Warm and blustery conditions at Lourensford Wine Estate set the tone for what promises to be a hot week of racing at the 20th edition of the Absa Cape Epic. The action started with the Prologue over 26km at the Meerendal Wine Estate in Durbanville.

SPECIAL JERSEYS

Exxaro Special Jersey

Fairtree DPworld Cannondale secured the top position with Kusaselihle Ngidi and Damon Terblanche finishing in 1 hour, 14 minutes, and 46 seconds. They will don the green jerseys in Tulbagh. The Coopetto followed closely behind, claiming second place with Halalisani Njabulo Ndebele and Siyanda Gumede crossing the finish line just 14 seconds later, clocking in at 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Absa African Men

Marco Joubert and Wessel Botha of Imbuko A finished the stage in fourth overall to storm into the red Absa African Special jersey. In the women’s race, Efficient Infiniti Insure’s Steph Wohlters and Danielle Strydom have a 2:24 buffer over Sarah Hill and Hayley Smith of #SheUntamed.

#SheUntamed’s Sarah Hill and Hayley Smith. Photo by Sam Clark/Cape Epic

CATEGORIES

Amateur Men

Lauris Purnins and Oskars Muiznieks Latvian Wannabe Pro Cycling took the stage in the Amateur Men’s category featuring riders aged 19-39 who are not UCI registered professionals. Purnins and Muiznieks will wear the white leader jerseys on Stage 1. They were followed by Team Alilililili (Simeon Niederer and Patric Tinner) some 2 minutes and 19 seconds back, with China MTB team (Kuanjie Feng and Jun Zhu) in third.

Amateur Women

In the amateur women’s category, team Ar&Co, composed of Paula Lopez and Alejandra Cristina Tattenbach Arias outclassed Krista Pūcīte and Beate Kovgere of Team RoadexEMU by 6 minutes and 15 seconds. The Young&Brave outfit of Tanja Schutte and Iliska Verwey-Schutte, also put up a strong performance, to cross the line in Lourensford in third.

NTT Masters Men

Bulls Masters team, represented by multiple Absa Cape Epic champ, Karl PLATT and Tomás Misser Vilaseca, claimed the top spot overall with an impressive time of 1 hour, 10 minutes, and 34 seconds. They were closely followed by Team CzechRocket & SwissDiesel, comprising Pavel Gonda and Tobias Lüthi, who secured the second position overall with a commendable time of 1 hour, 12 minutes, and 17 seconds, trailing the Bulls Masters by 1 minute and 43 seconds. The Absa Masters team, led by Craig Uria and Michael Posthumus crossed the line in third.

Mixed

Toyota Gazoo Racing, Riaan Weideman and Samantha Sanders took line honours with e-FORT Mix team, represented by Elrika Harmzen-Pretorius and Alexander Lawrance some 44 seconds back. The CBZ Asfaltos team, led by Alejandro Blanco and Kristel Espinoza rounded out the stage podium.

Masters Women

In the Masters Women category, Untamed Spirit, with Marisa Van Der Linde and Mari Du Toit, secured first place. Asterix&Cleopatra, represented by Nina Brenn and Barbara Schwarz, claimed second place. Taking the third spot is ILoveBoobies #FortyFour, led by Chantélle Bosch and Jozanne Louw.

Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic

Grand Masters Men

In the Grand Masters Men category, TMI Velopartz Racing clinched first place. Truls & Vidar secured second place. Garra secured the third spot.

Grand Masters Women

In the Grand Masters Women category, Toyota Memory Keepers emerged victorious. Rola Motor Group claimed second place and Absolutely SheUntamed rounded out the top three positions.

Great Grand Masters Men

Toshiba Namibia demonstrated exceptional performance, clinching the top spot. 64 CC secured second place. Ernesto Cycling secured the third position.

The Great Grand Masters, as with the yellow jersey wearers and xxx will need to contend with Stage 1 out of Saronsberg, here is what they are in for: Stage 1 of the Absa Cape Epic promises to be a classic marathon day, featuring challenging climbs that are bound to split up the field and separate contenders from those feeling the ill affects of their efforts in the heat at Lourensford. The heat will no doubt remain a theme however as it is forecast to push well up into the mid-thirties (Centigrade) on Monday. While the course seems favourable on paper for many teams, recent years have shown that the long first stage often provides big shake-ups. The final climb, Fanties Pass, is arguably the toughest single climb of this year’s race. Stay tuned to the live stream for fireworks!