that they can they can accelerate or the front rider can accelerate and uh the teammate can enjoy they're not good no teammates are going to be held up by uh by riders along the ray along the trail because overtaking on this trail is virtually impossible yeah it gets as they go in deep into this beautiful indigenous forest it gets so i think we'll be able to see the trial in there but it gets very technical at times rocky and rooty so you don't want to make a mistake in there and uh take the wrong line and have secondary derailleur and suddenly you're in big trouble with the mechanical so high speed but caution also required as we uh now pick up with servolte and storsek almost come to a stop on that switchback and then back down they go beautiful riding beautiful trails again dion wilkins and his whole team have done an incredible job in creating a playground for the riders in the 2021 absolute epic to really enjoy albeit that they have to work really hard to get up to enjoy these uh these single tracks up the funties pass but it certainly looks the the reward is is sumptuous really beautiful and also just getting into the shapes a bit a little bit is it's nice to cool the body temperature just a little bit after being in the exposed areas with a lot of sun it really makes a big difference that you can just cool down just for for a moment yeah it's windless isn't it there's trees dead still there so it does they're in almost in the it was that corner of the bowl a bowl doesn't have a corner but in this sense it does right up against the mountains so it can get really really hot in that part of the valley as they pop out down here there'll be a rocky technical section for survival and storsack of canyon north wave have they done enough on that attack up fanti's pass to hold off the yellow jerseys who perhaps well they will be threatened now they won't know what the what the uh the gap is robinsteiner is closing in quickly and here is samuel poro flying down the trail risks going to be taken that's for sure 29 degrees nearly just show me on that it's going to be here that's that's now 29 in toolbox yep and that's 10 o'clock so uh it's going to be uh very very warm as the afternoon continues for the vast majority of these riders as they come into this part of the the trail exactly and we saw predictions uh upwards of 30 35 perhaps even higher than that and the amateurs will be looking to hydrate those water points as much as possible they'll be loading up they'll be taking a big drink and they'll be loading up their bottles and hopefully some of them will have their hydration packs as well i think that thirsty uh floating bridge uh reflectors guest house might be used as a as a diving board by some of those riders someone may accidentally go over here look at the beautiful views out across the land of the waiver in a just truly stunning part of the western cape tulba oldest town in south africa and steeped in history some magnificent buildings that have been restored after devastating earthquake struck this area in 1969 so it looks like the trick really guys just about to make contact with the leaders here it seems that trek really have taken some huge risks on that fast section and really it could be a case of just who dares wins and letting the brakes go and the more conservative canyon north wave team have played it safe they don't want to risk anything they know how long this race is but trek pirelli have absolutely closed that gap down it's possibly after 30 seconds at the top and they have shut it down so trick really i think that was your prediction was it uh i'll claim it okay well uh we didn't write that not yet anyway they haven't won yet um but uh yeah servalt is clearly the full man i remember that that michael storsek was not good it wasn't slated to ride with uh silvolt uh christian honey yeah he's riding with christian heineck a former winner of this campaign pick back in 2013. so 2014 beg your pardon thanks neil the stats coming rolling out of your your computer head and um it is uh so so it's interesting to see you know where the the differential between the two but stozek working digging deep to stay with him raven steiner on his wheel and there is some welly poro so they've done well to to make contact question is will they be able to maintain this and stay clear of the chasing pack the marauding bulls 91 song goes specialised behind them the poorer was suffering on that climb and raven steiner being the stronger rider the stronger climber and it's probably no coincidence that he's wearing that italian national championship jersey in the marathon category stozic and sierra vault sea vault at the front in the world championship jersey absolutely flying at the moment and they will perhaps be grateful for the uh for the trick for the company of trade pirelli and they'll be able to cooperate on those flat section strict really also have an agenda here they would love to win the stage and of course looking very much to the overall gc uh when the they finish in the valdivi the gap what what got you what would you pick that gap at 30 seconds three this the gap back so we've got trek really up front and we've got uh yeah to them probably about 30 30 seconds less than one minute maximum a minute but yeah it's it it looked as i panned back that looked as though it was yawning out you thought it might be that too but getting around this corner now probably about yeah maybe 40 but [Music] so tactically the bulls will need to make a call now because if they were to race really cleverly and perhaps to to look to do the dirty on on team song ghost 91 song are specialized they will leave it perhaps they should leave it absolutely up to the team in yellow to chase and capitalize on that by sitting on their wheels enjoying their slipstream and uh the up the other side of the coin is that the bulls may not want to relinquish their podium spot and watching drake pirelli disappear up the road puts their third spot puts their pony in place in under threat so it could be interesting to see how the bulls play this tactically as to whether they're going to cooperate with 91 songo specialized pass through the stair farm and they're on winter hook farm this steep trail dropping off the valley now back into the orchards showing that they are off the side of the mountain we've got a 44 second gap there pegged very interesting it looks like jordan saru is setting the pace he is taking up the line share of the work knowing what they are losing 44 seconds is uh is still a small proportion of the two minutes 17 lead they have on overall gc at the start of the stage the yellow jerseys do not look under complete threat right now but they know that it's not just the seconds it's also the dominance of the team up ahead the fact that they are looking stronger in the day and this we've got uh stupid stage four five six seven and eight to go and if this continues the same pattern they're going to be in trouble you've written obviously in the race leaders jersey for much of your laps okay koreanica but i mean when when this sort of situation happens as the race leader i would i don't know i would speculate that if it's 44 seconds it it feels like 44 minutes because you just don't know you can't see where they are and so to managing that i say panic but anxiety is there an anxiety for sure there is um when you have a team ahead of you and you're not you're not capable of getting a glimpse of them then you start wondering am are they just gonna pull away are they just all of a sudden they have superhuman powers and can like pull away they like nothing so it's it's for the head mentally to stay calm is is very important and if you don't see the teams ahead of you you have no idea how far ahead they are and it's a challenging and um something you need to to learn to deal with and often you think it's way worse than it is yes yes i would i would think that would be the case 44 minutes probably every 10 seconds seems like a minute for them and uh they don't know the extent of it this is uh on the back of that lead group uh again a close look at the rough uh uncompromising terrain just looking at his body language he looks like he's suffering and he's quite comfortable just staying on the back and hope just hoping to stay in touch with those front riders and hoping to capitalize on the ambitions of team canyon northwave unfortunately we've lost signal up on the mountain there so as soon as we can we'll bring you back into the action but i think you'll appreciate it is difficult we are in some fairly remote areas but it was wonderful to see nonetheless the excitement of that climb up to the top of fonty's past and then the descent brilliant we've just been getting some time checks in and at the water point three which is at the 72 kilometer mark just before the steep section of fanti's pass we have a time check they have not reached the next time check it 82 kilometers we'll keep an eye on that timing mat and uh at the 72 kilometer mark we had the top six teams and of course we saw canyon north way over 91 sangra specialized trek really full spoke balls teams because it's open field yeah let's see yeah this is a good point i think stefan we just our producers get connecting with him stefan can you hear us in the open now so signals should be good yeah tell us stefan what's the dynamic in that group what are they all looking like all right at the moment trick pirelli is hanging on for their life on sea waltz and uh stozak's wheel i think sanguel le pogo is really strong but it seems like a trek pirelli can still keep up the pace they're quicker in the downhills because they close the gap on the on a cool thing strike forest and the the chase group from what we can see up ahead is actually starting to close the gap it seems uh slowly but surely yeah if i look back backwards back down and obviously now that they can see the chair the lead group gives them more motivation to catch up and jordan is pulling here he's pulling the whole group to get back again well fascinating dynamics that terrain looks bright those look very new trails uh stefan it's yeah it's fresh cut that it's uh it's really amazing to ride the trail in the forest was just something else one of the best trails i've ever ridden give us a quick perspective on the funties climb how tough would that have been for them oh that was incredible like it's just goes up into the sky there's no stairway to heaven looks like you're dropping down that stairway to heaven now because that single track you look as like you're dropping to something nice but we are watching the images now we're on the single track with you uh we were briefly and now we're going unfortunately we've been watching these players so it does look as though it might be them slowly but surely crawling back some of that uh that time well i was just doing a very informal time check and it's gone down to about 35 40 seconds or so uh just picking i just picked a push and took the last rider in the front group uh which of course as we saw was samuel poro and jordan saru at the front it was around about 35 or so seconds at my informal time check but as the trail opens out as the speed goes up the uh the actual gap in terms of distance increases so it's quite deceptive and of course the riders uh always look to time not to distance although as we've said many times before the team that can see another team up the road they have that advantage and they know that uh they are close and that the the gap is under control and don't have that panic feeling that uh the team up the road the teams up the road are disappearing and have this uh anika referred to the superhuman strength the mind can play tricks on the riders and just having that uh that front group in sight will be a great relief for 91 songo specialized that's the world marathon champion andrea cervald a title he won that just two and a half weeks ago in italy on a brutally hard course behind him is martin storsek his canon northway teammate and then it's fabian rapensteiner and samweli poorer of trek really stefan referred to it you referred to it anika's referred to that samweliporo is is the one man who's really hanging on here how's that partnership now working they're with the leaders ravenstein is feeling pretty good he's climbed well instead his partner's struggling a little what what's going on there it's very important for the stronger in the team to stay calm and help your partners as much as possible for me it was always very important if i in a partnership felt stronger that i got my teammate up front you don't want a suffering teammate on your wheel you want him or her in front of you so you don't put that person on the limit but maybe these i don't know if these guys work differently but for the morale being the weaker rider being the last one in this group and just barely hanging on with the tip of your nails it's mentally it can break you so i always preferred the strategy to to put the weaker writer in a comfortable position yeah this is interesting as well because not only that um you know this is a we're surmising from what we're seeing from here and stefan is writing right behind them and perhaps somewhere has heard him say well we're wondering i was wondering how good his english is if you can if you can hear stefan commentating on it and if it's uh if it does affect him well i think in this particular situation they might be lucky they have the the chopper just above their head it actually makes hearing difficult sometimes and i can hear the job a little bit so maybe he has a feeling that stefan when he speaks that the writers actually can't hear him because the chopper is that loud um just pause to admire these trails we can so i mean i must respect the rest and plywood tell no absolutely absolutely they've just crossed one of uh 50 purpose-built bridges on today's trail and then again another example an illustration of how much commitment has gone into to building these trails there's team bulls trying to maintain their integrity in this group with four riders and uh 91 songo specialized are the group on the front end that group that gap is definitely closing in uh jordan cerus doing some great work on the front there exactly and there's a that's a group of three teams we've got two bulls teams which are very evenly matched and almost ominously well matched and obviously well poised in the stage they've also got the advantage of the yellow jerseys have to chase to defend their overall lead and the bulls can sit tight in their slipstream they may wish to cooperate at some point because they don't want to see trek pirelli going too far up the road but so far right now it is very much up to none 91 sangha specialized to chase and to close that gap coming down the bottom of the hill andres sivalt is part of martin's torsek and the trek pirelli pair race leaders descending out of the mountains on stage three of the 2021 absolute cape epic and going once they get to the flat part after this descent i predict that kenyan northway they will have to do all the work by themselves it's clear that the tracker really are clearly suffering in their wheels they're not gonna be able to to take initiative and take the front on the flat ah the gap really is closing there comes uh saroo and beers and the two bulls teams in hot pursuit just like we saw in the previous days that the top top teams in terms of firepower in terms of physicality have revealed themselves and the bulls are very much up there both bulls teams 91 sangha specialized of course just seem to up until today have the edge and canyon north wave absolutely today certainly the best looking team in terms of physicality in terms of output and trek really seeming to be able to match them at least certain well certainly on the downhills they must have taken some big risks to get back in touch because that gap was uh we could call it 20 seconds and to close those gaps on those trails with a marauding team up front means that they would have gone right to their limits on that descent and buff scots are coming back into it as well vegara and nudis are closing the gap here so it really is becoming a ruins bigger partner are going to be in the mix here perhaps as well there's the lead as they pass through the last hydration station and that'll be an indication that the rest of this ride really is going to be flat out downhill it's going to be very very fast and uh they'll be absolutely hammering it 82k is in that is that uh hydration station and we've got less than nine kilometers left now and we'll have just seen the time checker that's kenyan north wave and trek broly together riding and they'll be cooperating we've seen them in 91 songs specialized together with the pools teams one and two are 26 seconds back it's gonna be a high-paced conclusion to uh this stage three at the 2021 absolute cape epic it's been a fascinating battle the early year shots weren't really fired they kept their powder dry as they went through the bone trail and three gorges and a cross back across the valley floor after the dimension data hotspot had been won by the south african paige eurestiel team that was at 21 kilometers and then it was a truce and now the gloves are off they truly are and 26 seconds is not a lot especially since the leading four riders leading two teams uh i think they only have one team to do all the work because trek pirelli looks like they are so on the limit that they aren't capable of going to the front whereas the chasers behind them 26 seconds behind them have more teams that i predict will be willing to take turns at the front this is extreme riding this is so so fast down here you can see that the trail surfaces are littered with small rocks and uh normally you would think that this is not a necessarily a section that's rated as a highly dangerous section or something to really uh be concerned about but we've said it already that there are very often the most random small obstacle can create absolute havoc with a tire or a drive train or uh or anything like that a rock piece of rock and fly up and hit a chain ring sometimes the most random incidents can uh can really take minutes and even hours off of your gc hopes right that's a virtual leaderboard no science no no really we can't tell you that this is exact but a militant 48 uh would be the lead for 91 song i specialize if the race were to stop now they're in there about a minute and 48 and the bulls 408 down so they would have lost a couple of seconds but the canyon northway would be gaining here very very definitely they started the day two minutes and 13 seconds behind so the estimate is around 25 second gap at this stage on the on the road down there saying just bearing in mind on stage two at the end of stage two yesterday trek perelli were 10 minutes down on general classification so they were in sixth spot in fact they were in six spot behind team buff scott that's hunts backing and jose diaz diaz and i'm speaking having had a terrible day with a chair broken chain today they look like they'll be out of contention drake pirelli most likely will move up to at least to fifth spot on overall gc but they're looking to take time out of the bulls teams and um of course knight one zombie specialized as their campaign for the for the end of the week for the grand finale in valdeville state they'll be looking to get to that podium at least the third step and hopefully going even better after the top step trek really always do better they seem to they seem to improve throughout the race and uh their performance today is uh an indication of exactly that hammering along this farm road in pursuit of the leaders no more than perhaps 20 seconds at this stage ahead uh canyon north wave and trek ferrelli as 91 song goes specialized and a pair of bulls teams try and claw their way back you can see that looks like simon stephen at the back uh struggling a little bit with the pace set by the 91 songer specialized the riders who are absolutely on a mission to close this gap right to uh martin stozek and andrea sivolt and uh the first time we see drake pirelli contributing they've got a lot to gain from this from this gap putting time into the bulls and uh it looks like 91 songs specialized are not getting much help from the bulls team this is the ideal break if you like for for the front of the race both these are chasing advantage over different teams so they uh they really are working uh terrifically here starsec hands over to servalt trick for really in the mix as well so look behind them while there's dust and uh they'll notice that there's a cloud of dust not too far behind them and that's the chase group which is uh down below now led by matt beers so he's finding some comfort in his uh at this point of the stage the flatter part where he can really let those let his engine do the work he has so much power in the flats and they don't want to let can the north wave get too too big up again that's for sure yeah the cloud of dust will be their marker they'll know they're close they won't they'll be aware that they've been keeping a good pace and there we see the decisive moment where the bulls are actually going to give the lending they're going to lend a hand and earth hubert absolutely powering away at the front this will be a decisive moment in the gap being closed and they get do get some help from the bulls where super a very powerful rider having won the race before in 2016. [Music] this will put some time back into the canyon northwave team and trek really up the road a drag race towards the finish of this uh stage three it's riveting stuff as the general classification is one of those factors here of course the stage win is another but it's not just the overall at the top of the general classification it's trick for really trying to claw their way back into contention it's bulls trying to defend their position it's canyon north wave trying to make up ground on the yellow jerseys it's all to play for here fantastic racing storsek raven steiner and then it's uh sue vault and poro who has uh observed by stefan some hanging on for all he's worth at the end yet ferocious base through these farmers flat and fast it is looks like they're the ones on e-bikes as well absolutely flying stefan i don't know if you can hear us [Applause] i think he can unfortunately get an idea what some speed these guys are going at right place has put in an enormous here for today his partner was strong on the climb and poro was in that group and he slowly clawed his way back into contention then dropped down like a stone down the uh that's right technical terrain big credit to poro he's saved the day for the trek for elite team it's always difficult for the slightly weaker rider he's not necessarily always the weaker rider in the partnership it might just be on the day of the legs and even the seasons form we do see uh ravensteiner he is wearing the national championships jersey at jersey that samyoporo will have competed for as well and uh credit to him for for the mental strength just to keep keep hanging keep hanging in there and you'll use every trick in the book to save as much energy as possible so if they do have a sprint finish if it is a sprint finish between these two teams everyone wants to win a stage and uh he will save something so that he has a little just a little bit extra because he knows exactly how much energy uh andreas stevold zevolt and martin stozak have been spending to get that gap back get to extend that gap back to 91 songs specialized it's one advantage of a team that's uh slightly down on gc trek earlier sixth on overall general classification and they know full well that uh canyon northwave will have their agenda cut out for them today and they'll take advantage of that fact that uh a canyon northwest will just put in a little bit of extra effort to keep that gap as wide as possible a week after winning the world championships which is the first weekend of october andrea several went to the rock to zoo which is a he won that second place fabian ravenstein so uh there's clearly these are two of the most informed riders at the moment on the marathon circuit oro of course uh recovering from a broken arm at swiss epic so he's getting back to his his uh full strength he was eighth at uh rock dessert so his men are at the peak of their powers at this stage of the year well he needs to be careful at the moment because uh obviously he's recovering from that uh from that that broken arm and he needs to make sure he doesn't go too far into the red he knows that if he does keep his uh his energy levels up and his morale up he will he will get we say get better during the race his uh he will decline less his form will will improve so uh looks really good for trek pirelli at the moment he was eights at the world champs borough finishing that course as we we've discussed earlier is it was tough is it for anyone but uh to be inside the top ten shows that yeah he's he's pretty much uh back the trek broly team are always a big factor at the race and especially deep into the race as we go into the final four stages from tomorrow we'll be past the more or less the halfway point and uh things get very ex will get very exciting towards the uh the latter half robinsteiner takes it on in front and uh poor or behind three k's to go so we're in for another enthralling finish here will the chase group catch them as they close in towards sarensburg and it's uh it's not like a a road race where the you know what the surface is going to do this is so unpredictable and going at the express speed they're going now you can it's high risk it is especially now at this point the fatigue is really starting to set in and sometimes it really can affect your focus a little bit of course these are really highs highly skilled riders with the experience of doing this and this feeling of being tired and still having to stay focused but it is a factor and we do see sometimes people crashing in weird places where you think what is going on and simply just you know the accumulation of fatigue and here we see at this corner it's a foot out and uh yeah yeah i mean and this is a course you know with a road race you know where you're going there's the road and uh whereas uh you you think you're going on this nice fast farm road and that the course hooks to the right into a single track just like this so um your momentum is stopped and you have to start all over again the same will happen with this group though you see there we go they go past one rider heads past one of the bulls riders i think heads past the the turn at this point everybody is going so fast and you really have to make sure that you you spot all the signs on the course i myself speaking from experience having had a furious fast finish and all of a sudden i missed a turn and it has consequences it really really has so it's going to be aha this group may well catch them or what we do know is that there'll be absolutely no leading up in the pace in both groups there'll be no flat section where everyone regroups takes a drink it's going to be full full full gas right the way to the finish and any rider caught by a mistake like that is going to be really suffering they're going to have to spend a lot of energy getting back and they use every trick in the book we saw from earlier scenes when there is a corner simon steve john was breaking super late into the corner and using that concertina effect to his full advantage and any rider caught with a cap will be using those similar tactics it is a tactic that's easier to employ when there is a big bunch but considering that the chasing bunch is only three teams that's two bulls teams and 91 sangha specialized doesn't give much opportunity for any rest or any opportunity to uh to catch up if there are any gaps developing in that group stefan has communicated through producer i think 37 kilometers an hour and uh that is just uh phenomenal speeds it's uh this group will have seen the lead group across the other side but perhaps there's a little bit of a a lull here know they're emptying the tanks but they've perhaps just gone too deep as well the uh trek pirelli team here looking to try and get themselves into position to take a stage win here that would be a byproduct i fancy of of their efforts today they'd love to have it but most importantly for them is a time made up on team bulls on the overall and of course here for canon northwave they'll take it to take any time they can get two minutes and 13 at the start of the day the race village is in the distance there you can see the white marquis so this lead group of four riders trek pirelli and canyon northwave are right into the last kilometer here there it is the race finish awaits them at sironsberg so another thrilling finish in prospect on a crucially hard day that was decided in some ways around that uh panties past climb where the canyon northwave team were able to put time into their rivals interesting to see that uh ravenstein has really been doing his fair share of the work in fact uh probably the lion's share of the work in stozek also having putting in some big efforts it's unclear to us right now who the stronger partner is out of the canyon north they look very well matched as we see andrea seabolt going to the front just making sure that he senses the pace is dropping just a little bit as as ravensteiner's efforts are fading having spent some time at the front and uh looks like they're gonna they know full well yes devops knows exactly he learned from the stage going from stage one in the sprint finish that the best tactic he can employ is to go out front that would leave it up to martin stozek to win the sprint all he has to do martin stozick just has to beat samuel poro in the sprint knowing how much samopura has been suffering he's been putting on the power yes and the stage wind looks like yes there we go there we go fantastic stage well deserved stage win for uh team canyon north wave absolutely brilliant riding by both these teams canyon north wave take their first stage win at the uh absolute epic as uh andrea seville the world marathon champion and martin storsek celebrate a master class today to take the win and uh in second place check pirelli and the charge for the third place on the podium the bulls will take that and the 91 song goes specialized simulated well to hang on to the bulls there and limit their losses to the stage winners and second on gc starsec uh what and way to finish the day for the canyon pair really really terrific effort up the climb that set it up for them and they've brought it home with a very clever piece of work by andreas several just going out early and stosic holding up the other two and a great recovery from the buff squad mtv pair whose premiere team had a broken chain today but uh vigara and ruiz managing to hang on and come home and that is the effort that has been made by the riders here jordan soru absolutely emptied that's the first time that we see him under such pressure he's been looking so in control and so composed just shows how tough today's stage was everybody looks looks absolutely broken i hope people will recover for tomorrow jordan zaru really looks like he's he's broken too absolutely empty thrilling stage for the fans out there obviously we've seen the the devastation of the riders but uh the fans have been treated to probably one of the most exciting stages we've seen at the absolute cave epic which was a threating stuff knowing what's at stake yellow jersey where is actually managing to hold on to that lead they did lose 28 seconds today to canyon northwave but uh they still have some time in the bank they will retain those jerseys any doubts about how tough this event is there's the 2020 cross-country world champion flatness back the marathon world champion this year flatness back these men have emptied their tanks and put on a show today that really is uh worthy of the standing of this uh perhaps okay that because the premier mountain bike stage race canyon northwave take the win by a couple of seconds from tech trick pirelli balls one insect in the third place at schnella and uh usuba and then it is simmers and his partner martin frye 30 seconds the 91 specialized team have lost on their general classification so they leave dips below two minutes quite significantly buff scott the mtv2 what a day for them because they've got so deep to pull back less than a minute behind canyon northway six teams under a minute between them on a brutally hard 91 kilometer stage with 2100 meters of timing this is high quality racing right drama let's hear from them there's fresh off the bikes liesel has got the riders down there in the interview zone just got them straight off the bikes as they're catching their breath guys tell me what happened out there we knew that that climb was going to be to your advantage when we spoke early this morning it was like our plan for the day worked completely fine we could control it in this long single trail section from the front take it easy because we don't know it and then in this steep climb where we attacked he was brutal hard i almost did not believe we can get the nice gap but then there there was the gap and through towards the finish i well luckily we had one team with us so we could work good together and push like really full gas and and hold it to the finish the team was quite close on the back of your heels or on your wheels should i say did that just give you that extra push that you needed to get through to the end yeah luckily the italians guys uh like work with us and help us in the in the in the fetish part before the before the finish yeah and in the end i was a bit confident that we can do it in the sprint because i know that andy has a good had a good legs today he almost like killed me in the in climb but yeah the gap was not that big after the climb because it was not too long and then we had to work hard in this single trails like not down not up just these like pedaling sections and when we came here we're just focusing for a finish and i'm super happy that we did our first stage win in the cape epic in our first start here well well done on your first stage and there we have it from the team from canyon northwave well done guys yeah exhausted right as there are martin stocheck on the left there and uh andrea seville talking to lisa for the best taste and there is confirmation of the general classification one minute and 43 the race is on midway through the 2021 absolute cape epic fascinating lesson four minutes down to uber the 2016 winner with uh schumann schneller then frye and steve john the second of the bulls team ravensteiner are making their way back into a contention here regarding ruiz enjoyed a fantastic day today and that they are now the leading buff scott team after the troubles of becking and diaz and colombo zanotti the bmc ktm pair 31 minutes set down at the moment let's go back down to liesel with team bulls team tell us about the stage today yeah it was a really hard stage and uh already uh really hot today um we expect that the canyon team would be uh attacking the last long and steam steep climb and so he comes and yeah there we just concentrate uh to ourselves and on the top we were together with the specialized team and that was um a good situation because we knew they would go full gas to the finish because they had to defend the yellow jersey and so it comes and i think in the end we could catch back a bit of time and uh yeah we are we're happy about today another stage on the podium and uh still certainly overall well congratulations and those single tracks brand new did you enjoy it out there they were really great we had a lot of fun today um also due to the hot conditions it was really funny and yeah i laughed i came epic well done guys really nice to see you guys on the podium again and good luck for tomorrow thank you the team balls as we go now to funties pass and the women's race three hours and 46 minutes into that and cena fry and laura stigger are up ahead but not a lot but ariane luty just stopped behind now losing about 10 meters or so behind stiga and fry as the car starts to take hold on the women's race this is where the men's race was determined and robin de cruet is some way off there is robin i'm surprised to see this it actually looks like rubbing to hold this is really suffering right now and ariane is trying to go with the two leading women um i'm not sure if robin can can catch up with this bigger gap and at some point ariane will need to slow down and make sure she's with her partner because she don't want to go into the downhill alone that's not a good situation to be in because then you have absolutely no control over where your partner is if she's having any mechanical issues or so on and so on so arya should look over her shoulder and make sure she brings the entire team to the top and and and you can see here the 91 sun goes specialized putting down the hammer really setting a nice pace up this climb slowly opening a gap and pulling away and we just saw cena letting laura go to the front letting laura set the pace here this is a serious situation for the seller's med team because robin really is struggling with this climb and ariane's some way ahead of her so they've got to manage this situation very carefully yeah she has to really make sure that she doesn't open up too big a gap on her partner it's it can be very demoralizing for robin de groot just to see her the partner pulling away and and sometimes it can make you go even slower feeling that your partner is is faster than you and and not waiting for you so dangerous situation you should be careful thank you enough peter the toy and philip face the abs african jersey leaders for parker eurostill and interesting that that is burkas of pakistan today or withdrew in the stage that's disappointing for the paige eurostiel team so they've had a withdrawal we did wonder was not quite on the sort of pace that we expected him to be on as a man who'd finished 20th of the world championships and have been in such a strong form earlier in the year so perhaps there were issues underlying issues for mates but nevertheless one team left and they are the ups african jersey leaders so base and biercus also took the dimension data hotspot on church street in tilbuk today candace lil and mariska strauss on to funties now they were 43 seconds back at the last time check so they've they've worked really hard they've had another day with incident with that early crash when they were involved in the crash that saw computer mania lose buckets of time and so they are managing that they were 43 seconds back so yeah they'll be looking to try and claw some time back on the salaries team that 43 second gap was just before the really steep section where you see them now and there was 43 seconds to the silas med team who were at that point together with team songwriter specialists we've seen robin the hurt drifting back seem to be suffering with the steep incline and so faces cst if they can keep a good rhythm and keep a and keep keep their their morale up they've got every chance that they could catch up with robin de cruet and of course aryan luty having to be obliged to drop back to her teammate she cannot let more than a two-minute gap develop between the two of them and that's the rules state that there is not allowed to be separated by more than two minutes and uh we're looking up to uh see if they can close that gap to robin the hurt with the all south african team that faces cst the the interesting question here is also if 91 sunko specialized is aware that they have forced salusmet to open up a gap between each other if they realize that they can use it to their advantage and even push the pace a little bit harder for a short period of time of course if they're capable to um because that will force aryan really to slow down right tactics unfolding up the mountain and funties pass meanwhile at the finish elisa is speaking to some of the riders who've just finished [Music] ready pre-record no you can leave [Music] well we just see insect science come across the line just ahead of the young riders from team type dev nano time and uh that's some great racing from tristan nokia and vessel i think just to hear them honey detroit and keegan bontikonen from insect science a nice inter south african rivalry there because they're racing for the apps african jersey of course and then a place on that podium is is is beckoning because now uh parker you're still out of the reckoning in terms of buckets and haynes so we can move up the standings let's go back to lease offs with my taste from team tiger euro steel how was today's route i only saw 45 days of it yeah which is unfortunate it would have been a really nice shoe today and also a lot of cool stuff still to come for the rest of the week but yeah i had to pull the plug off that i could see the lower back just seizes up and there's really no point in going if you can start feeling nerve damage taking place and uh yeah so we pulled the plug at around about a 45k mark and mentally to make that decision must have been a tough one to go through that because you're going through 45ks you're feeling it and you're trying to make that decision mentally and still concentrates on the kilometers in front of you yeah it's um you gotta you know weigh up your options and uh compare the the positives with the negatives and for us in this case um you know those that know me know that i absolutely hate not being able to do my best and i really hate giving up even more but yeah it's actually i have no other choice it's either that or you know i can make some damage that's going to take six months to repair so it's actually i don't want to say it's an easy decision to make but winners know when to quit as i say i love that saying winners know when to quit well done on doing the 45 kilometers and we look forward to seeing you again on the start line next year yeah for sure we'll have to fight another day you love to fight another day thanks cannot race anymore today or the remain of the absolute camp epic however here we are with the women's leaders on the asegai boss salandra the technical terrain and this could be fascinating watching them go down here yeah and now we can see they have created the gap that they most likely were aiming to gain in this section and they are out front alone we don't see aryan or team sellers met or any other team nearby so the interesting question will be how bigger gap will they be able to open up can they extend their lead today and on gc even more and also what's going on behind will team faces cst be able to catch up with selasmith or how is that going to play out going into the day with uh in the women's section 91 sanger specialized had seven minutes 32 on team salesman and team places cst 18 minutes back so all to play for adding extra time looks like team songwriter specialized are certainly the dominant team of the 2021 absolute epic they just seem to have just that little bit extra in fact quite a lot extra over team silas mid and the race is developing and uh team faces cst will look to perhaps with their 18 minute deficit they'll look to go one better a bit by bit to overtake silas made so they obviously be able to spot some weakness with team salus med they've seen that uh maria nutty was struggling yesterday and today is robin de crute and perhaps uh just uh looking to capitalize on that weakness and no doubt on that descent they will look to close that gap back to robin de cruz candice law and marissa strauss are cross-country races they are used to the knife edge super fast descents and uh robin the crew being a pure marathoner might not have might not want to take the risks that are necessary to hold off the team faces cst jordan that finish line collapsing had us all worried how are you feeling right now i'm feeling so exhausted now but it was a hard one uh yeah the climb the the the last climb was really hard in the in the heat and it was really steep but we managed to to take the gap not so not so bad but yeah 40 40 seconds so it's not too bad but yeah still uh some uh some stages to go but yeah we rather as we could and uh yeah happy about today and working with team bulls near the end there on that climb in the climb we were i i was in the front of the our group but after they they helped us at the on the flat to get to the finish line and uh yeah thanks to to us matt how are you feeling right now yeah that was hard the super hard stage i knew this would be a really really hard one just with the heat and then obviously i've ridden that climb so yeah it was actually after the climb that was even worse along the along the mountain but yeah we we hung on and we rode really well and we're only last 30 seconds so it's yeah brilliant ride from jordan and i think we've worked really well saw that teamwork going well there well done to both of you good luck tomorrow you just need to look at their faces to see how tough today was oh yeah oh my god i know this feeling way too well just looking at jordan's faces just like whenever he could he was just zoning out completely recovery really starts now uh as and as soon as you can get off your bike and start recovering your your whole system just goes into recovery mode and you just become a little bit like a zombie uh that's kind of how i often felt during these races as especially once we got towards the middle of the race in the middle of the week and to at the end of the the week you just feel like a zombie i mean you don't take in many impressions from what's going on around you just focus on the bare necessarities to getting ready for to ride right throughout the stage and then everything else and of course feed a lot during the days and after but other than that you just have some people walking around not really doing much and yeah it's a phenomenon that even the amateurs are talking about is that tunnel that tunnel effect uh as your world narrows into just the basics and uh almost living just day to day and hour to hour and um living from according to your schedule and uh in fact for many of the amateurs they they really enjoy that they enjoy the the fact that all of the noise disappears and they all they really have to concern themselves as the trail in front and um the daily routine afterwards of recovering and uh reached the get back to the office on the monday morning and having had a bit of a brain break from uh from the everyday life podium time in the men's race and uh it is going to be a new team on the top step of the podium yeah sleep eat ride recover where does that fit in that's true and the question from one of our viewers is like how important is massage after the stage and it is important it's nice to get the legs flushed to get some some blood flow going through the legs once you you finish the race but for me also mentally just to get that time yeah just relax so this is the podium presentation on uh what is a very very exhausting stage some very tired riders making their way up there winners of stage one step up onto the third step of the podium excellent showing by the swiss and the german and the italians fabin ravensteiner and samuel are coming into the picture second place today on stage and taking the win today a first time for the canyon northwave pair of andrea sivalt the marathon world champion and his partner from the czech republic martin stawsik the uh stage winners of the 2021 absolute epic stage three here at sorensburg momentum definitely in the favor of the canyon north wave team having been on the podium all week and uh there were third and then second yesterday and of course taking the win today so things are looking up for the uh the german and the uh czech republic rider absolutely they starting to find they suggested they're finding they're settling into the race they've now got the measure of what this is uh about of course they're not that inexperienced in any stretch of imagination as a matter of fact race or marathon races but this is their first time to the premier mountain bike stage race in the world and it is a different killer fish all together in yellow jerseys once again the race leaders matt beers and jordan sure that lead is cut down now from 2 minutes 13 to 1 minute and 43 seconds going into stage four so the racing is so well it was red hot today it is going to be absolutely firing off again for the rest of the week bulls are four minutes back yeah we're just under four minutes back in third place do not discount that pairing when it comes down to the overall win not with the experience and also the critical backup team that they've got in place they have got an a very rock solid insurance policy if one of them breaks a wheel if huber or chanela need some assistance they have it on hand with uh probably the uh the most uh present active mechanics possible and the other teams of course don't have quite as much of a luxury so if something does go wrong they are ready for action uh the squad from the balls highly developed and highly evolved uh backup team and also a uh an excellent logistics team too back for the women's race and well we last saw this pair it was sir luty who ariana luty was well ahead of robin de grace going up the fronties pass climb and now she's back with her and a little bit stalled by the tree fellas who are clearing the forest of pines and that they get past them and they continue on but they've been a little bit stalled by roman nuclear struggling on that climb in their pursuit of the overall leaders 91 songo specialized cena fry and laura stiga who went up that climb so skillfully and descended clearly very well as well and now we see here the teamwork is back obviously ariana is the stronger of the two of them today and it is her responsibility to make it make it as easy as possible for wrapping to get to the finish line nothing is ever easy in this race but if you can help your partner you should do that as much as you can eventually it will make you the fastest at the finish line and that's that's what matters so the dynamic between the these two riders they're clearly very well matched they were fifth and sixth marathon world championships uh two and a half weeks ago and it certainly switched today and uh interesting to know how that how that dynamic has changed and in terms of a team partnership it's not always like that often there is a dominant partner yeah and maybe they only realized on that really steep time in that moment that the the strength within the partnership today it could be that it was hard for robin to communicate to ariane that she was fading a little bit we all know that in the heat of racing communication can be super difficult especially if you have a chopper a helicopter chop over your head just shouting and can be more difficult to hear but it's good to see them back together and really it looks like aryan is taking on the role the responsibility of being the stronger in in the team anika you mentioned earlier um in the week the that's sometimes it's easier when there is always one dominant team member then the ritual and the the routine is is pretty much set um how much of a difference does it make when when teams are evenly matched like this team um yeah it means that it is much much more clear when one is struggling a little bit and you need to be much faster at changing your strategy immediately when you're out there and often you need to change the strategy at a point where one is really suffering meaning there are less clear brains to make that decision so it really does make a difference if if it's not always the same um i say ranking with of strength within the team this is the leaders cena fry and laura stigger who have been dominant throughout they won the prologue stage one and stage two and they're in prime position to make it uh a fourth win today what is remarkable is how close together these riders are they never seem to there never seems to be a gap between them literally almost like they're glued glued to each other or attached by rope is very rare that we see a gap between them so it's an excellent cohesion clearly having learnt that this is one of the most critical things in any kind of two-person team racing is that the cooperation between the two and the of course keeps morale up when the two riders are together and take certainly they look like they're pretty evenly matched in terms of physically they're taking turns at the front and it doesn't seem to be like there is any major pressure on the 91 songo specialized team yeah but i think the conclusions we can derive from that is that they are so evenly matched they've got different styles and yet they are perfectly matched they don't leave each other alone and perhaps they are riding very comfortably riding well within their their comfort zones it is they're really of course they're working super hard yeah but they are in a comfort a comfortable position where often you ride on instinct and the instinct they have is is still very good meaning they're they're feeling comfortable once you're really outside your comfortable comfort zone that's when you see that all sudden you start making bad decisions because your your instinct is under pressure all those little gaps started to start appearing and they're going up that switchback section the new trail we saw a little bit earlier in the men's race and again just uh in perfect uh harmony this is the section that matt bears was referring to which was uh for him perhaps the the bit that he struggled in the most and obviously there was the steep climb where the major split happened but uh he said that this section was particularly challenging for him sticker on the front and cena fry behind the austrian and the swiss rider both really had excellent years on the world cup circuit they've had busy years and they've brought that form and they've put their energy to the longest race of the year they'll have ridden and they are so far proving uh completely up to the challenge true they are very evenly matched i would guess that laura may be the a little bit just slightly weaker than cena and cena is maybe very aware of this and that's why she lets laura go to the front because no matter what cena will always be able to to match the the climbing speed of laura and laura being at the front has the opportunity to set the pace that makes her feel comfortable still so i would guess that is a little bit the tactic that we see going on here no rider behind them down that two switchbacks already and uh as they go up here i'll perhaps get an idea how big that that gap is we speak about the right the line of sight there is no line of sight from team sellers mid to 91 songs specialized not good for the morale so team status mid will look to hold off team faces cst and look to consolidate and focus on their own efforts and keep those efforts up and make sure that they can keep the damage control they're in damage control moment right now they'll drop over now after that climb and make it again the reference was making it look easy but it's definitely not easier by any stretch of the imagination but the way they are riding um it does look like that but yeah there they are so they're just starting and i i would guess that when team sellers met they entered the bottom of this climb they probably weren't able to to see cena and laura and just you can see so far ahead and not being able to see team in front of you is really hard for the head so now it's all about ariana duty and dropping devote really pacing themselves in the best possible way all the way to the finish line and perhaps robin's having a a tough day today and that's that i mean there isn't i'm sure an event a stage like this where you don't have a day that's going to be worse than another and then you recover will she perhaps have an opportunity to recover a little and maybe she finds a bit more legs in the last eight to nine kilometers yeah it can be it can be especially if they are now settling for a pace where robin feels a little bit more comfortable maybe that would give her a few opportunities to just regain some of her energy and by now they know they don't have much climbing left maybe only this little stretch and then from there on it's actually flat or downhill so she can look forward to that and then she knows the finish line is within reach but it looks like the gap between team number one and two is opening up it's definitely grown since we saw them last time and i'm not sure if cena and laura are aware of that but if they were able to look back on the top of the climb in the the open fields they could see okay we see no other teams we are actually on our own and that will give them a huge motivation boost it took them maybe two minutes to get up there they'll think well there's no one there so we must have about two minutes which is about it's about two minutes and ten to twenty twenty so very very comfortable situation for this pair uh laura stigger and cena fry it's always a sign when you see the the leading team or any chasing team looking back at there is a consciousness of the rider uh concern in fact about uh what's going on behind them and uh i have to admit i haven't seen uh cena fry or laura sticker looking back for too long no i agree with you yes full focus to thought yeah you either you you are either starting to fatigue and tire or you know the team behind you are catching you despite the fact that you're emptying the tank so they haven't had to do that at all no they could probably feel that team salesmen was fading on that climb and that was enough knowledge or insight for them to to know exactly okay this is our moment we just need to go and do our thing and we'll be fine look at these beautiful trails they're very remote and uh what's been saying they uh are pretty new these trails so if you'd like to if you're a rider wherever you are in the world you can come out and and ride out here but you can't just pitch up and ride these trails make contact with the local mountain bike trail clubs and they'll facilitate permissions where they meet might be required and purchase a permit and come and enjoy these trails because they are spectacular and you'll see more over the next few days and it's just a little uh taste of what the beautiful western cape has to offer in terms of mountain bike trails that's true the riders don't actually know the trails not always some riders with a little bit of knowledge local insight would know some of the trails but for example here when we had a close-up of cena's bike we could see there was a white sticker on her top tube and that is a that is crucial to have that so you on this this sticker would be a picture of the entire stage you would know exactly how long the stage is and you would know the the profile so you would know okay at this point of the course we would go into a climb or at this point we would go into a descent or at this point this is where the water point is and so if you if you're out there you start to feel thirsty and you you're worried okay when when will the border point current you can see oh it's actually only two more kilometers and that can ease your mind a little bit so it's really good to have that sticker on your bike so you always have the the overview and you can plan your pacing and your nutrition and the efforts that are to come very important to the experience of these two it seems that their their their ability and their experience in the race is uh is at odds with their with their age and um and the number of uh absolute epics they have completed which of course is zero um but they are riding like absolute veterans of the of the event and uh just from their approach their demeanor and of course their firepower they are absolutely dominating the women's race so far instinct uh you talk about them and that uh clearly they have a racing instinct they've got a um camaraderie between them that is uh i don't know if they've raced every had before this have been written together um other than against each other in cross-country races and sometimes it just clicks and it really really does from what we're seeing on the bike which is our only the way we can stand is that it clicks but uh you've seen them off the bike in the camp yeah they they really get along well together kind of almost the same age and coming from the same region or not region but they're both from central central europe so they have a little bit the same mindset in many ways and having shared a similar history being really really good from a very young age and having to go through all the the eight categories being a junior being a u23 and now both of them are riding in the elite category and laura actually choosing to do so she on paper is still a you 23 writer but she feels like she she wants to do the unique categories she wants to raise up there with the best and she's very much capable i saw a little glance from from cena just quickly over her left shoulder she might have seen a few farmers and their buckies that they pick up trucks up the top because uh there's no team anywhere close to them no but you don't know until you really know so exactly just double checking here you have no idea when you're on especially on a remote ride like this there's no information out there there's no race radios there's no one feeding you information and reliable information so now they're heading down the flats and it'll be pretty much a drag race to the finish for cena fry and laura sticker keep it safe and sound as i say that little switch there from cena they've had no issues that we are aware of at all and they are going seemingly inexorably towards another stage when here remarkable performance beautiful trails and roads up high in the mountains uh above tilbuch which is the playground today for the stage three of the absolute epic stage four takes us from here towards wellington and not all the way to wellington as they pass through the hydration zone at kilometer 82 meaning they only have nine k's to go it is predominantly slightly downhill but they will have to push the pedals all the way there's a no three kilometer in in this race now we can we can see how they start shifting taking turns at the front now cena is going to the front which again leads me a little bit to believe that cena could be riding with a little bit more energy a little bit more power than laura even though they're really well and really equally matched just those tiny signs that okay now we get to the flat part now that the the the hard work has to be put in and she is giving some slipstream to her partner laura just allowing her to recover for a bit but we'll see them take turns at the front that's for sure yeah that's the dynamic of a team sharing the workload when each has the the dip that inevitably happens in a in a stage race be it for a day or for a stage here they come ariane luty and robin de cruz sweeping down these uh switchbacks before they head to the hydration zone to go not just just under the local farmers people who live in these parts know their way up onto the mountain and they're able to go and get close to the action which is one of the great attractions of mountain bike racing so how many minutes do you think they are apart a few two two two minutes and 27 seconds the last time when we see them through the hydration 230 230 at that hydration point before the steep part of the climb uh we saw them at uh they were pretty much together team salus made and 91 songs specialized that gap of course stretched out hugely and uh the last time check we got was two minutes 30. but we're waiting for them to reach the 82 kilometer mark uh 91 songwriter specialists have already passed through the 82 kilometer mark and we were waiting for team salesman and team faces cst to go through that point just to see but that was quite a few minutes ago at least three minutes ago so let's see what what the time is at that point and we'll get a clear picture of just how dominant this pair really are on the stage and i think just from their body language looking at this team 91 song specialized in the picture right now and uh back if we look up to compare that to the body language of team salus meds aryan lieutenant robin decourt it's clear uh who which riders are enjoying or enjoying dominance in this particular stage and of course during the week every now and then we will see cena here at the front having a glance over her shoulder and she's actually not looking for competitors she's looking at laura making sure that whenever cena had to do a little bit of a acceleration out of a corner or something like that that laura is still on her wheel she don't want to open up tiny gaps all the time that would force laura to uh to accelerate because that's that's such a draining effort constantly having to close tiny tiny gaps to your partner and again they're underwear the lead but they are fairly comfortably ahead on the gc by seven and a half minutes at the start of the day but they know nothing else other than to go there's three minutes three minutes and five seconds so it has expanded out at that 81.5 kilometer time check of the dimension data time check uh so they're if they opening it up they are and we can see on their body language they're still feeling good they they they start to look like a cross-country race right now going for like every single meter candace little and mariska strauss the african uh jersey wearers from the face of cst are in third place probably another three minutes behind uh salusman as well but look at this it's as if the chasing team was a 10 seconds behind them yeah that's true it's a it's wonderful to see the enthusiasm that these two young women are approaching this race with a lot of younger more inexperienced riders for with stage racing would would maybe show up a little bit more defensive or conservative strategy but these two not they are going flat out full out um but also for the team that they're in the the sunko specialized team um for them this this race plays a big role in in in the team calendar in the whole year so they have been motivating with a lot of talk about this race with a lot of preparation and that's why you can see it all channels into how they're riding right now i've got a great history of success at this event across various categories and so uh yeah there's a it's a legacy to maintain here well i think the uh specialized team christoph souza was driving a lot of these initiatives and uh the bulls came out in 2007 with a hugely professional outfit the caravan they had a team manager and they had a full logistics plan they came later on with their uh in the late 2000s with their backup team and just kind of set the standard with uh with how the professionalism and special song are specialized as a team that really also has pushed the boundaries of preparation and logistics and making sure that teams if any team arrives as a rookie they have a massive head start against the other rookie teams with the the general the the collective knowledge from the from the trade team i remember the reports from one of the writers who rode with the first observer david george said that when he arrived in the caravan and he was cooked a meal and he received a he received a plate with uh with quinoa on it he'd never eaten quinoa before this is clearly christoph sausage's chosen choice of health food and uh very health conscious and iterating that eating healthy and recovering is the one of the most important thing of this and definitely transforming um the the backup team and the logistics teams of the race and uh how important that really is for for any rider whether they've written nine events or whether they've written none um good that uh that so much is taken care of where all they have to do is just focus on the athletic challenge and the tactical challenge well this is extraordinary these two cena fry and laura sticker absolutely emptying their tanks in getting to the finish here blasting away off the front of this race as they close in on sarensburg it's beautiful to watch there's enthusiasm there's energy there's a commitment to racing regardless of how big their lead is and what the race situation is we're going flat box here to get to the finish they are they're really racing on instinct here and it's beautiful to watch and they have no i they know they have a gap they have no idea how big it is and you can see they're trying to extend it with every fiber in their body because if they can go into tomorrow's stage with an even bigger gib get that means you know the pressure on your shoulders your shoulders just like sink a little bit more it goes off and it makes it really is a huge motivation boost and then really good for the self-confidence and for yeah for the for the rest of the the race and that whole match of anything can happen at any time will be sitting there and that's why you want to give yourself an insurance policy by building on that lead giving yourself as much time because yeah well they may well go through eight days without any issues at all but that would be a rare occurrence at some stage they will pick up a puncture or whatever it is and then they've they've got an insurance policy exactly and that's really what you want it eases your mind a lot and if the race were to finish right now we've got an idea of what the virtual general classification if the race were to finish immediately as we see it this pair would have an over ten and a half minute advantage on their nearest rivals which is a fantastic buffer to have um at the halfway point in the race we just had some reports from the time check we've just seen the data from the timing mat team faces cst the absolute african jersey leaders in the third spot overall and third spot on the day at five minutes 32 back so first riders to pass through were team 91 songer specialized second riders through that checkpoint at the 82 kilometer mark ariane luty and robin deforet and third team through their checkpoint at five minutes 32 team places cst ariane drilling it on the front here and robin not able to stay with her no ariane should have a quick glimpse over her shoulder because all the the work she's she's putting in right now i wouldn't see say that it's wasted but she's really not putting robin in a situation where robin can benefit from this now you see robin has to accelerate and i wonder if robin was trying to communicate to arya hey hey slow down slow down maybe the chopper made it impossible that is the case speaking from experience you cannot hear a thing it brings us a lot of nice pictures and but it also makes communication difficult sometimes and that's why if you're the stronger you need to look over your shoulder see where your partner is all the time she eventually looked over shoulder and as he's back to la robin with the idea not to be safe with robin you go on the front here and we'll get home yes now ariane has to really be careful that she manages her efforts well they want to go fast but she want to make sure that robin stays on her wheel all the time can he be as fast as your partner exactly and now you can see that she's really becoming aware of that like okay i need i we are in risk of of of me opening up gaps all the time and it's very very inefficient riding but i wonder if they they were surprised by the the difference in the strength between them today because yesterday we saw a picture that was a little bit the opposite so maybe they have to actually learn that now roles have changed a little bit and need to adapt to that as soon as possible swings and roundabouts in this event riders have good days and not so good days and goods phases in a stage and not so good so it's reading that uh of your partner and managing your efforts as best you can to match those of the partner exactly and it could be tomorrow we will see the opposite situation between aryan and robbie that robin will again feel good and be the strongest and that's a fascinating part about this race it can really change day by day and that's why communication planning beforehand debriefing is is so important because your race instinct develops throughout the race and it's important that you learn from everything that happens so your instinct gets better and better no such issues here with cena fry and laura sticker we just keep firing on all cylinders cena fry the rider on the front right now the swiss rider is the current world short track champion in fact it was uh on the world cup scene and you could say at the highest level this was her only victory and she certainly made it count was there any victory all season in that on the world cup scene and the direct contrast to today the absolute long format racing of mountain biking at the absolute at the gate days and today's stage of 91 kilometers showing her absolute versatility as a rider and a big future for her she is the current olympic silver medalist and uh back here to face the cst they were five minutes 32 down at that time check and uh they're looking to looking to consolidate they know they're going to be putting time on the fourth fourth place team which will be that is computer mania they know that computer mania have had a bad time of it um team fair tree are lying in fifth place overall at the start of at the start of the day and we did see land rover ladies team marie robbie and haley pre and heliperine having a seemingly having uh hurt her wrist really badly and suspecting a break and then seven spot sarah hill and vera lawso and over 54 54 minutes back so faces csd look really good for a podium overall when they reach the valdivi estate and today looking to consolidate that lead at five minutes down so they will just take it in turns at the front make sure they measure their efforts and we have candace candace little behind mariska strauss right now brisker rides in front just to avoiding some of the puddles there we go you can see them on the world cup scene this year they are very evenly matched pairing and seem to be showing great cohesion today and in fact during the week they've turned a really good partnership a really they've got good morale they know each other really well and in fact we haven't really ever seen this uh this pairing come together for the absolute cape epic we've always have many fans of two riders the two south africans have wanted this to be appearing it seemed like it made sense but conflicting trade teams and calendars and agendas haven't made it possible and finally we get to see how this plays out on the world stage another of those uh bridges we we ride over bridges and see them and uh we forget them very quickly but if it weren't for the bridges we wouldn't be riding because uh it gets us to transition across rivers across uh gates or whatever it might be gaps and uh those are all part of making these trails uh work and making them such uh enjoyable uh feast for these riders and there are 50 of those built around this course by deon wilkins and his team and some of the bridges are um our purpose built for the race and in fact when the all 50 of those are purposeful there are other bridges that haven't been yeah there are many river crossings as well and uh the crew that do the dress rehearsal of the route so this route is always pre-ridden before the actual race and the crew that uh that pre-ride the race often have to contend with far more extreme conditions uh trails that are disused you could say and crossing rivers and um and of course crossing all those farmlands having to navigate the fences and the rough trails so the riders you couldn't say they have an easy and easy time of it it's always harder when you're racing at the limit like these two currently they look like they they're not quite on the limit anika it looks like they're riding within themselves they've certainly shown no sign of their efforts over the last few days they were pinning it yesterday we could see them in the stage out in front and also in stage one when they were on their own for a very long time for almost half the stage and uh showing no leading up the fatigue of the last three days showing no sign of that no not at all and now they will be so close to the finish line that they start getting the signs at the side of the course counting down the kilometers and speaking from experience it really motivates you you want to get to the next sign like ticking off those kilometers and it's so motivating they probably only have a few kilometers left right now and they would know they can smell the finish line right now and that's why we see them going so hard that it looks like the start of a world cup race it's astonishing at the speed at which they're riding and and how contrasting they are they're seen as very busy on the bike and uh laura very still and but following her line immaculately just a couple of inches behind her back wheel there this is high class riding at high speed beautiful to watch here is uh ariane luty and robert de quit in second place on the stage in second place on gc but having a tough day here robin is having a a really hard day and ariane met key to her success is managing robin's day today shouty some of the most one of the most experienced riders in the race um she's marianne luty is hitting for her ninth abso cape epic and uh navigating her way through this end we have these yes they've done it they've managed to to say they've held off the the chase they've extended that lead and laura stigger and cena frye team 91 sangra specialized are going to make it pretty much a full house of victories they are indeed 91 songo specialized laura stiga on the front here and cena frye is just hugging her wheel and they'll head into the finish straight another remarkable immaculate performance from 91 songo specialized they are the stage winners loris against here to fly four out of four they have been absolutely brilliant what a ride held nothing back today at the tail end they made their move on the fronties climb and made it stick all the way to the finish and just increase their advantage over their chases brilliant brilliant racing and amazing to watch and you can see look it looks like they were so much in control but i can tell you they were working absolutely hard out there giving it everything and they'll be happy to see what kind of a gap they have been able to pull on the rest of the field when we're we just had a quick look at the weather for the weather currently in the toolbox it's 33 degrees we saw cedar fry getting as much water as possible and you need to think of the amateurs who will be uh coming into the race and uh looks like the temperatures will be right now before midday temperatures are predicted to climb into the 35 region it's going to really hurt up in the mountains there does that make the way but uh for this pair it's all over now it's about recovery and uh a few commitments before then and we'll be part of that as we will hear for them i'm very very short sure but a brilliant job by two high-class young races a lot of debriefing going on here it's not always possible to to really talk about every single detail out there while you're out there but it's important to get any misunderstandings and details or moments here with your partner because like i told it gives you that it strengthens your race instinct for the days ahead hurry ariane and robin also would have just passed a marker there that uh probably say one kilometer to go to the finish heads down focused and just getting the job done here it's been the last 10 12 k's have been really really tough for them yeah it really really has and now we can see the teamwork here really being perfected and they look much more in sync they will know that they they're just about to be there and they want to go as fast as possible as they can and it looks like robin has been able to recover a bit and now she can take a turn at the front so excellent teamwork here ariane having given robin the the needed rest so now she's back to full full form full swing not only they're chasing down the leaders but of course they will be aware that uh well they might be aware that their face is cst looking as though they're having pretty decent day and they're trying to close them down as well from behind so there are on the right hand side canvas and mariska so they'll take a right turn here on the cut grass and into the field and into the finish precinct of stage three of the 2021 absolutely dropping off the saddle one more time just to try and stay with the ariana who's fearsome today and uh they will make one last turn to take second place on the day and consolidate their position in second place however they would have lost more time to 91 song has specialized coming into the finish it's clear that robin to her just doesn't have the snap in her legs that actually we've seen over the last few days and luty will be going to be very cognizant of that around the last corner and come to the finish robin has to make the effort to close in with her partner and uh don't worry ariane will know exactly what robin's going through and we'll have a complete understanding uh for what uh the day is all about but they have finished team sellers made in second place today robin docurit and ariane luty of team sellers lost a bit of time to the overall and it just makes the task of winning this overall that's really difficult but uh [Music] great respect between the riders i think that uh having raced at the very sharp end of the field in the marathon uh in the marathon although this is the uh mike bransons our branch has been vessels in the grand masters railing across the finish line i'm not sure that they did win today's stage i think there may have been a grand master's team and i'm not sure but i fancy that uh bach booker and uh nigel kerber might have finished ahead of them in fact they did yes by five minutes five minutes yes later so that'll throw the cat amongst the pigeons in a very competitive ground masters meanwhile robin and ariane can begin their recovery and candace lille and mariska strauss powering towards the finish uh the third place team the ups african jersey leaders and the face of cst team let's go down to lisa at the finish ah we'll pick up a lisa shortly just gathering the riders around to have a chat but this is an opportunity to bring home the pair of candice lil and mariska strauss who looks like they made it may have made a little bit of a dent in the second place team's position as they charged towards the finish over the last few kilometers but again they've had incident today they lost a little bit of time to work hard to regain contact with the group after the early crash that saw the computer mania team lose huge time you know the full effect of that later on once you see them come in but this is a good ride by the two south africans the current cross-country champion candice lille and alongside her the former champion mariska strauss making up team faces cst as they finish third on stage three at the 2021 absolute cape epic and a cooling tile would be the most welcome thing around each of their necks with the degree temperatures around about 35 degrees at the finish well done young ladies have done a great job today to keep themselves on the podium and in the hunt you and they put themselves in a good position high fives all around absolutely let's go down to liesel now with our leading women's team congratulations making it 444 how are you feeling right now yeah it was super tough like the end but and we had a really good teamwork and it's amazing to win another stage and talking about teamwork how important was it out there during the climbs and down that single track yeah i couldn't imagine doing it without xena because today i suffered quite a lot especially at the steep uphill um cena yeah was really patient to to wait for me i would although she could maybe go faster and yeah i really have to thank her thank i'm really thankful to have her in my team and yeah it's amazing to yeah especially in the flat and changing and yeah take care of ourselves and that's great and do you realize how much of a lead you actually put on the teams were you actually expecting to put so much of a lead on to the the woman behind you yeah of course we was hoping like yeah like we was just hoping that it's like a little bit a bigger gap because we like the end was pretty fast and like we suffered a lot and it's um super nice to extend the lead well congratulations see you on the podium and on the start line tomorrow well done thank you well it has been uh outstanding from cena fry and uh laura's sticker they've extended that lead to over 11 minutes so a really top-class performance phenomenon tomorrow young mature riding for curo where philemon now heads up their mountain bike program and he was of course to throw with paige yura steele for many years a wonderful rider and a great character and uh making a difference in the sport wherever he goes which is uh really really fantastic the estonians have rolled across the line latvians wiggy parton rainlord and argo rotmetz have finished their race and finished their day out there one wonders how the estonian is gone peter pruss and emmanuel played way back in our coverage today we saw them with an exploded back wheel uh we wonder he said he was gonna walk to the to the tech zone and see if they could finish the stage as riders who ride inside the top 10. um it's easy to say that right there but whether they would have pursued that i'm not sure beautiful valdev is where we are that's where the grand finale will finish the village will be built here shortly it is absolutely stunning but let's go to uh saronsberg and hear from more of the riders it's 35 degrees at sarensberg i've got robyn and ariane with me how was it out there tough tough yeah and very hot yeah the woman's race is always quite tactical it's so nice that we have a separate start and um yeah no drafting is allowed between men and women it's really something i'm always trying to push organizers for um here we've got it since 2016 and it just makes this race so so exciting laura and cena obviously have a lot of road experience one can see it and you know the speed sometimes gets really really slow and it may look strange from the outside but that's tactical racing and they they're very smart riders i can see that and it's super nice to to race against them how do you plan to go out for attack and did it go as planned today well we just wanted to keep uh the pressure on i mean to to attack them really is very very hard we don't have those kind of high watts that they have but we constantly need to be there and um just before the long climb i suddenly got away a little bit there was an opportunity that could have led to something and they will come again and we just keep trying robin on that climb how are you feeling oh no i was not feeling very well i had a bit of a bad patch there actually a really bad patch and yeah i just had to keep moving forward i tried not to look too far ahead and just focused on me to barbito well well done and as we know in this uh it's day by day and we'll see you coming back stronger tomorrow good luck thank you thanks so much yeah it is uh as robin has suggested that she wasn't feeling good on that time and we could see she was uh taking strain there which made the rest of the the the stage that much more uh tricky ariane saying she tried an attack and perhaps there was the uh the first indication that maybe robin wasn't having her best day as uh we're watching the riders come in now this is the mix leaders sebastian and laura stark heading home we saw luck and morton and kenneth sakaya come through as well there they are lachlan morton seems to have his chain back on we saw him earlier in the race uh really early on in fact he'd lost his chain or at least it had broken and he was carrying it and he was just wheeling his bike along looking to get to the tech zone and uh educated team ef education first is well known around the world for their slightly alternative approach to um to racing they are um officially a world tour road team at lachlan morton and alex howes and some of the other riders have been expanding their horizons with different races they'll be doing some gravel races and lachlan morton was due to race with alex house uh last year in 2020 with the event being cancelled he definitely wanted to return and unfortunately with house pulling out took his place and excuse me caleb took his place and uh and as a worthy partner they're certainly uh broadening their horizons here at the absolute epic having not ridden in on these trails before it's uh it's a remarkable remarkable remarkable experience both of them and the australian and the and the kenyan are certainly enjoying themselves art at the absolute epic and the german couple behind them laura and sebastian stark the leaders in the virgin active mix category we'll come around the corner and laura says we'll look you know we're not often you get a chance to beat a world tour rider on the on the line we're going to do that but uh yeah they've done brilliantly here they mixed uh excellent day for the starks and kenneth go and get refreshed at the hydration station it'll get ready getting ready for the podium time the starks will be uh cleaning up and making sure their jerseys look and span for that podium sebastian yeah the wolves recovery zone is where the uh the riders head to to uh get uh their meals uh post ride and they're really well sorted after they're playing after outfits those meals lucky morton shortly let's go down to liesel she's busy talking to more riders lisa [Music] as mariska and candace get their nutrition in what happened out there another fall it's three for three four four four we can laugh about it but how are you feeling seriously um a little bit better than bruised but yeah luckily nothing major um and yeah it's racing it happened so glad we managed to to consolidate and get to the finish in one piece well you've done it in one piece how was that trying to catch up with the the ladies in the lead yeah not easy but um it's always better to just stay calm um not try and make too much of a big effort to chase we just chased back at a good pace um not to spend too much energy early on worked out fine now i'm seeing you guys fueling up how important is nutrition at after race as well as during the event super important it's you're not just feeling for today you're actually fueling for the rest of the week so it's important to to get that in asap while your body is still susceptible to all the nutrition factors and everything so now you really you really need to eat especially especially in the beginning of the stage right like this it's towards the end you kind of get so fed up with eating so you have to put back and race plan for tomorrow sure tomorrow is a bit of a shortened stage um from what it originally was so 74k so it'll be a bit of a relief but we race cross-country and we know that shorter races can actually be harder so yeah i think to just try and uh defend where we are but also take a chance if we see it an opportunity well good luck see you on the podium and see you on the start line tomorrow thank you so much candlestill and marissa strauss referring there of course to tomorrow's stage stage four which is originally scheduled to finish in wellington from uh here at saronsberg and going over bainsberg pass unfortunately bands have passed unfortunately he's going through uh rehabilitation a long term uh rehab of the the road and the the uh the walls and so on so it's been closed for all year and that no access for anyone up uh past now so the race will finish at slung hook at the houdini spa in slung hook this side if you like of the mountain pass of baines cliff and then the riders will be transferred across to to wellington so a day of 73 kilometers and 1650 meters of climbing tomorrow as opposed to a little longer and a little harder but uh we saw jenny mcdougall coming across the line the team fairtree as we reflect on stage three in the men's elite race uh here at the 2021 absa cape epic it was a day of 91 kilometers 2100 meters of climbing it was today so the major factor was that the big climb in the day would come at fronties pass inside the last 220 kilometers so it was about keeping stocks in the bank for that because that would take a severe toll we see a big group here at the front but uh the group certainly thinned out on the bone trail and the three gorges so there was a quite a big selection before they reached the fronties pass but uh that is normal for the absolute epic for for some for most of the riders trying to stay together as long as they can hang on for as long as they possibly can and we noticed that many of the riders with the predictions of the heat today um upwards of 35 degrees many of the riders choosing to ride with hydration packs and their bottles just to make sure that they have extra fluids or to have enough loose disaster for uh for the team yeah peter bruce and emmanuel plim the uh team encapsulation sphere encapsulation is having all sorts of problems and they don't come much worse than that a broken rear wheel and that was uh the end of their day whether their their hopes on the on the gc whether they are riding still we don't know but uh meanwhile the uh the race continued up ahead had gone paige euro steal of the african jersey leaders phillip base and peter de toy had bolted from the group very very early on intent first off i would think just as a little bonus to pick up the dimension data hotspot which was in the town of tilbuk and the church street uh dimension data hotspot a rarity in in the absolute epic but they picked it up in the boat exactly the sprint finish was an unusual feature normally the hotspots are situated at the top of the climbs and the breakaway from base and uh well for team parker you're still there not the designated first team the second um they're effectively the designated second team the backup team um but uh a crash unfortunately scuffed their chances of staying away and here we see them doing just some damage control doing uh just working out exactly what happens like uh when you arrive at a scene of an accident you have to do a vitals check and uh another vitals check for uh team buff scott having been placed really well on overall gc team buttscott or really it's a carbon copy of what happened to their team yesterday having to repair a broken chain yeah they uh really was a costly uh problem for them but scott did have a team in the league group though negara and ruiz were up there in this group that started to become the key group two bulls teams in their 91 song goes specialized somewhere poor and his partner fabian ravensteiner was in that group but further back down the field lachlan morton a vf education well he had lost his chain the broken chain and had to push his way to the tech zone and zagala here in the xaro and the mixed leaders laura and sebastian stark in the virgin act of mixed going through very comfortable they would have another impressive day in their category peace for the time being as they rolled through the valley floor after the bone trail and the three gorges section and re-gathering ahead of the key moment in the day the funties pass climb where the ride would explode team bulls on the front so no canyon northway were very prominent at the front there and 91 songs specialized another team bulls bmc ktm were in that group as well the chasers well target eurostill and team ubuku giant doing all they could to try and regain contact with that group they weren't able to do so but they didn't lack for effort in pushing hard to catch them and the team out front the seven seven leading teams we did see bmc ktm in that group they were on the back and uh we expected oh i certainly expected some good things from them up ahead of the 50's pass and just using the flat sections before the big climb of the day and a massive move from uh canyon north wave with uh following closely is uh ravensteiner in the uh marathon championship jersey the italian marathon championship jersey and uh team trek braley making some big taking some big risks on the downhill to catch up with canyon northwave the leading team and creating a gap back to the overall leaders 91 songwriter specialized that was the key for canyon northwaves to see if they could claw back some of the two minutes and 13 seconds deficit they had going into today's stage and they certainly did so on that climb albeit that uh that group which contained by now just the two bulls teams and at 91 songo specialized did make up some ground on the trail down to the bottom of the valley but the trek pirelli pair well fabian rabensteiner and the man who'd suffered most on that time that was his teammate samuel poro was able to close in and join ravensteiner and together as he comes down now really charging down taking the risks as said neil uh referred to and joining this group and this was the the race winning group uh that charged towards the finish different motivations here ravensteiner and poro looking to make up ground on the general classification after a disappointing start to the uh absolute cape epic they will look at the claw back time on perhaps uh the bull's second team and move into the top five and of course canyon northwave looking to close down the gap to the leaders because they were in second place over the other night close down to 91 songwriters specialized we see the ripples after the major climb of the day after funties pass and after the land rover technical terrain section just some uphill sections where the uh the chasing team 91 song goes specialized who were at the front trying to close that gap it was at almost 30 yes 30 seconds at this point and all the pressure on the leaders the general classification leaders to chase they could see them up ahead but the winding trails meant that sometimes they were out of sight and uh the uh canyon northwave team looking to get some cooperation from trek pirelli they won't get much uh they didn't get much help from from poro ora was struggling at the back but uh raven steiner did do his turn at the front certainly on form as as as denoted by his marathon championships jersey he is certainly at the moment shown today as the stronger rider of the trek pirelli pair and knowing that they have opportunity now to gain some time on the bulls and of course on 91 sangha specialized and even uh even look like they had a chance look like they're going to try for a stage when but not to be canyon north wave powered at the front and knowing that an ailing poirot at the back stage was definitely all for theirs to win yeah and servals went out early did the old tactic of uh making sure that they had one man and all that salsa got to do was stay ahead of one of these two men which he did in fact stayed ahead of both and so it was a first place to canyon northwest mtb and then trek pirelli the bulls uber and schneller bringing leading home their second string of steve john and frye and uh here come the race leaders 91 songo specialized and they'd lost just around half a minute the women's race started with an overall lead for the 91 song specialized pepsino fry and laura stiga of seven minutes and 32 seconds over saluzmat but faces cst 18 minutes further back as they rolled away from the beautiful sauronsburg tactics today of course revolved around the final climb of the day and up until then it was i think we've already heard a lot of tactical right racing and writing yeah and the the big question really was if some other team then team in 91 someone specialized would take initiative early on to try to to to go on an attack or something like that just to to really see if they could drain the the energy out of the team 91 and sango specialized but they just showed to be super complete riders they can do everything go short go long even sprint as we saw today also so it's not an easy task to have that team as rivals now key here i'd like morata on the front there number 50 is it 50 or 40 i can't quite see it and then 60 even yes there she is 16 in the blue cherry red quebec her partner and uh sharira ritika had a coming together that involved the mariska strauss and candace little as well and little and strauss were able to remount and head off to face the cst team twisted handlebars and a lost piece of equipment and it was just a disaster i'm afraid for the computer computer mania team as they weren't able to regain contact with this lead group so a slight disorientation with uh cherie rediker crashes off and uh breaks the rhythm and hopefully she didn't get a knock to the head and uh hopefully she'll get back on and um and continue for the rest of the week group stayed together pretty much all the way around the valley floor as uh they just bite at that time tina fry and laura sticker jenny stenner the swedish champion going along well with her partner in the fair tree combination amy mcdougall and uh this was teresa ralph of galileo infinity risk it had some grass caught up in her derailleur and then it was uh disaster i'm afraid for the land rover ladies haley preen the south african road race champion a bad fall and uh her partner marie robbie calling up the medics because she ascertained or she surmised that it may well be a broken wrist that she'd suffered up the climb and over the top and it was 91 somewhere specialized we haven't gone up to climb yet but they're all together now this group had broken away from the faces cst team we're giving chase the face of cst team did a good job to catch uh catch back onto that group um certainly putting in some big effort and uh riding behind them and catch a glimpse of them would be bart brenchan's team and uh sir we know that uh mariska strass does ride for park branches trade team and we would soon see the face of cst cst team catch the leaders on the road and uh they were not far behind in that dust just behind us luty there we go they just regained contact and immediately peter vessel and bob francis disappeared up the road no longer uh going to get involved in this because this was the key moments in the women's race definitely it is and we can see as soon as cst phases faces tft get back to the leading two teams they're happy to take initiative to keep the pace relatively high across the valley before we go into the final steep time of the day amy mcdougall and jenny stanahak just hovering a little further back but they would gain advantage today due to the very unfortunate situation with the computer mania team over the thirsty floating bridge reflections what a beautiful sight this is what a lovely uh build as well this uh floating bridge at uh stage three this is live lapierre vera lossa and sarah hilf flying over just ahead of thomas the attitude back isle of stowe was following the woman on the e-bike that's our specialized 91 song goes specialized through the bath plus water point and the tech zone and now only ponti's climb remained for these riders in terms of uh serious challenges and immediately because cedar fry and laura sigur went to the front yes and they're really pushing the pace hard we heard in the post race interviews that laura was suffering big time she did today she said but really appreciated the the companionship of her partner cena letting laura go to the front setting the pace up the climb really really important if one rider feels weaker you need to let that rider go to the front so the person can ride within his or her limits not only for the morale it's for everything super important well they were quite extraordinary once again the the young austro-swiss combination lara stiga on the front and cena fry behind her highly decorated as junior's under 23s and making great strides as elites at the moment shaking things up amongst the establishment of the cross-country circuit meanwhile behind them the experienced marathon racers ariane luty and robin defruit were just ticking it over it was clear that robin had taken a lot of strain on the fantasies climb and the key to their success and their day was how they managed the rest of the stage just 10 kilometers or so and ariana times did get a little bit ahead but uh robin uh alerted her and she would drop back in contact but there was no stopping this pair quite brilliant again yes here we move down the final descents you can see cena having a quick lover look over her shoulder you never really know until you actually know how how big the gap is and you always want to be as efficient as possible and you can see they from looking from the outside we're thinking oh you have a huge gap but when you're in the race you actually never know and it wasn't as close as that that was a highlight but in fact you say just uh the gap was quite large over two minutes by then this is uh candlestill and her partner mariska strauss but uh the way this pair turned on the afterburners on the wide open flat roads uh in pursuit of the stage when this is a this is one area where ariane went a little ahead of robin and then didn't realize she wasn't on her wheel meanwhile up ahead it was the stage win number four for this pair of uh 91 songo specialized cena fry and laura stigger taking their fourth stage in a row and consolidating their hold on the overall lead the orange jerseys are theirs and another second place finish for ariana luty and robin deforet in the women's race they lose time but still in second place on general classification behind them faces cst candlestill and mariska strauss they continue to hold the perhaps african jerseys but they again lost a little more time today on the overall standings and this is the podium presentation of smiling up robin and ariana uh it's all about consolidating looking at that uh doing those vital signs and getting back on the bike morale is still high it's really good to see your body does get sore from from the the impact and that's also where a massage afterwards can be really nice to just to get the blood going get flushed throughout those maybe a little bit swollen areas to get cena fry the stage winners for the fourth time here at the 2021 absolute cape epic force 91 songo specialized in all three teams having a reason to smile they've survived another day um with their uh their podium chances intact absolutely survived is uh it's critical today because it's been that sort of day we saw on those highlights uh what can and does happen yeah so yeah in fact as it plays basically the heat today will play a major factor with the uh certainly with the leaders and also with the amateurs as we see here cena fry 91 song specialized they've kept their lead and in fact extended it and now today was day four finished out of eight days as a rider this is a mentally important point in the race because now you start counting down the days instead of counting up the days and it makes all the difference you can you feel like you're getting closer and closer and it makes it easier to to manage the massive fatigue that you will be feeling at this point in the race candace just encouraging marissa to come and join her so she should to the face of cst team are the absolute african jersey leaders at the moment and uh well they are in good spirits aren't they seems to be a signature move with the wine bottle at the end all right let's go down to the finish of what is becoming increasing in baking yacht that uh sauronsburg let's go down to liesel [Music] our current xaro jersey holders currently 10 minute lead in gc how are you feeling oh we excited about we are leading and yeah and we try just to stay with them but we want to stay let they go but and to finish we want to attack them but we are glad we're still leading do you think 10 minutes is enough time no no 10 minutes is not enough but you can put more in but uh it's still still long and tell me about the thirsty floating bridge it was very very fast and fast and smooth and and my partner was struggling today last climb i see me struggling a lot but you can keep the chairs that's that's important you get to keep the jersey teamwork today and the bridge at the thirsty floating bridge i heard you guys laughing about something there what happened no my partner said oh a big crocodile then you say yo you see that big one you see and i said no man it's a plastic one scared but yeah you have to enjoy the bridge nice well done see you tomorrow see you tomorrow thank you thank you welcome all it's mauricio tellers from exile resources so we've been a development partner with the kp for the last 10 years where we've given opportunity to previously disadvantaged riders to actually participate and raise the professionals in the mountain biking space having to race for exaggerated we also have something that we can know that we are training for to also walk our way home feeling proud to be here you must really have qualified and uh and also just do your best because you know you deserve to be here marathon is my best best best way yeah there's no turning back i'm preparing for a client the main point was just to focus not to crash and yeah it's always the best experience ever to get to share the same field as you know the best riders in the world the race is on the guys are really hungry it's going to be exciting [Music] yeah zara academy very much an integral part of the uh absolute cape epic and indeed the mountain biking uh landscape here in south africa so it brings riders uh right forward and uh giving them an opportunity to race here this is the result of stage three then then the men's race andreas servalt and his partner martin storchek of canon northwest mtb winning the stage today 341.47 a phenomenal ride by them up the key climb of the day and they managed to find allies in trek barely over the last at nine kilometers or so eventually helped them to get a 19 second lead over uber and schneller frying steve john 22 seconds back and the overall race leaders jordan tsuru and matthew beers 91 songo specialized lost 30 seconds today so dynamic is changing slowly but surely in the men's gc making india so olay overcame issues today of a broken chain lost 8.29 so they worked hard to get that back very well done indeed peter detroit and phillip baser on the dimension data hotspot and then had a fall detour managed to hold it together to finish in ninth place just ahead of the another south african in fact three more south african teams juventus giants insect science and the type of nano time 10 11 and 12. all young riders uh key into race which is wonderful taiwan and gidi from fnb change of life winning the xiro stage today so things not going all the way of topogunya and larue general classification looks like this 143 the gap to sierra and going into stage four a transition stage as we move away from sarensburg uber and schneller 353 back still in the frame they're very definitely our frye and steve john and they could well play an important role if the bulls ought to have a position on the top step of this podium because the uh support of a second team is vital becky and diaz lost places they're in sixth place now with their teammates just behind them eighth overall three african teams in the top ten that's uh impressive riding by those three bmc ktm slowly trying to work their way back into the top ten after finishing second in the prologue in cape town and larue and tom and goodyear our 10 minute lead in the xiro category they are well clear in that but they know they'll have to keep it going if they want to win that category the women's race today won for the fourth day in a row by the 91 songo specialized pair of cena fry and laura stigger 4 34 33 343 ahead of ariana lutheran robin de cruet who the elastic snapped on the climb up funties pass and they leaked time from there on in and the fruit took a lot of strain over the latter stages of the stage lillian strauss overcame an early crash to finish in third place comfortably ahead of stinhard and mcdougall finish fourth today hill and lawson in fifth place and uh recovery adelaide morath and sharia sheree redeker lived to fight another day although they did lose over 35 minutes today for computer mania the race did lose the land rover ladies today sadly through an injury to haley preen but the six top six look like this brian sticker with 11 minutes and 15 seconds salil and strauss 24 19 stay knocking mcdougall knife to fourth place for arthur and redeker well their threat to their position fifth will come at a threat from the hill and loser for the rest of the week the live luck pier racing pair one hour and 11 minutes behind their overall leaders the brilliant cena fry and laura stigger in the amps african jerseys well seven minutes around uh that has been pretty much constant throughout the uh the race to toy and base hold on to that tristan nokia and vessel berta from time to hang on to second place but only just as marco uber and tristan de langa put pressure on them nokia is a teammate of fuji bear and de lango regularly but he's formed up this team with uh vessel buddha type it nano time for this event only so there's not much between those two there'll be a great rivalry going on there there it is just eight minutes in fact 11. delilah and the barely won yesterday's stage and gideon power won today's stage for the fb change of life academy so 22 minutes back they are but larue and tom and gunia will want to keep it going because pwc the general classification in the virgin act of mixed is led by laura and sebastian stark who put together another superb ride today they're 40 minutes clear of the swiss pair of micron schneider with the dementia data masters 39 minutes to gap now between muller and buckman and the leaders craig uriah and andrew divine age of her team restonic and the grand masters today's stage went the way of hunting kerber and marti bucha closed the gap to just a minute and four seconds to bart branch and san peter vessel that race is going to be so so good marnie heymans and carsten bressa nearly half an hour drift off the leaders tomorrow stage four this is what is in store for the riders it is a slightly shorter stage at 73 kilometers but four days in the legs yes but as a rider mentally it gives you a little bit of a of a break just knowing that you have less kilometers less altitude meters less time out there suffering and it's a nice refreshing break for the mind to really regain and focus and gain energy for the rest of the race the challenge is tomorrow neil well we're looking at blueberry hill where the selection could really happen and if it doesn't happen on the climb before it will certainly there'll be a major thinning out of the group on blueberry hill there is some single track shortly afterwards and uh before they reach slunk trails as a there's a sharp rise and then on slung hot shells they'll need to get in good position before that section it is single track and then one final kick up before the uh the downhill section slung hook and the remote finish right so who's going to win tomorrow well trick pirelli was looking good today having a shorter stage tomorrow could maybe suit them neil i predicted today that team bmc ktm would do well so i think i'm going to try and stick to that and if i stick to that all week i might eventually uh get it eventually get lucky okay and the women's were looking uh good for cena and laura again yeah unfortunately you have to say that on paper tomorrow stage is looking even better for them than today so we'll see right well who's it gonna be tomorrow well there's one place to find out that's right here thanks for joining us on our coverage of stage three thanks to neil thanks to anika thanks to stefan to thomas to isla out there and thanks to lisa on the finish line and thanks to you for joining us you know where we'll be tomorrow morning please be with us there promise all here cheers [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] strong like a tree [Music] you

Channel: Epic Series

Views: 275,072

Keywords: absa cape epic, cape epic, mountain bike, mountain biking, MTB, South Africa, bike race, stage race, uci, westerncape, extremesports

Id: GCgR43Gyy4U

Length: 237min 10sec (14230 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 20 2021