[AMAZING GRACE PLAYING ON BAGPIPES]
CHRISTINE GEGECKAS: It is Stage 2 at the ABSA Cape Epic,
and it's short after 4:45.
So it's almost 5 o'clock, and it's time to go into the camper
and start making breakfast for my riders.
PIETER WEHMEYER: What's up, boys?
Have a good sleep?
Had a good sleep.
CHRISTOPH SAUSER: Cold water wake-up call.
It's been raining all night.
It's pretty cold.
It's going to rain all day, so it's going to be wet.
It's going to a really tough state.
SAM BENEDICT: It is very wet outside.
It's squishy and sloggy, so we're
going to be checking our tire pressure-- probably running
it a little bit lower today on the fast tracks.
I think it started raining around midnight last night,
and I don't think it stopped.
We're at about 6:00 AM right now.
It is dumping rain.
FRANTISEK RABON: Oh, you know I always
try to take advantage of it.
You know, it's still warm.
It's not like cold, cold.
So I think I'll be fine.
If you watched the race yesterday,
then it looks like there goes the static, you know.
So I mean, yeah, stay up there if possible, mechanical free,
and then the legs are really good.
CHRISTINE GEGECKAS: From the third waterpoint,
our top team with Christoph and Franti
are 8 minutes down on the leading group.
PIETER WEHMEYER: What we've heard
is they're with the other two teams.
So that's always a good sign that everyone
can ride together.
They can keep on pushing for the last 20K.
So hopefully, they can make up some of that time.
ANNOUNCER 1: So the big question is
where is our defending champion-- Christoph
Sauser, Frantisek Rabon?
[ANNOUNCEMENT OF RACE PLACEMENT STATS]
FRANTISEK RABON: Crazy day again.
Everybody had problems today.
The weather conditions, they were so hard on the bike.
So I just ran out of the brake pads with 20 K's to go.
In some points, I didn't feel like a race.
It was just like survival camp.
CHRISTOPH SAUSER: The wheels hardly didn't turn anymore,
and we are tried to get it out.
It's like really, really bad.
And then we had to stop a few times and try to fix it.
But it's very hard to fix in these conditions,
so we just kept on riding.
The bikes just kept on dropping.
I felt like I'm losing the legs here-- just nothing.
BENNO WILLETT: Eight minutes down in the overall--
so it's not too bad.
There's five more days to go, so plenty of time,
and hopefully, the weather will change
and we get some nice riding.
SAM BENEDICT: Yeah, today it was supposed to be an easy day,
and the mud was demoralizing.
It's just like thick mud.
And the way they routed us out of here,
it was like through some farm roads.
And I'd say within three or four miles, my brake pads were gone.
On the course, today I was saying that tomorrow I
was going to watch the race.
But now I'm starting to think about actually riding it.
Once I get the four pounds of mud off me,
maybe we'll think about it a little bit more.
The days always start at seven, and since we're not
in the lead 50, but we like to think that we're fast,
we have to be into our chute at 6:30,
so we get a good starting position.
So 6:30 means that we're up at 4:45, getting over
to breakfast, and getting ready for the day.
It's an early start and a lot of riding, but it's worth it.
It's pretty freaking rad.
[THEME MUSIC]