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Nino Schurter and Lars Forster dominate 2019 Cape Epic

  • Ron 

After 8 days of brutal stage racing, SCOTT-SRAM’s Lars Forster and Nino Schurter have won the overall of the legendary Cape Epic. On the last stage from South Africa’s trail mekka Stellenbosch to Val de Vie, the European Champion and the World Champion managed to get through the remaining 70km and 1800m of vertical ascent without any problems. Coming in in 14th today, Forster and Schurter simply kept an eye on securing the overall, staying close to their main rivals, team Cannondale with Marathon World Champion Henrique Avancini and Manuel Fumic. With more than 7min ahead of Avancini and Fumic in the GC, SCOTT-SRAM’s winner team finally proofed to be the dominant team over the past eight days, 630km and 16650m of climbing.

“This year’s Cape Epic once again prooved to be the most brutal race in the World. I’m super proud of my entire team including all staff members and the support crew- without their efforts night and day during that week, it would have not been possible for us to perform at our best and to finally win it”, Nino Schurter said in the finish area at the Val de Vie estate.”

Team manager Thomas Frischknecht: “This week was anything else than just only a walk into the park. I’m super stoked on how well the two Champions Lars Forster and Nino Schurter did this past week, bringing the overall home and finally win the Cape Epic. I’m extremely proud of the entire team. We struggled at the beginning of the race but thanks to a great effort of the entire crew we got over it, turned things upside down and could finally win the overall. We had moments where it didn’t look so good anymore for us. Only thanks to the relentless efforts of all people involved, a great team victory like winning the Cape Epic, is possible.”

Nino Schurter and Lars Forster of Stott Sram during stage 5 of the 2019 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race held from Oak Valley Estate in Elgin to the University of Stellenbosch Sports Fields in Stellenbosch, South Africa on the 22nd March 2019.
Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic

Nino Schurter: “Everything went according to plan today at the last stage. We initially wanted to fight for the stage win, but Lars today had to pay for his huge efforts during the week and suffered so we stayed with our back-up team and the Cannondale team in order to secure just the overall win. It was a great week, our entire team worked perfectly together throughout the week.

“I’m exhausted but really happy that I could secure my second Cape Epic title. Lars Forster was super strong this week, without him it would not have been realistic to go for the overall win. His strong efforts were crucial especially in the middle of the week when things looked not so good for us. We turned things around together with the help of our back-up team, Andri Frischknecht and Gert Heyns. Their great performance can’t be rated high enough, too.”

Lars Forster: “Today was again another tough day. I suffered and had to fight hard as I was really at my limit. I started strong at the first stages however I lost my energy towards the end. We had a fantastic week though, and we pinned it. The best moments I experienced were at the start at the prologue along with all its excitements, as well as our attack at stage 2 when we gained a huge gap over our rivals. Despite the mechanicals we faced, the entire week felt like we rode in a flow. I believe we truly earned this victory. It’s been amazing to experience the Cape Epic with all the nice scenery, its spectators, and of course the Western Capes’ trails.”

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