Olympic champion Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann of SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing continued their march towards a first Absa Cape Epic title with another stage win at the 2017 event. Schurter and teammate Matthias Stirnemann were comfortable throughout Stage 6, winning ahead of South African Max Knox and his Colombian parter Hector Paez. In doing so, they opened up a lead of almost seven minutes in the overall standings ahead of second-placed Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavy.

"The plan was basically to stay with Sauser and Kulhavy the whole day and make sure they didn't get away from us," sais Schurter. "We thought they might make a move today, but after Christoph got a flat on the first major downhill, we were able to attack and get away. From there we just went like it was another cross-country race. For us, it's been eight days of cross-country riding."

"I don't know what happened today, but it was much less suffering than yesterday! It was a good day on the bike," said Stirnemann. "Every day I feel like I am getting stronger on the bike. I recovered well last night; that showed this morning when I could get my rhythm a lot quicker."

Nino Schurter: "Tomorrow's final stage will be a short, fast rolling course. But the Absa Cape Epic is a stage race, held in a rough terrain, so everything can happen anytime. The race is over, when we cross the finish line." 

The Absa Cape Epic turns out to be a perfect start into the 2017 XC season for SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing- Olympic champion Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann extended their lead again and continued their march towards a first overall title win. Check out the impressive riding on stage 6 around the infamous Groenlandberg with its rocky terrain and super steep climbs.

Stage 6 was labelled as the 2017 Absa Cape Epic's Queen Stage - the toughest of the seven stages. Riders set off from Oak Valley Wine Estate and were soon confronted with the major obstacle of the day, a daunting and lengthy climb up the Groenlandberg. When veterans of the Absa Cape Epic were asked about the toughest climb ever in the event, their response was unanimous: Groenlandberg. In 2017 the route returns to the rugged track which rises more than 600m along nine kilometres of rocky, sandy climbing – the average gradient is seven percent but one or two sections tilt up more than 20%. Technical trails across the back of the Groenlandberg and along the Kogelberg Nature Reserve were waiting for the 1350 Cape Epic riders.

Once again at this Cape Epic, the pace was set at the start by South Africans Philip Buys and Matthys Beukes. This time they were joined by Rohrbach and Geismayr.

It was on the way down from the Groenlandberg crest that Sauser and Kulhavy's race was effectively ended, with the former suffering a puncture. It allowed SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing to open their lengthy time gap.

By water point 2 the Centurion Vaude 2 pair had opened a 45 second gap between themselves and the chasing pack, but soon after they were caught by SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing and the SCOTT-SRAM Young Guns. Andri Frischknecht then punctured with Kansai Plascon and Centurion Vaude 2 dropping off the pace after water point 3. For the final 5km it was all Schurter and Stirnemann. They not only secured their second stage win, the Yellow Jersey now heads into the final stage with a 6.49 min lead.

In the Mixed category, Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds and Thomas Frischknecht won their seventh stage in a row and are now a massive 54 minutes ahead of Grant Usher and Amy Beth McDougall with Johan Labuschagne and Catherine Williamson 37 minutes further back. 

Photos: Jochen Haar, Michal Cerveny, Greg Beadle, Nick Muzik