Merida Bikes – Cape Epic Stage 5, Back On The attack
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Join Merida team mates José Antonio Hermida and Joaquim ‘Purito’ Rodríguez as they battle through Stage 5 of the Cape Epic
Stage racing is often a game of detailed planning, careful calculation but also of luck. So far, our dream team of José Antonio Hermida and Joaquim ‘Purito’ Rodríguez have had an amazing 2019 ABSA Cape Epic, riding a well-crafted event and really using their experience as well as their teamwork to dominate their category. What also has worked impressively well for them, is their super reliable equipment and their choice of going for the ONE-TWENTY has proven to be the perfect move.
With two more stages to go, everything looks like a solid win for the pair, but with 10 Cape Epics under his belt, in particular, former mountain bike world champion José Antonio Hermida only knows too well that the race is only over, when they cross the finish line on Sunday ahead of the competition.
‘Today was a tough day. It was really hot, and this stage certainly deserves the name “Queen’s stage”. We had a flat tyre at around 40km and perhaps slightly overdone it straight after in order to minimise the time loss. I certainly suffered a lot in the later part of the stage, but Purito rode an incredible stage, helping me a lot along the way. It was almost like his Tour de France performances of the past. We knew that this stage would be hard and we are glad that we could add another stage win to our overall. Hopefully, we still have something in the tank for the next two days’, José analyses today’s Queen stage.
