Three stages are over and Jose has been feeling better day after day, working hard in some concrete moments and slowing down a little bit when the pace gets too demanding: “To come here and fight for the overall demands paying a very high price. You must be in shape from the first stage and give it all every day. If your goal is to fight for the World Cups, as it is my case, it is not a good idea to push that hard here”.

In the first stage, Jose did a great work for his teammates Genze and Kugler, that missed the front group in the first kms of the stage. “Today I had to work for my team mates to help them get to the front group. I had nothing left after 55kms and we still had half of the stage in front. However, we have not lost much time”.

In the second day, Jose was in the front group until Brentjens decided to smash the final attack: “We were riding at 45 km/h in flat areas full of sand. When Bart has increased the pace, that has become really painful. In just a km, 6 riders of that front group have exploded. Rudi and I have decided to slow down a bit and complete the final kms at a less demanding pace”, explains Hermida.

The third stage has become a bad day for Rudi van Houts: “Rudi was not feeling that good and in the km 15 we were already out of the group with the top guys. We have set our pace and we have not lost that much time. In what comes to my form, I feel better every day, After each stage I feel stronger and I am happy that my knee seems to be OK, regardless of how tough the Cape Epic is”.

Hermida is racing with his full suspensión model, the 96. “In such a rocky race, with so many kms and without knowing the circuit, a fully offers you that extra of comfort and safety”.