The four-time winner of the Absa Cape Epic, Christoph Sauser, will start this year together with the racing bike pro, Frantisek Rabon, under the Meerendal-Songo-Specialized team. Sauser won the Cape Epic in 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2006 and can therefore bring a lot of experience to the race. This year's Absa Cape Epic takes place from March 23rd to 30th, 2014 and takes almost 1200 riders through untouched and challenging terrain.
Despite the new partner, Sauser is looking forward to his tenth participation. “I am really happy that I have found a very strong partner in Rabon. He has a great character and we get along well. In addition, he is just as motivated as me and eager to win the Absa Cape Epic! We are balanced, fast and experienced. We also have a very strong back-up team in Erik Kleinhans and Nico Bell. Also the Specialized material that we will start on is excellent.” Rabon, who has a lot of experience in street sports, is also enthusiastic about the joint work. “Christoph is a legend in mountain biking and we harmonize very well. We ride really well together and I think our chances of winning the Cape Epic are pretty good. Christoph has already won the race four times and recently I was able to prove that I can keep up with the best drivers. My shape is going up and I'll be in great shape by Cape Epic.”
Sauser and Rabon recently trained for two weeks in Stellenbosch / South Africa and prepared for the upcoming race as part of the Attakwas Extreme Mountain Bike Challenge. While Sauser finished the race in second, Rabon was fourth and had to swallow a lot of dust in the decisive sprint with Karl Platt. However, this should not happen much more often. In contrast to the street races, Frantisek will still have to swallow dust a few times, but it will be limited after all, we want to win." Sauser sarcastically comments on his teammate's fourth place finish.