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In terms of prestige, the infamous Cape Epic team stage race is considered the Tour de France for mountain biking. The difference between motorcycling in South Africa and walking to Paris? On the last day at Cape Epic we go full throttle.
Unfortunately for the Swiss duo Nino Schurter (36) and Andri Frischknecht (28). The Olympic champion and the son of cycling legend Thomas Frischknecht experience a debacle on the final day.
The Swiss start in the yellow leader’s jerseys. At the finish, Schurter/Frischknecht took only 3rd overall. The Scott team duo wore yellow on five of the eight race days – but at the end of the week-long ordeal over a total of 648km of race distance and 15,475m of elevation, the dream of triumph slipped away.
It would have been Schurter’s third Cape Epic win after 2017 and 2019.
Schurter has to push Frischknecht up the mountain
The ten-time cross-country world champion survives a fall by an antelope that hurtles past unscathed. But then especially Frischknecht must pay tribute to the incredible speed battle at the top. A video from the race organizers shows Schurter even pushing his teammate up with one hand behind his back during an uphill section.
The Swiss are falling behind and are gradually losing time. At the finish of stage 5, almost six minutes are missing from the top. In the foreground, however, is the duo with South African Matthew Beers (29) and American Christopher Blevins (25) writing their Cape Epic fairy tale. They had lost a lot of time in the first stage – but now the race to make up five stage wins ends with a really big win.
Schurter/Frischknecht are 4:11.5 minutes short of the overall victory. Bitter: The Swiss missed out on second place overall by just 22 seconds, which was taken by Germany’s Lukas Baum/Georg Egger.
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
