The final stage of the Cape Epic 2018 was a tough one: 2,000 meters of climbing over 69 kilometers. The eight minutes that the leading team of Jaroslav Kulhavy and the American Howard Grotts had on the chasing duo of Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini could quickly be lost. It is these two who repeatedly attack and go on the offensive with their last hope. In vain, Kulhavy and Grotts kept control, counterattacked confidently and ultimately set the pace. Fumic and Avancini ultimately lose time due to a defect and end up in third place in the overall standings. Fabian Rabensteiner and Michele Casagrande even took the silver medal thanks to their narrow victory in the final stage.

"In the first few days I was often pushed to the limit, but in the last few days I found my rhythm," analyzed Grotts at the finish. He was the one who was initially barely able to keep up with Kulhavy's rear wheel. Kuhavy commented: "I'm happy with Howie Grotts' performance, he's a newcomer to this race and rode really well. It's quite possible that we'll be back next year to repeat the victory." Kulhavy is not saying this without ulterior motives. He could then beat his friend and mentor Christoph Sauser's record of five Cape Epic victories.

Clear conditions in the women's race

A similar constellation to the men's race was seen in the women's race: serial winner Annika Langvad started the race with the young American Kate Courtney - and secured her fourth overall victory in a row. The two dominated the stage race right from the start. They started the final stage with a lead of 46 minutes. Overall victory was almost out of their reach.
The final stage was won by the duo of Margot Moschetti and Raiza Goulao. The pair did not make it onto the podium in the overall standings, but Sabine Spitz (in a team with South African Robyn De Groot), a former champion, took silver.

No Swiss at the front

The Swiss have no say in the overall standings of the two main categories. Defending champions Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann had to abandon the race early on due to illness, while the duo of Andri Frischknecht and Michiel van der Heijden left the field due to injury. Nicola Rohrbach saves the Swiss honor in fifth place (with Daniel Geismyr), Urs Huber finishes tenth with Karl Platt. In the women's race, Cornelia Hug (in a team with Hielke Elferink from the Netherlands, who lives in Switzerland) achieved a top 10 finish in ninth place. Two familiar names were spotted in the Masters: Thomas Frischknecht and Urs Gerig finished sixth overall, and in the "very old" (Grandmasters category), the tireless Bärti Bucher came second together with Hans-Jürg Gerber.

The complete results overview is available at:
http://www.cape-epic.com/riders/the-2018-race/results