It's not over yet! Simone Avondetto and Luca Braidot seem not to feel the fatigue of an exhausting week and in the penultimate act of the Cape Epic 2025 they attack and reopen the games for the general classification. In the Lourensford Wine Estate fraction of 87 km and 2550 meters of altitude difference, the Wilier-Vittoria MTB Factory Team couple managed to put the leaders of the general classification in difficulty Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo.
Source: Wilier press release
The Italians' attack came on the most challenging climb of the day and, this time, the riders in the yellow jersey were unable to respond, conceding 1'20” at the end of the day to Avondetto and Braidot, who finished in 2nd place. The stage victory went to South Africans Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortje.
In the general classification, Schurter and Colombo are now only 32” apart, which is why tomorrow's final stage promises to be explosive.
There was gravelly mud, we were glued to the ground, everyone was struggling to move forward. Too bad Simone had a chain slip 500 meters from the finish, otherwise we could have recovered another 15-20 seconds. Today the Swiss had a difficult day, especially Colombo, let's hope they have it tomorrow too! If that happens, we'll have to take advantage of it – Luke Braidot
It was a very hard day for everyone, I noticed that everyone was a bit tired. When we saw that our opponents were suffering a bit on the climbs we raised the pace and managed to gain some time. Tomorrow is a bit shorter, but it will be all-in for everyone. We will have to suffer – Simone Avondetto
The appointment, therefore, is for the last stage tomorrow morning. Departure and arrival will always be at Lourensford Wine Estate, for 64 km and 2100 meters of altitude difference to be experienced with your heart in your throat, until the last breath.
ITALIANS IN THE RACE
The Italians continue to perform well with the surprising duo Dorigoni and De Cosmo in 5th place. Porro closes in 4th place. Waiting to understand Fabian Rabensteiner who arrived late in yesterday's stage due to a fall of his teammate Simon Stiebjahn.
HIGHLIGHTS STAGE 6 CAPE EPIC
STAGE 6 RANKING
| 1. | ChemChamp A Funnel | Mark JOUBERT | Tristan NORTJE | 3:49:37 |
| 2. | WILIER-VICTORY | Luca BRAIDOT | Simone AVONDETTO | + 14 |
| 3. | SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing | Nino SCHURTER | Philip Viero COLOMBO | + 1: 34 |
| 4. | Orbea Air Conditioning | Samuel PORRO | Marc STUTZMANN | + 3: 35 |
| 5. | Outride | Toyota | Songo | Matthew BEERS | Keegan SWENSON | + 4: 55 |
| 6. | MitoQ NZ Cycling Project | Craig OLIVER | Well OLIVER | + 5: 07 |
| 7. | Toyota Specialized | John VAN ZYL | Travis STEDMAN | + 6: 15 |
| 8. | BULLS Mavericks | Simon SCHNELLER | Axel ROUDIL-CORTINAT | + 7: 27 |
| 9. | CANNONDALE ISB SPORT MEN | Peeter Pruus | Richard CHIARINI | + 7: 44 |
| 10. | Torpado Kenda FSA 2 | Jakob DORIGONI | Joel DE COSMO | + 8: 07 |
GENERAL RANKING AFTER 6 STAGES
| 1. | SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing | Nino SCHURTER | Philip Viero COLOMBO | 21:38:38 |
| 2. | WILIER-VICTORY | Luca BRAIDOT | Simone AVONDETTO | + 32 |
| 3. | ChemChamp A Funnel | Mark JOUBERT | Tristan NORTJE | + 11: 21 |
| 4. | Orbea Air Conditioning | Samuel PORRO | Marc STUTZMANN | + 22: 10 |
| 5. | Torpado Kenda FSA 2 | Jakob DORIGONI | Joel DE COSMO | + 36: 33 |
| 6. | ORBEA Leatt Speed Company | Lukas BAUM | Georg EGGER | + 42: 34 |
| 7. | Honeycomb 226ers | Mark PRITZEN | Wessel BOTHA | + 50: 42 |
| 8. | Air conditioning Orbea 2 | Miguel MUÑOZ MORENO | Luis Francisco PEREZ MARTÍNEZ | + 51: 13 |
| 9. | Toyota Specialized | John VAN ZYL | Travis STEDMAN | + 53: 33 |
| 10. | MitoQ NZ Cycling Project | Craig OLIVER | Well OLIVER | + 53: 54 |
