Christoph Sauser: End Of An Era

Despite a brilliant second place at the 2017 ABSA Cape Epic, five-time champion Christoph Sauser has decided to finally retire from competitive racing


Bicycling Staff |

Despite a brilliant second place at the 2017 ABSA Cape Epic, five-time champion Christoph Sauser has decided to finally retire from competitive racing

Christoph Sauser, a portrait. Photo by Shaun Roy/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.
Christoph Sauser, a portrait. Photo by Shaun Roy/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.

 

 

Following the conclusion of the 2017 Absa Cape Epic, in which Christoph Sauser raced to second position overall alongside Investec-songo-Specialized teammate Jaroslav Kulhavý, the great Swiss has decided to retire from competitive mountain bike racing. This year’s event was always intended as a once-off return.

Sadly there was no fairytale ending to the epilogue of Sauser’s elite racing career. He and Kulhavý battled courageously through a series of energy sapping and time losing mechanicals, fighting back to near parity on two of the three occasions.

“I think this year has shown that the dynamic of the Cape Epic has changed. Previously you could go slow and warm up in the first hour, but this year it has been full on for the first hour of the race. You needed to ride really hard as there was no let up. This week you had to stay up the front the whole time, there was just no slacking of pace. That can be tiring physically and emotionally. Going forward, I think we will see faster starts now and riders will have to change the way they train, focussing more on speed and cutting back on long hours as the race start gets closer,” Sauser predicted.

Seen here: Christoph Sauser leading Olympic and World XCO Champion Nino Schurter up the Haarkappers Roete climb during Stage 1 of the Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.
Seen here: Christoph Sauser leading Olympic and World XCO Champion Nino Schurter up the Haarkappers Roete climb during Stage 1 of the Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.

But the question on all mountain biking fans’ minds is the one of retirement. Was the 2017 Epic really Sauser’s last as a professional mountain biker? And if so will he be back to take on the likes of Cadel Evans and George Hincapie or Bart Brentjens and Abraao Azevedo in the Masters category?

“No” was the simple answer. “Maybe, I’ll ride it with a friend. But to do interval training to win the Masters category… I won’t do that.”

“No” was the simple answer. “Maybe, I’ll ride it with a friend. But to do interval training to win the Masters category… I won’t do that.”

Of the 14 Cape Epic’s Sauser has competed in 13, finished 12, won 5, finished outside of the podium on 4 occasions and occupied the second step 3 times. His rivalry with fellow 5 time winner Karl Platt provided much of the narrative for the last 10 years. But as Sauser himself said the Epic is evolving. The stages have not become significantly shorter, though the last two editions have not featured a stage over 120 kilometres, the race still passed the 100 kilometre mark on half   the scheduled stages of this year’s Absa Cape Epic.

Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavý came out trumps against the XCO stars of SCOTT-SRAM in a sprint finish to the shortened Stage 2. Photo by Shaun Roy/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.
Christoph Sauser and Jaroslav Kulhavý came out trumps against the XCO stars of SCOTT-SRAM in a sprint finish to the shortened Stage 2. Photo by Shaun Roy/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.

With Sauser’s beloved Stellenbosch hosting the opening round of the UCI Mountain Biking World Cup in 2018, the weekend before the  Cape Epic gets underway, all indications are that more cross-country stars will line up for next year’s race than ever before.

Sauser’s attention now shifts to the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and preparing the Specialized Racing stars for the opening round in Nové Město na Moravě, in Kulhavý’s homeland the Czech Republic, in May. Plus there is always work to be done raising funds for songo.info.

 

 

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