Knox and teammate narrowly miss place on the podium
After 691 kilometres, more than 15 000 metres of climbing, and eight days of relentless racing, South African marathon champion and local Sabie resident, Max Knox, who had paired up with Colombian racer Hector Paez on Team Kansai Plascon, slipped into fourth overall with a time of 26 hours 55 minutes and 39,02 seconds - missing a spot on the podium by 58 seconds.
Olympic champion Nino Schurter and partner Matthias Stirnemann claimed their maiden Absa Cape Epic crown.
They went into the final stage with a seven-minute gap over second-placed Christoph Sauser and Jarloslav Kulhavy.
The Knox and Paez duo have been in good shape all week, but have been troubled by bad luck at inopportune moments.
“The stage (stage 6 was labelled as the Queen Stage – the toughest of the seven) was tough, very tough. The pace was hard. I have to say, my partner Hector is incredibly strong. I was riding at the limit, pushing myself to go harder the whole time.
“I was dropping off and barely hanging in, but Hector just kept encouraging me, kept pulling me along. He’s incredible. I have been feeling off my game all week, but he has been immense,” said Knox.
Team NAD Pro’s Nico Bell and Gawie Combrinck crossed the finish line in the 2017 Cape Epic finale as second-place finishers in the Absa African Jersey category.
The duo once again just missed out on top-10 overall, but have improved on their overall placing since last year’s Epic from 12th to 11th.
“Thank you to each and every supporter, friend and fan for the cheers and best wishes over the past eight days of racing,” said the teammates.
Dalene van der Leek partnered with Fienie Bernard which saw them finishing ninth overall in the women’s category with a time of 35 hours and 22 minutes.
“The terrain was very tough. The drought made the route even more rocky and sandy. Stage one, two and three were extreme heat and stage five to seven felt like winter. I am very satisfied and relieved that we had no serious crashes or injuries over the eight days,” said Van der Leek.
Also read: Local mixed team take 2nd place
Master rider, Igna de Villiers and partner, Paul Theron of LGE Midas/Slender Wonder, had an epic eight days of racing, placing fifth in their category and 39th in the general classification out of 670 teams.
De Villiers is pleased with their overall time of 32 hours, seven minutes and 24 seconds.
“Each of the different stages were unique in their own way. For me, stage one was one of the toughest due to the extreme weather conditions. But overall we are very happy with our end result.”
