Intro:

Friday's Stage 5 of the Cape Epic 2012 saw the riders start in Caledon, traverse the Kogelberg Nature Reserve and cross the finish line in Oak Valley, 119 kilometres away.

Script:

With 2350 metres of vertical climb, it's a fairly moderate stage for this event which sees 640 teams of two ride a gruelling 781kilometres off road through South Africa's picturesque Western Cape.

Over eight days they climb some 16,300 vertical metres, the equivalent of riding twice up Mount Everest.

The African conditions can be extremely diverse.

Usually hot and dry but Friday a torrential downpour made the route slippery, muddy and even more challenging, with the riders fully focused just to stay upright.

The Men's category of the stage was again won in a sprint finish by the unbeatable South African-Swiss duo of Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser (Team 36ONE-Songo-Specialized), in a time of five hours, six minutes and 45 seconds, for their fifth stage win in this year's event.

Just a second behind, the Bulls 2 team of Thomas Dietsch and Tim Boehme finished in second place.
In third place again were Hannes Genze and Andreas Kugler of Multivan Merida Biking in a time of 5:07.49

Alban Lakata and Robert Mennen of Topeak Ergon Racing finished fourth (5:07.54) with South Africa's 360Life team of Kevin Evans and David George in fifth place in 5:14.25.

Stander and Sauser (Team 36ONE-Songo-Specialized) remain in the lead in this category by 26 minutes and 32 seconds.

Genze and Kugler moved up one position to second place overall, with the Bulls 2 team of Thomas Dietsch and Tim Boehme in third place, one minutes and 35 seconds behind them.

Lakata and Mennen are now placed fourth overall, with Evans and George in fifth.