Twist in the male field: Georg Egger and Lukas Baum (Speed Company Racing) win the final stage and overturn the final classification against the couple Canyon Nortwave! Seconds of stage Nino Schurter and Lars Forster (SCOTT-SRAM), on the last step of the podium Maxime Marotte and Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz).
Speed Company Racing's Georg Egger and Lukas Baum made history at the Absa Cape Epic by becoming the first team in the history of the event to overturn the standings on the final day.
Solo Nino Schurter and Lars Forster of SCOTT-SRAM and the Santa Cruz duo of Maxime Marotte and Keegan Swenson could go with them when they attacked at the start of the 68km stage. Muratie's sublime trail network was the site of the first detonation and would prove to be the one that mattered. At the 16km checkpoint, Egger and Baum had already gained 40 seconds over Seewald and Stošek, who were accompanied by reigning champion Matt Beers and his new partner (Toyota-NinetyOne-Specialized) Christopher Blevins.
The gap hovered around for less than a minute, but then slowly began to lengthen before falling into free fall as they reached the final climbs of the race in the Simonsberg Conservancy. Santa Cruz and SCOTT-SRAM kept pace with Speed Company Racing for much of the day. But on the last climb, Baum and Egger attacked the last one again, leaving Team Scott in place and winning stage and overall.
A disconsolate Canyon Northwave MTB fell nearly six minutes behind and held second place overall. Beers and Blevins retain their third place after one of the most fun, exciting and unpredictable weeks in Cape Epic history.
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WOMEN RACE
The American-Argentina team of Haley Batten and Sofia Gomez Villafane (NinetyOne-Songo-Specialized) is the winner of the Absa Cape Epic 2022 women's category. With perfect stage race tactics throughout the event, they finished with 12 minutes and half advantage over Faces Rola (Candice Lill and Mariske Strauss).
At the start of the NinetyOne-songo-Specialized stage and Faces Rola moved away from the other women's teams, even from the BMC MTB Racing which seemed to be planning to make a tough stage.
Gómez Villafane seemed to struggle in the first few climbs, but she and Batten pushed hard but nothing against their adversaries Lill and Strauss, certainly super motivated by the stage win.
Villafane said the morning started with Batten determined to win the stage. “Haley got inflamed this morning. She told me she wanted to aim for victory, but I said I probably wouldn't have legs. We kept up well with Candice and Mariske, but on that last climb I simply beat. I didn't have any more. But we knew that the absolute advantage was great, so we could just get to the finish line and enjoy the last few kilometers of what was a special week of mountain biking ”.
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Registrations for the Absa Cape Epic 2023 will open on March 28, 2022 at 15:00 GMT + 2 on cape-epic.com.
