Matt Beers and Christopher Blevins (Toyota-NinetyOne-Specialized) won stage 4 of the Absa Cape Epic with a sprint finish.
With 5 km from the end Beers broke off his partner Blevins and found himself on the run together with Andreas Seewald of Canyon Nothwave MTB. Behind chasing, Lukas Baum and Georg Egger of Speed Company Racing and Martin Stošek and Christopher Blevins "alone" with the 2 teammates on the run.
Beers crossed the finish line ahead of Seewald, while Blevins gave the team victory by arriving at Andreas Seewald.
Beers added that he was slightly worried but had confidence in Blevins' sprinting abilities. “I suffered a bit at the start of the stage, but then Chris made a monstrous effort at the top of the climb and we managed to get to the front. From there we knew there were three teams to the finish. We just waited and made our move when the time was right ”.
Andreas Seewald, still in the yellow leader's jersey with partner Stošek for stage 5, said he and Beers had a discussion about the rules as they both raced to the finish. “Matt and I talked and we couldn't remember if we were allowed a minute or two away from our partners. It was a fun and scary ending at the same time! "
In the overall standings, Canyon Northwave MTB is still in the lead, with Speed Company Racing in second place. The fifth stage of the Absa Cape Epic takes the race from Elandskloof to Greyton to Stellenbosch. The route is 115km long and features the infamous Rusty Gate climb from the start and then the scenic but challenging Franschhoek Pass in the middle of the day.
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Robyn de Groot and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (BMC MTB Racing) ran a flawless race in the 4th stage in the women's category at Absa Cape Epic to win their third stage of the event.
De Groot admitted after the 82km stage that the plan was to have a self-imposed rest day, but Ferrand-Prévot's winning mentality kicked off about 40km into the day; immediately afterwards BMC MTB Racing found himself all alone in the lead of the race.
CM.com women's orange jersey wearers, Sofia Gómez Villafane and Haley Batten (NinetyOne-songo-Specialized), hit a slight snag with barbed wire entangled in a bicycle. This allowed De Groot and Ferrand-Prévot to break away on one of the first climbs.
"It was an unintended escape," said De Groot. “I had the Ferrand Prevot-Express in front of me, so I held on and made sure I didn't lose it. It was great to drive with Pauline because she is a super motivator. Today she really helped me! "
CM.com female leaders NinetyOne-songo-Specialized finished second on stage, with Private Client Holdings (Hayley Preen and Mari Rabie) finishing third. Faces Rola finished fourth.
Batten and Gomez Villafane will start the fifth stage of 115 km wearing the orange leader's jersey from Ciovita and with an 11-minute lead over second place for BMC MTB Racing in the overall standings.
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Watch the live broadcast of stage 5 from 07:30 on cape-epic.com.
