The takeover of the yellow jersey with the stage win by Schurter and Stirnemann is probably the most unspectacular piece of information from the fifth stage of the Cape Epic. The important stories took place behind them. First and foremost with the leading duo Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini. Both of them suffered a puncture early on. As a result, they lost a lot of time, missed the connection to the speeding Scott train and ultimately had to cede the overall lead to them. But Christoph Sauser, who still has a chance of overall victory together with Jaroslav Kulhavy, also came under pressure. Sauser slumped slightly in the meantime, which in turn prompted Schurter and Stirnemann to increase their pace. Sauser seemed to see his title ambitions slip away until he was able to catch up later on and start a chase. In the end, the pair lost just 17 seconds to Schurter/Stirnemann, with the gap in the overall standings amounting to 50 seconds.

Young guns set the pace

In the (wind) shadow of Schurter and Stirnemann, however, there is another story worthy of note, that of Andri Frischknecht and Michiel van der Heijden. The two "young guns" of the Scott-Sram team around Nino Schurter are actually still too young to make an appearance on such big tours. However, this is of little concern to them, and after their stage win the day before, they ride to the finish in second place in the fifth stage, just behind the two new leaders. In the overall standings, they are in sixth place.

Clear cut with the women

The starting position in the women's category is a little less exciting. After finishing second in the fifth stage, Esther Süss and Jennie Stenerhag are separated by over twelve minutes from the second-placed duo of Sabine Spitz and Roby de Groot. They won the fifth stage in a sprint ahead of Süss/Stenerhag. While, as expected, the "young guns" did not set the tone in the women's class, a young woman rode like a star from another planet in another class. Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds, who has just emerged from the U23 class, has won all the stages so far in a superior duo with her team manager Thomas Frischknecht. They now lead the overall standings by over 42 minutes.