There’s a sadness to Genadendal, the little mission town just outside Greyton, that sits awkwardly against the striking mountain backdrop.

The setting is beautiful, but the town itself is desperately poor, and the information setting rails against the evils of drinking, evidently a problem in a hamlet that’s home to South Africa’s first ever mission. Derelict houses lead up to the church, a clean, modest affair that’s a bastion of scrubbed, conservative hope in a place in desperate need of a smile.

And there were a few flickering smiles as locals ventured out to watch a blitz of noise and colour light up Genadendal for a few hours, stage three of the Absa Cape Epic tearing through en route to Greyton.

Genadendal’s more comatose than sleepy, making 1 200 cyclists and support crew impossible to miss; with one exception, the riders were cheered on by residents who didn’t have a clue who they were.

The exception was the man who provided the village with most of its smiles, even if he was a long way from wearing one himself.

“Waar is Breyton?” was the most asked question on Tuesday, and when Paulse did finally come round the corner and ease to a halt at the water point, the assembled locals erupted in toothless grins, even if their Springbok hero was looking very much the worse for wear.

Paulse’s been battling through the race admirably. He’s not a natural cyclist, and his legs have taken a fearful pounding, but with Linus van Onselen, a former Epic winner in the Masters category, as his partner, he’s got great support, and is getting slightly stronger with each day.

Marius Hurter is also still going, despite taking a wrong turn on Tuesday and adding 16 kilometres (and a sizeable climb) to his day, as are Braam van Straaten and Mike Bayly, so the JAG rugby quartet is on track to finish.

Not so, though, Mark Fish, who was hauled kicking and screaming off the race by medical staff.

The Big Fish was determined to carry on, despite a spectacular collection of blisters, but the doctors put their feet down, and with good reason — turns out they were third degree blisters, and had cut open, with one cut going right through to the bone. Given that he’d have had to stop at the Moravian Church in Genadendal, and that there’d have been an excellent chance of a lightning strike as a result, probably no bad thing he was pulled off before then…

Fish insists he’ll be back, and next time he’ll know just what the Epic demands of the body; as Burry Stander is showing, you only come back more determined.

A year ago, the 21-year-old South African shot into the lead in his maiden Epic alongside Swiss World Champion Christoph Sauser, only to suffer an IPT band injury that forced him out.

This year, looking fitter and stronger, he’s won every single stage so far, with Tuesday’s victory stretching the yellow jersey lead he and Sauser have. Anything can happen in this race (and frequently does), but unless they have a major accident, Stander and Sauser will be champions come Saturday in Lourensford.

For the rest of the field, simply finishing is the challenge; more riders will drop out, through injury, fatigue, or the simple realisation that riding this race is an act of madness, but for those who finish, the elation will be life-defining.

Sadly it’s not a commodity that can be bottled, for there’s a little town down the road from Greyton that could do with an injection to its flagging soul. At least Breyton sparked a couple of smiles; a fleeting glimpse of a cycling Springbok will be far more memorable to the Genadendal locals than it would in most places.
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