{"id":9002,"date":"2020-02-23T20:27:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T18:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/?p=9002"},"modified":"2020-02-23T20:27:38","modified_gmt":"2020-02-23T18:27:38","slug":"the-worlds-best-prepare-to-battle-for-the-2020-absa-cape-epic-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/the-worlds-best-prepare-to-battle-for-the-2020-absa-cape-epic-title\/","title":{"rendered":"The World\u2019s Best Prepare to Battle for the 2020 Absa Cape Epic Title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

World\nChampions, Continental and National Champions, and the reigning Olympic Gold\nMedalist. 8 previous winners, sharing a total of 19 titles between them. Those\nare the barest facts of the 2020 Absa Cape Epic\u2019s Men\u2019s category. Digging\ndeeper, there are 18 nationalities represented, from far afield as Colombia and\nNew Zealand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What every\nmountain biking fan wants to know, though, is\u2026 who could win the 17th edition\nof The Race That Measures All?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfive-star favourites are undoubtedly the defending champions, Nino Schurter and\nLars Forster. SCOTT-SRAM MTB-Racing was 2019\u2019s most dominant team, having\nbroken Cannondale Factory Racing\u2019s hopes of victory on the Queen Stage. Since\nSchurter\u2019s win last year, a young star in the form of Mathieu van der Poel is\ntaking the world by storm and threatening the Swiss Legend\u2019s mountain biking supremacy.\nExpect the reigning Olympic Champion to kick off the year firing as he looks to\nbuild towards defending the Gold he won in Rio. His partner, Forster, won his\nfirst World Cup race in 2019 and will be a year stronger and wiser in 2020. All\nsigns are thus ominous for Schurter and Forster\u2019s rivals.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019,\nSCOTT-SRAM MTB-Racing\u2019s primary rivals were Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini.\nThe Cannondale Factory Racing duo was the only team to manage to put Schurter\nand Forster on the back foot, last time out. To win the race that has eluded\nthem thus far, despite spending days in yellow on each of the last three\neditions, they will need other teams to help put pressure on SCOTT-SRAM\nMTB-Racing. That said, Fumic believes he is in better shape now than this time\nlast year and Avancini appears to be as powerful as ever. Who has the edge\nbetween Fumic and Forster could well be the deciding factor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any hopes of\nupsetting SCOTT-SRAM MTB-Racing could come down to the role played by\nTrek-Pirelli in the 2020 race. Samuele Porro and Damiano Ferraro, of\nTrek-Pirelli 1, were 3rd in 2019. While Fabian Rabensteiner and Michele\nCasagrande, of Trek-Pirelli 2, won the Swiss Epic \u2013 the Absa Cape Epic\u2019s sister\nevent in Switzerland\u2019s Graub\u00fcnden canton. If Fumic and Avancini are\nfour-point-five star favourites, the Italian quartet share four-star favourites\nstatus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As do Jaroslav Kulhav\u00fd and Howard Grotts. The Ninety One – Songo – Specialized team is back after Grotts missed their title defence in 2019. How the pair will perform remains open to debate, but it would be foolish to write any team with the Czech Express in it off. Especially as they will be supported by Christoph Sauser and Wessel Botha, as well as the exciting Ninety One Specialized Trinity team of Tom Pidcock and Florian Vogel. Pidcock starts the Absa Cape Epic off the back of second position, behind non-other than Schurter\u2019s nemesis Van Der Poel, in the Cyclocross World Championships in February. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Team BULLS also have too much Absa Cape Epic experience to be discounted. Urs Huber and Simon Stiebjahn head to the University of Cape Town off the back of a general classification victory at the four-day Tankwa Trek stage race. Perhaps more importantly for the squad as a whole, Martin Frey and Simon Schneller were invaluable to the BULLS Heroes\u2019 victory. The German outfit also has the sage wisdom of Karl Platt and Alban Lakata to call upon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two more\ndark horse teams, who could be in the mix for a podium position are the Wilier\n7C CBZ outfits. Johnny Cattaneo and Luis Meija represent the most likely top\ngeneral classification finishers from the squad. Wilier 7C CBZ 2\u2019s Ole Hem and\nMarco Rebagliati are unknown forces in Absa Cape Epic terms but have the\nsupport of the first team\u2019s experience to count on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MMR Factory\nRacing\u2019s David Valero Serrano and Nadir Colledani, along with Devonbosch Pro\u2019s\nFrans Claes and Soren Nissen are two more international teams to watch. As are\nthe SCOTT-SRAM MTB-Racing support team of Andri Frischknecht and Matthias\nStirnemann (SCOTT M\u00f6bel M\u00e4rki) and the Scott-Davos Klosters team of Severin\nDisch and Florian Chenaux. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Absa\nCape Epic once again boasts a strong Spanish contingent, with Alberto Losada\nand Roberto Bou Martin, of ProtourBCN\/Tbelles-BMC, having the honour of being\nthe highest-ranked riders from the Iberian Peninsula. They are joined in the\nMen\u2019s category by Orbea Factory\u2019s Ibon Zugasti and Gotzon Mart\u00edn. As well as by\nthe Orbea Factory Andbank team of Joaquim Rodriguez \u2013 yes, that Joaquim\nRodriguez, one of the 2019 Dimension Data Master\u2019s category champions \u2013 and\nOliver Aviles Gilabert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rui Nunes,\nof Eat Sleep Ride Repeat, and his fellow Portuguese partner Andre Filipe will\nbe looking to defend national honour in the battle of the Iberians. While\nThomas Steinthal and Gustav Frederik Dahl, of the Danish CPG Cyber Security\nInnovation team, have no Swedes to tussle with, they will have to settle for\nbroader European rivals; in the shape of CSU Scott ProCycling\u2019s Romanian duo,\nTudor Oprea and Logigan Lucian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EF Education\nFirst\u2019s Alexander Howes and Lachlan Morton could perhaps be the most eagerly\nfollowed team in the race. Though a top twenty position would surely represent\na decent return for the WorldTour road racers. ONYA Bike New Zealand\u2019s Tim Rush\nand Michael Vink would likewise also be happy with a similar general\nclassification place after 8 days of Untamed racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUFF Scott\nMTB is another name that fans will be excited to see on the start list.\nAlthough in 2020, the line-up looks different to that of past run-ins with the\nAbsa Cape Epic. BUFF Scott MTB 1 sees Enrique Morcillo Vergara, who finished\n6th in 2019 alongside Francesc Guerra Carretero, team up with Konny Looser;\nbetween the two riders, there are 8 Absa Cape Epic finishes. BUFF Scott MTB 2\nis represented by Miguel Mu\u00f1oz Moreno and Jose Maria Sanchez Ruiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few more\ninternational teams still hover over the final confirmation of their Absa Cape\nEpic participation. Some are top ten contenders and one contains a previous\nrace winner\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those\ndetails will be revealed in time. What is already known is the South African\nline-ups. The first local to be name-checked is Shaun-Nick Bester. The\nDarkHorse Wheels rider is not partnering with a fellow South African in 2020\nhowever, leaving him ineligible for the Absa African Men\u2019s jersey competition.\nHe has rather chosen to race with Canada\u2019s Alexandre Vialle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\ncompetition for the red jersey is sure to be fiercer than ever. The favourites\nfor the competition are the PYGA Euro Steel team of Philip Buys and Matthys\nBeukes. Beukes has effectively dominated the competition in the past and will\nbe targeting a top 5 overall, which historically would virtually guarantee him\nand Buys the Burry Stander Memorial Trophy. PYGA Euro Steel 1 will have the\nsupport of Phillimon Sebona and Pieter du Toit in their Absa Cape Epic bid.\nThey will, however, have to hold off NAD Pro MTB\u2019s Nico Bell and Matt Beers.\nAlong with the ever-improving Imbuko Giant pair of Marco Joubert and Nicol\nCarstens. DSV Pro Cycling\u2019s Gert Heyns and Arno du Toit should also not be\ndiscounted from the race for red. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Move\nSport\u2019s Jaco Venter and Jacques Janse van Rensburg have struggled slightly on\ntheir return to mountain biking thus far. The former Team Dimension Data riders\nhave been blighted by punctures in both the Attakwas Extreme and Tankwa Trek.\nPunctures are not insurmountable issues though and both have shown they have\nthe power to be in contention, as the general classification shakes up. They\nwill, however, have to outperform the aforementioned local teams, as well as\nAlan Gordon and Keagan Bontekoning, of Insect Science Pro, and the dormakaba\nteam of Michael Posthumus and Derrin Smith. Along with the last-minute\ncombination of Timothy Hammond and Matthew Stamatis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hammond and Stamatis will represent the race\u2019s official tracking partner, SPOT, as SPOT Africa. They serve as a reminder that every team in the race \u2013 from the overall leaders to the lanterne rouge \u2013 can all be tracked via the Absa Cape Epic website or the Epic Series App.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Absa Cape Epic <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World Champions, Continental and National Champions, and the reigning Olympic Gold Medalist. 8 previous winners, sharing a total of 19 titles between them. Those are the barest facts of the 2020 Absa Cape Epic\u2019s Men\u2019s category. Digging deeper, there are 18 nationalities represented, from far afield as Colombia and New Zealand. What every mountain biking… Read More »The World\u2019s Best Prepare to Battle for the 2020 Absa Cape Epic Title<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[59],"tags":[549],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparkbikereview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}