Gerry Hattrick

Stirnemann is ranked six in the world for cross country and Schurter said at the press conference yesterday that he sometimes "kicks my ass". But he also said they were on a fact-finding mission and would be back to try win it next year

Hincapie was bust before they imposed there rule and it does not apply retrospectively - if you were bust and sanctioned before Jan 1, 2013, you can ride once you ban is over. Anything after that and it is a lifetime ban

The riding in the area is some of the best on the country. Old style mountain biking - nice and rugged

Wow. I did the same race and had a vastly different experience: * riding through incredible terrain with some brilliant sections of singletrack - and there wasn't that much climbing either; * Hugely impressed by the water tables and the super friendly people manning them. I had ice blocks popped into my bottle by kids at two of the stops; * As-much-as-you-can-pile-on-a-large-plate buffet at Tapas, with different main course each day; * Dinner after the prologue too; * Wine tasting on Saturday night. As for the rest - Rotary ran the car service and the proceeds go to their causes so I didn't begrudge the R620 I spent on getting my car back to Knysna over the three days. I don't have any insights into the time taken to treat the injured woman, but asking the question without knowing the answer is not playing fair. Obviously it was the new owners' first time organising the event and some things could be slicker, but I though it was an amazing experience.My first comment after finishing was: "I'll definitely be back next year."

The other two that I hear the pros rate very highly are Markus Kaufmann and Jochen Kaess of Centurion Vaude. They were winning in 2014 after Stage 1 from the Bulls when one of them broke his frame. They then handed over wheels to eventual winners Hynek and Mennen when one of the Topeak Ergon guys got a bad flat. Kaess and Kaufmann haven't been able to race together since then because of injuries

This is going to be Alban Lakata's year - Hynek has relocated to SA with his family and they are going to be super strong. And Robyn and Sabine for the women's

I heard she is going to continue racing but has study commitments at the time of the Epic which will keep her away

Yes, she's racing with Namibia's Vera Adrian

There have been allegations that men's teams have effectively acted as support for women before, but I think this is the first time a women's team has come out and said they would be using a support team

Go Robyn. It's time we had a Saffer on the top step of the podium again

Here's what the Epic rules say: 28.3 Any person who is under provisional or final sanction by an Anti-Doping Organisation with jurisdiction under the WADA Code (a “person under sanction”) is prohibited from participating or being involved in the race, whether as a rider, team manager or official or in any other capacity whatsoever. Where any such sanction has been made final for an offence committed after 31 December 2012, such prohibition shall apply for the life of the person under sanction (irrespective of the duration of the sanction imposed by the relevant Anti-Doping Organisation). And what Kevin Vermaak said in 2012: “As of 1 January 2013, any athlete (professional or amateur) caught using performance enhancing substances, whether at another event or out of competition, will be banned for life from participating in the Absa Cape Epic. Not only will the person not be allowed to participate (as an amateur rider or UCI- licensed elite), but the individual will also be banned from being involved on any level including as a team manager. This is harsher than what is required currently by any federation, but is our considered opinion of what should be enforced even on a wider scale with regards to event participation of convicted dope cheats.” “We’ve chosen not to apply this retrospectively because we believe that would be naive. As has been exposed in recent months, cycling has a dark past. Many riders from this previous era have rediscovered the joy of cycling as mountain bikers and participate in the Absa Cape Epic as their expression of riding clean. Previous offenders, who have served their suspension term, may ride future Absa Cape Epics. We want to be part of the new era of cleaner cycling, and therefore only future offenders will receive the lifetime bans."

Have put in my order. Thanks

These look amazing: any in the shops yet?

Well done Erik Kleinhans and Matt Beers - great guys making a great team!

Go Erik and Matt

Go Erik and Matt

Fun times

Helly Hansen base layers are outstanding. They are a bit pricey, but I personally haven't come across anything that matches them, particularly when it is very cold or wet

Maybe the men who beat the leading women on the prologue should start in a batch before them, and so forth on the stages that follow?

That's nine days then?

MEN 1 Lakata/Hynek 2 Platt/Huber 3 Stiebjahn/Boehme WOMEN 1 Kleinhans/Langvad 2 Bigham/Morath 3 De Groot/Stenerhag

To be fair to Ariane, the Epic is her main focus of the year and she peaks for it: that's why she has won her category four times in a row and quite often hasn't seemed to be in great form beforehand. She is tactically shrewd has a 'diesel engine' (Annika's words last year) and is excellent over eight days of racing. Annika is a freak - super strong at any distance.

Ariane was flying at the songo.info race in Kayamandi on Wednesday evening. Sally Bigham and Adel Morath will be the best-placed challengers if Ariane and Annika are off their game

Surely this is a no-brainer? An event that takes months to organise is presumably warned by police with just three weeks to go that there might be further instability. The event has to chose to ignore that and be liable for anything that happens to riders/spectators/crew etc, or make the move. Of course it is disappointing for Table Mountain riders who have enjoyed the upgrades as a consequence of the Epic being there but surely the people you should be pointing your fingers at are the protesters? But do bear in mind that the issues they feel strongly about are poverty, hunger, housing ... not manicured singletrack

Can somebody help explain why everybody is banging on about SAIDS when it was the UCI that handled this case? As far as I understand the process, SAIDS did the test but the actual analysis was handled by an independent lab (at UFS) and then the UCI decided what steps to take against the athlete