News bot Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 When Robyn de Groot and Jennie Stenerhag of Team Ascendis Health crossed the finish line first in a time of 5:22.18,4 on Stage 1 of the Absa Cape Epic, the most surprised people at Saronsberg Wine Estate were the two of them.Click here to view the article
Bub Marley Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Think this is confirmation of Ariane's poor form coming into the epic. Great stuff from Team Ascendis though. hayleyearth 1
Eldron Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 She looked a bit off in the Prologue. It would be interesting to know if Sasol are faster or SpurSpesh is slower... I'm going with - Ariane is a little sick and in a few days it'll be the Ariane and Annika show again... Bloukrans, Rick Sanchez and ChunkyMonkey 3
PhilipV Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 I'm going with - Ariane is a little sick and in a few days it'll be the Ariane and Annika show again... I tend to agree with you.Pure uninformed speculation: Could it be that Ariane is not training with Erik anymore and her form is down? I think she is going to bounce back, and then we will see sparks... Rick Sanchez and Marius 2
Eldron Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 I tend to agree with you.Pure uninformed speculation: Could it be that Ariane is not training with Erik anymore and her form is down? I think she is going to bounce back, and then we will see sparks... Something is up this year - she hasn't been the rider we have seen for the last few years.. Beaten by De Groot in Sabie and Suss and Stenerhag in Meerendal. Summin is up!
Dicky DQ Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Different start also plays a part. If you start a batch down you will always be going slower so in the past where you started had a huge impact. Now not so much as they tend to stay together for longer and then when the master come by things hot up. Gonna be fun to watch this develop. The Epic is long, very long at the pointy end.
MarcW Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Reports say that Ariane had a bent brake rotor after a crash, hence the sudden change in pace. Pure Savage and Marius 2
Gideondv Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Ariane is a beast. Team Ascendis can count there lucky stars that she crashed & bent a rotor. http://www.iamspecialized.com/news/absa-cape-epic-2016---day-1/ nathrix, Marius, Rick Sanchez and 1 other 4
UpShift_Cycles Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Jennie and Robyn are on a different level than last year, both taking wins over the last few months. The woman's race will be the race to watch. Bulls unless something dramatic happens Tech or Crash will be too far ahead by end of Thursday's stage
B20 Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Ariane is a beast. Team Ascendis can count there lucky stars that she crashed & bent a rotor. http://www.iamspecialized.com/news/absa-cape-epic-2016---day-1/ Agreed, Ari is a machine.Give the girl a break, don't speculated.Given that Ari has been beaten in a few races this year as well, by Robs and Jen. However, what is not public knowledge is that Ari had an accident not to long ago at Die Boord in Stellies, when a man opened his car door knocked her off her bike. She hurt her hip. Today there was hurt all over Ari's face coming through WP3. She had a limp at the finish. I have not spoken to her since the start of the Epic, but that injury could also play a part.Robs & Jen is on a different level than last year! They even drilled Ester and Sally's teams. The starting sequence for the ladies have also changed, which make for closer racing.At WP 1, Ascendis trailed by 1.30sec. At WP 3, they trailed 4.08sec.Robs and Jen pulled it back in a strong tail wind to take the win. Bat, Dan Dob and Pure Savage 3
NotSoBigBen Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Is this race not still another 6 days? I can understand that one does not want to lose too much time but there's lots of racing still ahead! Damn these ladies are not only fast but seriously tough [emoji1303] NelAndre, B20 and Baaisikilist 3
theHED Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit weird she didn't know her back brake was dragging?
Rick Sanchez Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit weird she didn't know her back brake was dragging? Very strange yes. Should have felt it or maybe even heard it. Happened to me before and I couldn't figure out why I was suffering so much up the climbs
B20 Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit weird she didn't know her back brake was dragging? Once I was taking pics just after a river crossing at the Attakwas, when Ari nearly rode over my phone which was right next to my leg. I was about 1.5m off the racing line. After the race I mentioned it to her, and she could not remember it.She did not even see me, let alone my phone.She zones out completely when racing.With regards to the dragging rotor, they had a +-50km hour tail wind back to the finish.So yes, if it dragged slightly, I can understand it.
B20 Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 (edited) I tend to agree with you.Pure uninformed speculation: Could it be that Ariane is not training with Erik anymore and her form is down? I think she is going to bounce back, and then we will see sparks... She very rarely trained with Eric.She mostly did her own training according to her coach's instructions. Edited March 14, 2016 by B20
Baaisikilist Posted March 14, 2016 Posted March 14, 2016 B20, do you perhaps have her phone number for me...?You're welcome to send it in a PM...
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