Diverge Podcast: Cape Epic Reflections & Die Groot Swem

In Episode 7 of Season 2 the Diverge Podcast is back to regular weekly programming after super micro daily pods from the Absa Cape Epic. And as you can expect we are looking back at the 21^st edition of the race, chatting about how Scott SRAM and Toyota Specialized secured their victories. Then we dive into the cold waters of Table Bay to discuss the 2025 Groot Swem, a 7.5 kilometre Robben Island crossing to raise funds for the StartWell Foundation’s bid to prevent childhood stunting.

Starting with the Cape Epic the race was the closest ever in the UCI Men’s category with just 92 seconds separating Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo, of Scott SRAM, from their Wilier-Vittoria rivals, Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto. In the UCI Women’s race Toyota Specialized victory was achieved at a canter, despite a dramatic crash for Annika Langvad on Stage 3. The great Dane and her Argentinian partner, Sofia Gomez Villafane won by 22:32 over Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda, of Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM. In both the men’s and women’s races all-South African teams secured the 3^rd podium position. Tristan Nortje and Marco Joubert won a stage en route to third and the red Absa African jerseys for Imbuko ChemChamp, while Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen had to dig deep to hold of Cannondale ISB Sport on the final stage to secure red for Titan Racing SE Honeycomb.

In the ocean, Seamus Allardice joined the StartWell Foundation’s Groot Swem on Monday, 24 March. This 20 swimmer strong group set out to cross from Robben Island to Big Bay and if you’ve ever wondered about undertaking a crossing then tune in for the story. Or read more about the experience on Diverge.info.