Kevin Evans (MTN-Energade) seems to be addicted to winning cycle races.

Evans and his Cape Epic-teammate, Alban Lakata (Austria), won the first two stages of the Sani2C mountain-bike stage race in KwaZulu-Natal.

This was Evans’s third victory in 15 days.  The preceding two victories were the SA Time-trial Championship and the SA Ultra-marathon Title.

This victory from Evans and Lakata must be a sound confidence booster with a view to the forthcoming Epic.

When Evans was asked how it came about that he and Alban Lakata decided to ride the Epic together, he said that he studied last year’s Marathon World Championship results.

“I started at the top and contacted Roel Paulissen from Belgium, the current world champion.  I invited him to ride the Epic with me, but he was not available. I then contacted Alban who finished 2nd and he was immediately keen to ride with me.

“Alban is at the moment one of the top marathon riders in the world. He had proven himself during last year’s World Championship by finishing 2nd.  The amazing aspect of his ride was that, although he experienced bad mechanical problems and lost about five minutes, he eventually finished only 51 seconds behind Paulissen.

“He had twice been the overall winner of the now defunct World Cup Marathon series and is currently the European marathon champion, as well as the Austrian champion. In last year’s Epic he finished 10th, when riding with Thomas Nicker.”

Brandon Stewart and Max Knox (DCM) finished 2nd and won the final stage over Evans and Lakata. Burry Stander and Ben-Melt Swanepoel (Specialized/MR Price) were 3rd. On the final stage Paul Cordes and Adrien Niyonshuti finished 2nd.

As expected, Yolandé Speedy and Mariska Strauss (MTN-Energade) were the women’s winners claiming all three stage victories on their way to the overall win.

Carla Rowley (BSG Biogen) and Renier Bellingham were the leaders in the category for mixed teams.