The Scott fast train with Nino Schurter as the locomotive dominates the final stage from Elgin to Lourensford. After their attack, the two Scott teams remain together with the South Africans Matthys Beukes and Gert Heynes and the Schurter/Buys duo. The two South Africans take the win and are thus rewarded for their work. Nino Schurter and Philip Buys bring the Cape Epic to a successful close with second place. In the overall classification, the two are in fifth place and are dangerously close to the podium. From the second half of the week onwards, Schurter and Buys simply halved their gap. With a little more luck at the start of the stage race, the Swiss-South African duo could even have been in contention for overall victory.

This goes to the German-Czech Topeak-Ergon pairing of Robert Mennen and Kristian Hynek. A year ago, Mennen was knocked out of the race by a small antelope. This season didn't actually get off to the best of starts either. Mennen's team colleague Alban Lakata dropped out due to a ruptured tendon, whereupon Kristian Hynek stepped in. The Czech already showed at the stage race in Andalucia that he was ready for his first Cape Epic. The fact that he and Mennen were able to clinch overall victory right away was a minor sensation. On the final stage, the only thing left for the two of them to do was to finish without a puncture. Although they lose a few minutes in eighth place, they finish together with the overall runners-up Christoph Sauser and Frantisek Rabon. The gap between them remains at around ten minutes. Sauser is slightly disappointed not to be at the top after all the chasing. Rabon and he had to put up with too many punctures and defects during the seven days.

On the other hand, Team Bulls 2 has come even closer. With Team Torpado, with Belgian Roel Paulissen and Italian Riccardo Chiarini, breathing down their necks, Tim Böhme and Simon Stiebjahn are fighting for third place overall. Team Torpado took third place on the stage and made up two minutes on the German Bulls 2 team. But in the end the two remain two minutes behind Böhme and Stiebjahn, which is also a surprise success for the two Germans. The attack by Christoph Sauser and Frantisek Rabon (Meerendal Songo Specialized) on the yellow jersey failed to materialize. Rabon was no longer in shape on the climbs, Hynek and Mennen were confident and the gap of over ten minutes on the last 69 kilometers from Elgin to Lourensford could hardly be closed anyway. Nevertheless, as Robert Mennen admitted, he was trembling and had "never looked at the speedometer as often" as on this day. "Something can always happen." He was all the happier at the finish line.The BMC Mountain Bike Racing Team with Lukas Flückiger and Martin Fanger finished fourth on the stage. This leaves the two Swiss riders in seventh place overall. A good result, even if they had hoped for more. Three other Swiss teams also made it into the top 20 in the overall standings. Damian Perrin and Philipp Gerber finished the Cape Epic in 18th place and even came ninth on the fifth stage. Directly behind them, two amateurs, Simeon Niederer and Florian Bolt, finished in a respectable 19th place. Rick Reimann and his South African partner Timo Cooper finished in 20th place.

Swiss-Danish victory in the women's event
Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad don't take a gear out on the final stage. After the prologue and five stages, the Swiss-Danish duo also won the final stage and thus also the overall classification. Esther Süss and her British team partner Sally Bigham finish in second place and with some bad luck. The pair also take a stage win and lead the overall standings. Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) and Theresa Ralph (RSA) finish the South African prestigious race in third place overall. The Cape Epic comes to a conciliatory end for Milena Landtwing and her Dutch team partner Hielke Elferink. They snatched third place on the final stage after Landtwing often struggled with seat problems. Landtwing and Elferink finished fourth in the overall standings.

A pairing from Mauritius won the mixed team category. With the exception of the prologue, Yannik Lincoln and Aurelie Halbwachs were on the podium every day and won four of the seven stages. The two Swiss riders Sabrina Compassi and Paul Bühler finish the South African mountain bike adventure in eighth place overall. In the Grand Masters category, Cape Epic veteran Bärti Bucher and his South African team partner Doug Brown took second place overall.

www.cape-epic.com