The prologue got off to a thrilling start, with former winners Christopher Blevins (USA) and Matthew Beers (RSA) in the lead. Just over seven seconds behind them was the duo Frischknecht/Schurter, with last year's winners Georg Egger and Lukas Baum (both GER) also making a solid start to the race in third place.

In the women's race, two newcomers will take the top step of the podium: Former cross-country and cyclo-cross top rider Katerina Nash (CZE) and Sofia Villafane (ARG) also win by just seven seconds. Kim le Court from Mauritius and Vera Looser from Namibia rode to second place. Around 30 seconds behind are the South Africans Candice Lill and Amy Wakefield, who gave away important seconds due to a crash.

Stage 1

Despite a bloody incident, the South Africans turned the tables on the first stage. In the first half of the race, the three leading teams stayed together. Kim le Court and Vera Looser had to let the quartet go after about half the distance, while Villafane and Nash rode out a small lead over Lill and Wakefield. During this phase of the race, Wakefield is hit on the upper arm by a branch, which tears a deep gash in his upper arm. Even with treatment and unimpressed by the injury drama, the two rode on, caught up with Villafane and Nash at kilometer 70 and won the stage with a lead of over five minutes, which meant the overall lead.

The men's race was less brutal. The route with over 2500 meters of altitude difference offers a bit of everything, from steep singletrail climbs to very fast, rough downhill sections. The leading group stays together for almost the entire distance. Only in the final quarter, around 20 kilometers before the finish, does Georg Egger have to pay for the effort of the high pace with cramps and Beers and Blevins also fall far behind. The finale of the stage leads the riders over a gravel road and then onto a rapid descent on tar before a final singletrail section to the finish in Hermanus. Fabian Rabensteiner (ITA) and Wout Alleman (BEL) are first into the final trail and win the stage ahead of Schurter and Frischknecht, who take the yellow leader's jersey.

Stage 2

Christopher Blevins, who has recovered well from his stomach cramps in the first stage, keeps pushing the pace, as do last year's winners Egger/Baum, who continue to ride aggressively. But no one is able to pull away. The front runners set a high pace together in the "Belgian traffic circle" in order to maintain or increase the time gap to the chasers in the overall classification. But this costs Alleman and Rabensteiner the connection after 92 kilometers, at 100 kilometers Baum and Egger drop out of the day's decision. Beers/Blevins and Frischknecht/Schurter will decide between themselves. Brief attempts by ten-time world champion Schurter and his partner Frischknecht to break away on the last singletrail were unsuccessful. Before the finish line, Matt Beers then surged to the front and pulled Schurter along. When the fast-paced Blevins then also went full throttle, he shook off Frischknecht and so Beers and Blevins took the stage win after yesterday's disappointment. Meanwhile, the Swiss duo remain in the lead.

Amy Wakefield had to have surgery on her injured upper arm the previous evening. Together with the lack of sleep, this is not a good starting position. On this stage, which offers few opportunities for decisive tactical maneuvers, the three women's teams remain inseparable. Vera Looser and Kim Le Court break away five kilometers before the finish, but Looser misjudges her attack. She thought they were right before the finish. Le Court, who was initially stuck behind Nash and Villafane, was able to catch up with her partner and win the stage. Just behind the first two teams, Amy Wakefield and Candice Lill ride to third place and celebrate a small victory after the uncertainty surrounding Wakefield's injury. As a result, the two South Africans remain the overall leaders.

3rd stage

The women's race followed a similar pattern to stage two. At the start, Sofia Gomez Villafane and Katerina Nash (NinetyOne-Songo-Specialized), Amy Wakefield and Candice Lill (e-FORT.net | SeattleCoffeeCo) as well as Kim Le Court and Vera Looser (Efficient Infiniti Insure) immediately pulled away from the rest and stayed together for almost half of the race. After 50 kilometers, Looser and Le Court dropped back and the stage became a duel. But Wakefield and Lill get stronger and stronger as the day progresses, and at kilometer 70, on the penultimate climb of the day, the two strike and win ahead of Villafane and Nash, as well as Le Court and Looser, who lose over eight minutes.

Like every stage of the 2023 Absa Cape Epic so far, the third stage starts fast and furious. Phil Buys and Alex Miller (RSA) flew out of the starting gate in Hermanus, closely followed by the peloton. After the first refreshment point after 18 kilometers, five teams pulled away to the front. The lead kept changing hands between Buys/Miller, Frischknecht/Schurter, Baum/Egger, Beers/Blevins and Alleman/Rabensteiner. However, the South African duo had to pay tribute to their starting pace and fell back, resulting in a showdown between the four strongest teams in this year's race.

Scares and a bit of bad luck for the favorites in the final third: Nino Schurter goes down briefly in a minor collision at the third water point. Baum/Egger have a tire problem at kilometer 75, which fortunately only cost them a few seconds. They ride impressively back to the leading group. Ten kilometers before the finish, the singletrack turns into a wider road. Blevins blocks the rivals in the singletrack from the front, allowing Beers to gain a gap towards the finish. Turning out of the singletrack into the finishing straight, Blevins sprints 40 meters to the front and secures another stage win for himself and Beers. In this decision, the Swiss were left behind and in fourth place, but remained in the leading position ahead of Baum and Egger as well as Alleman and Rabensteiner.

Stage 4

No tactical maneuvers, no observation, no direct duels on the course - the fourth stage is held as a time trial. And once again, Matthew Beers and Christopher Blevins rode like clockwork. The US-American Blevins has an outstanding day and pulls the South African marathon champion along, so that the two are once again at the top of the podium and take 22 seconds and over two minutes respectively from their closest rivals. The victory moves Beers/Blevins up to third place in the overall standings. They are now five minutes behind the leaders Nino Schurter and Andri Frischknecht. However, Schurter and Frischknecht are likely to be more worried by the strong performance of Lukas Baum and Georg Egger, who are closing the gap in the overall time trial standings.

In the women's race, Kim Le Court and Vera Looser show their determination to set the tone today right from the start. They put in an almost flawless 47 kilometers, although Looser did briefly slip up once on the loose gravel. The overall leaders Amy Wakefield and Candice Lill finish second, almost three minutes behind, with Sofia Gomez Villafane and Katerina Nash a further three minutes back in third place. Nothing changes in the overall standings here, except that Looser and Le Court make up ground on Kim Le Court's birthday.

Stage 5

Even an involuntary bath for Lukas Baum in the middle of the course couldn't stop the German team in today's queen stage of the Absa Cape Epic. With an incredibly strong performance, Georg Egger and Lukas Baum single-handedly took the stage win by such a large margin that they will start the following day in the overall leader's yellow jersey. They were more than a minute behind Nino Schurter/Andri Frischknecht and are now one and a half minutes ahead of their Swiss rivals. With Simon Stiebjahn and Martin Frei in second place, four German mountain bikers are on the podium in the Lourensford vineyard after the fifth stage. The co-favorites Matt Beers/Chris Blevins are also in the leading group in fourth place and are now seven minutes behind the leaders in the overall standings.

Vera Looser and Kim le Court have probably prepared the same plan as Baum and Egger. The winners of the previous stage attacked on the long, hard climb to the Groenlandberg and overtook Wakefield and Lill. But not everything goes smoothly here either. At the start of the stage, Looser is accidentally knocked over by another rider and falls into a puddle. Her shoe is damaged by the impact and is repaired with duct tape. Looser quickly catches up with her partner Le Court again, and from then on they ride steadily to the front and another clear victory. Wakefield laments a tough day, but together with Lill they remain in the orange leader's jersey after the fifth stage. Behind them, however, Le Court and Looser are now in second position ahead of Sofia Gomez Villafane and Katerina Nash, who are now almost 30 minutes behind the leaders.

Stage 6

The incredibly tough conditions on the penultimate stage of the Absa Cape Epic, heavy rain, mud and strong winds, make the course even tougher. It is shortened to 73 kilometers. Matt Beers and Chris Blevins were leading a group of four together with the Germans when the pulley on Lukas Baum's rear derailleur came off at kilometer 42. The two leaders have to return one kilometer back to the refreshment point with spare parts. They cross the finish line over eleven minutes behind the stage winners. Andri Frischknecht had a bad day among the Swiss duo of favorites; together with Nino Schurter, he struggled through the stage with ups and downs and finished four minutes behind the winners in second place. Third place went to Alban Lakata (AUT) and Axel Roudil-Cortinat (FRA), who no longer have anything to do with the outcome of the overall classification. However, Frischknecht and Schurter still have a cushion of around 90 seconds on the stage winners Beers and Blevins going into the final stage.

The women's leaders were not spared either: after around 33 kilometers, Wakefield broke the rim of her rear wheel. She had to pedal eight kilometers to the next technical zone without air. Up to this point, Wakefield, Lill, Looser and Le Court were riding together. The broken rim changed everything and from that moment on, Wakefield and Lill fell further and further behind, eventually finishing 39 minutes after the stage winners Looser and Le Court. The new holders of the orange leader's jersey go into the final stage with a lead of 25 minutes. Third place went to Greete Steinburg (EST) and Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez (COL).

Stage 7

In the women's category, the efforts of the week finally seem to take their toll on Amy Wakefield and Candice Lill, who fall back early in the Grand Finale. Kim le Court and Vera Looser confirmed their role as favorites in the orange leader's jersey and took the overall victory unchallenged. The gap after Amy Wakefield's destroyed rear wheel in yesterday's stage was simply unassailable without bad luck with the other team's equipment. Steinburg/Gomez, who had been riding more and more strongly over the course of the week, were delighted with their stage win in the Grand Finale. "This is incredible," says Steinburg about the team's stage win. "It's our first season together and to win the grand finale of the Absa Cape Epic is something very special. We got off to a good start, stuck with the leaders and were able to pull it off well."

The Absa Cape Epic winner from Mauritius, Kim Le Court, is almost speechless. "We did it," was all she could say as the champagne of victory bubbled around her. "It's an incredible feeling," adds Looser. "It was a long, hard week and we really had to push ourselves to the limit, but we did it. I think we need a week or two to process this overall victory!"

It's been a brutal week of emotions for Wakefield and Lill, but they still manage to finish the final stage with a smile. "I was so gutted yesterday," Wakefield admitted. "But then I read all the texts on social media and I was on the verge of tears. I was so touched by the support. You can't make up the things that have happened to us this week, we just kept going despite all the adversity."

After the drama of the sixth stage, the men's Grand Finale at the Absa Cape Epic 2023 is almost calm, with little to be done about the existing time gaps of just five and a half minutes between the favorites. Unfortunately, Nino Schurter's plan to simply stay in the lead didn't work out. His partner Andri Frischknecht doesn't have the best legs and so the Swiss in the leader's jersey has to let the leading group, which Simon Stiebjahn and Martin Frey had joined, go. The ten-time world and Olympic champion was unimpressed by Schurter's brief test on the ground when a premature Easter bunny hopped through the singletrack.

As in the previous days, the four top riders proved to be evenly matched. Attacks by Baum and Egger on the flat after the two big climbs of the finale can be countered by Beers and Blevins - but the Germans finish first. But the question remains whether the one and a half minute cushion of the South African/American duo in second place would be enough. The gap to the Swiss was even enough for Egger and Baum to slip into second place overall by just under 22 seconds. Nino Schurter, not happy but not frustrated either, said at the finish: "That's how it is in a race, the others were stronger at the end this week, there's nothing you can do about it." Singer Racing's dream of a sprint stage win is shattered by a slip-up by Martin Frey shortly before the home straight.

"We knew from last night that there was only one way to win today, and that was to go full throttle from the start," says Christopher Blevins. "We train so hard for these races and have been through so much this week; it's very special when everything comes together like it did today. We kept getting info on the chasers on the track, so we knew we were ahead, but you can never tell how it's going to turn out. The only option is to keep driving as hard as possible. We suffered from start to finish, but it was worth it. It's a great honor to win the Absa Cape Epic."

Matt Beers, now a two-time winner of the Absa Cape Epic, is thrilled with the performance and the support of the crowd. "This was a great win, not just because of the finale today, but because of the whole week. After the problems on the first stage, we had to work our way back up from that deficit. I think that shows how well our teamwork worked and how much we believe in each other. We were supported by so many spectators, I think we rode the last stage on pure adrenaline. I'm completely exhausted now."

Results Cape Epic 2023

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