Strong lead for the MERIDA FACTORY RACING Team

Today's 3rd stage of the 2019 ABSA Cape Epic was a tough 107km long, and after three days of hard racing in everybody's legs already, some teams are starting to slow down.

However, the MERIDA FACTORY RACING Team showed another strong and well-executed performance. José Antonio Hermida and Joaquim 'Purito' Rodríguez managed to put some more daylight in-between them and the 2nd Masters team, now being over 48mins clear. They also managed to gain a few positions in the overall ranking, currently lying in 28th place. In today's stage, they even managed to get into the top 25 - a superb ride over this demanding stage.

'Today was a tough stage, but with a very positive result. We stayed with the other Masters till around 20km into the race but managed to up our tempo at this first big incline (the Nuweberg) putting a gap between our competitors and us. Throughout the remaining stage, we managed to increase this gap kilometre by kilometre, and we are super happy with how things are going. We are also super excited about our bike. The ONE-TWENTY performs flawlessly and really helps to soak up the bumps and give extra traction on the loose and often demanding terrain. We are more and more convinced that it was the right choice and we very much enjoying the ride', José Antonio Hermida comments after the stage.

Tomorrow's time trial might be shorter, but the fact that teams start individually, puts is a very different dynamic on the stage. With a solid lead in the Masters category, it should be a fairly easy stage for the MERIDA FACTORY RACING Team, but even on a shorter stage, things can go wrong, and a well-calculated effort is once again the order of the day. More racing news tomorrow!