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Cape Town - Renaissance men Matthys Beukes and Philip Buys shrugged off a disastrous first five days to win The Queen Stage of the Cape Epic from Oak Valley Estate to Stellenbosch University.
The PYGA Euro Steel pair is the first South African team to stand on the top step of an Cape Epic stage podium since they performed the same feat way back in 2015.
Quite poetically they were racing for Scott Factory Racing back then. On Friday, Buys and Beukes finished just ahead of Scott-SRAM MTB-Racing, who rode their way back into the Yellow Jerseys and a 5:13 buffer on overnight GC leaders Cannondale Factory Racing.
With his wife and daughter at the finish, an emotional Beukes confirmed that this victory was indeed that much sweeter than Stage 4 in 2015.
"This is really special after quite a disappointing race so far," he said. "We came here with an overall podium as a goal, but it didn't quite work out."
According to Beukes, they took it easy on the Time Trial and decided to target a stage in the last three days.
"To do it on the Queen Stage is amazing," Beukes confirmed adding that it was by no means easy.
"To be honest I didn't feel that great today with dead legs from the start this morning."
"I had to dig so deep and it was just a mental thing to keep suffering and not give up and I'm really proud that we won that battle."
Indeed, the flagship stage lived up to its moniker and provided no shortage of action and drama. In the Men's race it started right from the gun at Oak Valley Estate, when Henrique Avancini of Cannondale Factory Racing went out hard. The usual suspects went with him including KROSS-SPUR (who claimed yet another Dimension Data Hotspot).
By the first water point at Eikenhof Dam (24-kilometres in), KROSS-SPUR had blown and Scott-SRAM MTB-Racing and Pyga Euro Steel were out in front. They duly controlled the race from there.
"The plan was to make it hard from the beginning and put the pressure on Cannondale," Nino Schurter said afterward, explaining how they got away early only for Lars Forster to puncture. "We lost some time, but managed well and then we had the perfect situation in the front with Pyga."
"They are racing for the (African) Red Jersey and we are racing for the Yellow," he said.
"It was nice to spend the day out with them," Phil Buys agreed. "The plan was to be in the front, but to be up there with the World Champ and the European Champ was great."
Downplaying the gravity of the occasion too was Trek Selle San Marco who took third on the day, further solidifying their spot on the GC podium.
"We had to stop at the tech zone and change a saddle," said Samuele Porro, explaining how they felt strong on the King's Climb and made back all their time there.
Overnight Yellow Jersey wearers Cannondale Factory Racing had a tough day out. Despite's Avancini's early surges the ever-popular pair took a few tumbles and resorted to a day of defence in order to limit their losses. Fumic had to dig particularly deep. They would eventually finish fourth on the Coetzenberg sports fields at Stellenbosch University.
Their crash was indicative of a day filled with spills as the fatigue toll started setting in across the field. Cannondale Factory Racing live to fight another day however, not so fortunate are Centurion Vaude. Jochen Kaess had a race-ending crash which saw him unable to continue.
Centurion Vaude's demise saw SpecializedFoundationNAD Alan Hatherly and Matthew Beers move up into fifth place on GC. They remain firmly in the African Men's Jersey after another solid performance. Saturday's penultimate stage is bound to be another brutal challenge with 2 650 metres of climbing over 89 kilometres.
2019 Stage 5 Men's Results
Stage Results
1. PYGA Euro Steel 7-1 Philip Buys (South Africa) 7-2 Matthys Beukes (South Africa) 04:19.29,5
2. Scott-SRAM MTB-Racing 4-1 Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 4-2 Lars Forster (Switzerland) 04:19.30,2 +0,7
3. Trek Selle San Marco 10-1 Damiano Ferraro (Italy) 10-2 Samuele Porro (Italy) 04:25.44,0 +6.14,5
Overall Results
1. Scott-SRAM MTB-Racing 4-1 Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 4-2 Lars Forster (Switzerland) 19:20.25,3
2. Cannondale Factory Racing 3-1 Manuel Fumic (Germany) 3-2 Henrique Avancini (Brazil) 19:25.38,9 +5.13,6
3. Trek Selle San Marco 10-1 Damiano Ferraro (Italy) 10-2 Samuele Porro (Italy) 19:35.16,0 +14.50,7
4. BULLS Heroes 6-1 Urs Huber (Switzerland) 6-2 Simon Stiebjahn (Germany) 19:41.54,9 +21.29,6
5. SpecializedFoundationNAD 13-1 Alan Hatherly (South Africa) 13-2 Matthew Beers (South Africa) 19:54.46,1 +34.20,8
6. BUFF SCOTT MTB 11-1 Francesc Guerra Carretero (Spain) 11-2 Enrique Morcillo Vergara (Spain) 19:57.36,2 +37.10,9
7. Canyon 5-1 Kristian Hynek (Czech Republic) 5-2 Petter Fagerhaug (Norway) 20:04.26,2 +44.00,9
8. BULLS Legends 2-1 Karl Platt (Germany) 2-2 Alban Lakata (Austria) 20:05.05,6 +44.40,3
9. 7C CBZ WILIER 25-1 Louis Meija (Colombia) 25-2 Johnny Cattaneo (Italy) 20:05.46,0 +45.20,7
10. 7C CBZ WILIER 2 32-1 Tony Longo (Italy) 32-2 Gregory Brenes (Costa Rica) 20:07.49,3 +47.24,0
