They had promised to fight until the last meter and they did not betray their promises. Simone Avondetto e Luke Braidot they tried until the end to overturn the Cape Epic 2025, but at the end of the last stage at Lourensford Wine Estate - shortened to 40 km and 1050 meters of altitude difference due to the poor conditions of the terrain – they have to settle for 2nd place in the overall standings, behind the timeless legend Nino Schurter and his companion Filippo Colombo.
Source: Wilier press release
The couple of Wilier-Vittoria MTB Factory Team, it should be remembered once again, was making its absolute debut in the iconic South African stage race, but this did not prevent them, at the end of 8 days of battles in the heat and mud, from being the most successful team of the Cape Epic. After the success in the prologue that allowed them to wear the yellow jersey for a day, Avondetto and Braidot in fact won Stage 3 and Stage 4, experiencing all the stages as absolute protagonists. In 7 days out of 8, moreover, they closed the stage on the podium.
“We started off at full speed, the race was very fast and we tried hard on the second climb. Unfortunately, however, I had no more legs and I had to give up a bit. This does not take anything away from the great week we had, it definitely went beyond our wildest expectations. A big thank you goes to all of Wilier-Vittoria and the staff who followed us – Luke Braidot
“Winning would have been better, but we are very happy with this week. So many battles and so many beautiful experiences, we will remember it for a long time. We came here with the goal of fighting for a few stages, and instead we won 3 and came close to winning the general classification. I would say that we cannot reproach ourselves for anything”. – Simone Avondetto
Not just Cape Epic today: in Switzerland, at the Tamaro Trophy, the first stage of the Swiss Bike Cup, Juri Zanotti, Sofie Heby Pedersen, Elian Paccagnella and Gustav Heby Pedersen also took to the track. In the Under 23 men's race, Elian Paccagnella achieved an excellent third place, while Gustav Heby Pedersen he was forced to retire due to a fall. Yuri Zanotti He stood out in the men's elite competition, finishing in ninth place, while Sofie Heby Pedersen She finished seventeenth in the women's elite event.
Now for them comes a few days of rest, before setting sail for XCO World Cup which will start in Brazil on the weekend of April 3-6.
LIVE STAGE 7 CAPE EPIC
STAGE 7 RANKING
| 1. | ORBEA Leatt Speed Company | Lukas BAUM | Georg EGGER | 1:33:22 |
| 2. | SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing | Nino SCHURTER | Philip Viero COLOMBO | +39 |
| 3. | Outride | Toyota | Songo | Matthew BEERS | Keegan SWENSON | +58 |
| 4. | MitoQ NZ Cycling Project | Craig OLIVER | Well OLIVER | + 1: 15 |
| 5. | Air conditioning Orbea 2 | Miguel MUÑOZ MORENO | Luis Francisco PEREZ MARTÍNEZ | + 1: 33 |
| 6. | WILIER-VICTORY | Luca BRAIDOT | Simone AVONDETTO | + 1: 38 |
| 7. | Orbea Air Conditioning | Samuel PORRO | Marc STUTZMANN | + 1: 42 |
| 8. | BH Coloma | David VALERO SERRANO | Tiago Jorge FERREIRA OLIVEIRA | + 2: 10 |
| 9. | MEGAMO BUFF 2 | José DIAS | Pablo RODRÍGUEZ GUEDE | + 2: 12 |
| 10 | ChemChamp A Funnel | Mark JOUBERT | Tristan NORTJE | + 2: 16 |
MEN'S GENERAL RANKING
| 1. | SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing | Nino SCHURTER | Philip Viero COLOMBO | 23:12:39 |
| 2. | WILIER-VICTORY | Luca BRAIDOT | Simone AVONDETTO | + 1: 31 |
| 3. | ChemChamp A Funnel | Mark JOUBERT | Tristan NORTJE | + 12: 58 |
| 4. | Orbea Air Conditioning | Samuel PORRO | Marc STUTZMANN | + 23: 13 |
| 5. | ORBEA Leatt Speed Company | Lukas BAUM | Georg EGGER | + 41: 55 |
| 6. | Torpado Kenda FSA 2 | Jakob DORIGONI | Joel DE COSMO | + 45: 51 |
| 7. | Air conditioning Orbea 2 | Miguel MUÑOZ MORENO | Luis Francisco PEREZ MARTÍNEZ | + 52: 07 |
| 8. | MitoQ NZ Cycling Project | Craig OLIVER | Well OLIVER | + 54: 30 |
| 9. | Toyota Specialized | John VAN ZYL | Travis STEDMAN | + 55: 24 |
| 10 | Honeycomb 226ers | Mark PRITZEN | Wessel BOTHA | + 56: 07 |
GENERAL FEMALE RANKING
| 1. | Toyota | Specialized | Annika LANGVAD | Sofia GOMEZ VILLAFANE | 29:03:10 |
| 2. | Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM | True LOOSER | Alexis SKARDA | + 21: 32 |
| 3. | TitanRacing SE Honeycomb | Bianca HAW | Hayley PREEN | + 38: 07 |
| 4. | CANNONDALE ISB SPORT | Monica YULIANA CALDERON MARTINEZ | Tessa KORTEKAAS | + 40: 06 |
| 5. | Torpado Kenda FSA WMN | Katazina SOSNA-PINELE | Claudia PERETTI | + 1: 01: 19 |
