Thursday, 29th March 2007 at 5:43 pm

Christoph Sauser goes it alone

In 2006, the Absa Cape Epic looked almost too easy for Christoph Sauser, as he and Specialised team-mate Silvio Bundi destroyed the field and stormed home to an emphatic victory. One year on, and it’s a very different story… Riding with a new partner, Johan Palhuber, Sauser quickly realised that his chances of defending the title were negligible, his rookie team-mate simply not able to keep the necessary pace.

And so - after a public tete-a-tete on day three at the start - Sauser ditched Palhuber, who withdrew at the end of the third stage, allowing an exciting new partnership to emerge. David George is a well known road cyclist, with several Giro del Capo titles and a lot of international riding behind him, but this year’s Epic is his maiden mountain race, and expectations were modest.

But with Sauser in need of a new partner, George joined the Swiss World Champion, and together they’ve launched serious assaults on the leading riders each day since. They can’t officially win stages, but they’ve added an unexpected dimension to the race, and George has shown quite a flair for life in the mountains. Long term duo? No, probably not - but it’s been great fun watching them this week nonetheless.