HIGHLIGHTS | STAGE 5 | 2024 Absa Cape Epic

Matt Beers and Howard Grotts (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne) romped to their first stage win of the 2024 Absa Cape Epic when they pulled away from Andreas Seewald and Marc Stutzmann (Canyon SIDI) in the closing kilometres of the 70km Stage 5 in Wellington.

The Aramex Women’s Category was business as usual with Anne Terpstra and Nicole Koller (GHOST Factory Racing) cruising home on Stage 5 to claim their sixth successive stage win (five stages plus the Prologue last Sunday).

With two stages to go, they’ll have their eyes on the 2021 performance of Sina Frei and Laura Stigger, who won all eight days of the Absa Cape Epic on their way to overall victory.

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[Applause] oh the 2024 Absa Cape epic features more single track per kilometer than any previous edition of the race creating the hundreds of purpose-built mountain bike trails requires thousands of man hours of hard work some are sculpted by machine but most South African single tracks are handbuilt the master Trail

Builders are mountain bikers themselves and create sections which often reflect their own Personalities in tilak Dion Wilkins was the primary Trail Guru while in the V Berg Valley the Hano brothers hanis and suaki along with Ern fake have built testing tactical tracks in Wellington the wild board trails are the

Tireless work of Peter FV stos stages in the coming days will feature single tracks by Moran bu Cory Miller benett Nell and the Idis Valley Trail builders for stage five the race will be exploring Wellington’s wild board Trails for the final time the relatively short day would be an exciting one backloaded

With Incredible single tracks and and opportunities for aggressive Racing the day before the shorten Queen stage had seen exceptionally aggressive racing even by the 2024 ABS cap epic belligerent standards buff Meo had started stage four in yellow and attempted to defend from the front yet Canyon City found the race leaders Pace too slow and went on the offensive this

Allowed Toyota specialized 91 and World bicycle relief to follow while hunts becking and V alaman SLI back suffered a puncture and continued to seeed time Lucas B and G gger were also enduring another difficult day up front Nino sherter LED Sebastian finny Matt beers Howard grz Andreas sealt and Marcus

Stutzman up and over the Cliffhanger on The Descent back towards Wellington the world champion created a small Advantage but beers reeled the world bicycle relief team back in once the trails came to an end this set up a Sprint with shter and Finny versus beers and grots

The former won the battle but the latter earned yellow in the Process you you don’t come here to race for second place uh that was one of the the most intense days of racing I think we’ve had so far just because it it was short and Punchy and you know the descents were really fast uh but it was

It was a fun day of racing even though there was some suffering after stage four TI to specialized 91 LED World bicycle Relief by 2 minutes buff meamo slipped from first to third while Canyon City strong back to back days moved them up from 6th to fifth as willia Victoria dropped a

Placing in the ARX women’s race the story The Early part of the stage was the efficient Infinity Ure scbam teams travails there aossa and alexas Scara found themselves behind E4 Private Client Holdings and the Scott calab bandida Bulls ahead go Factory racing canadale Factory racing and Toyota

Specialized 91 pushed on each taking a turn to test the other two teams legs despite that the trio squads were inseparable throughout the 2,500 M of climbing on the 73 km long stage even the 16 km Ascent to the summit of the Cliffhanger could not break the teams

Apart and so the day came down to a 3way Sprint finish during which anster niol Cola outboxed and out boxed Candace Lil Mona mner Sophia Gomez vifon and Samar sheeper uh not really I was prepared for more attacks to be honest uh I think both specialized and Kil wanted to make

The pace uh high from the beginning but uh it turned out that actually Nicole and I would have fost us there so it was nice to know like they can try but we we’re still there we’re hanging on uh but still like you have to climb up all

These climbs doesn’t matter if you go fast or slow you have to get up there and that’s already not that easy so I think it was still a tough day for everybody but it was nice that we had the most energy left for a Sprint finish again heading into stage five goes

Factory racing Lead canadale Factory racing by 2 minutes and 31 seconds Toyota specialized 91 with third while L and Scara dropped to fifth behind Lena jro and Haley pin stage five was the shortest of the race at just 70 km in length with one ,750 M of climbing it was however still

Packed with exciting riding particularly in the back end of the Course once the teams passed through valad at Linton Park the trails began in Earnest with llong happy hog True Grit and the Toyota tough Golden Mile despite the shorter distance the UCI men were not expecting an easy stage

Especially with so much left to race for we on stage five so uh yeah by this time uh your legs don’t really really get worse or you just get used to the pain um and uh yeah I think um we’re in for some some good and fast riding it’s a

Short stage um I think some guys will take it as a you know easy recovery day and then you’ll have some guys that will you know want to punch it for a stage win um but uh I think it’ll be tricky to get away with a GC fight still still on

Um but uh yeah seems also it’s been been cooling down a little a little bit so it’ll be like a day out it’s 7 dek and uh a bit of climbing I’m not going to tell where we attack I don’t know actually so it’s hard to say but uh lots of single track

In the end so that’s nice for us yeah I think it’ll be yeah fast at the start and then there’s a couple single tracks that positioning is important but the nice thing about single track is you get to sort of take a breather uh it’s still hard pedaling but you don’t have to

Fight when the gun fired and the flag dropped BFF Mago raced off the line followed by a massive teams all looking for an opportunity to claim a good result with this being the third last stage the chances for a stage win a Podium place or a top 10 finish were ticking away

Only the bravest would be rewarded on stage five the same was true in the women’s race though there was a lot to reflect upon after a dramatic queen stage and with an intense stage five about to begin yeah I think there’s two two places um that the race can be made

Today um and yeah I mean it’s all good and well having a plan but I think um the most important thing is being able to adapt the plan if the plan doesn’t go according to plan so um yeah we’ve spoken about a few scenarios and yeah I

Just I really um hope that today we can put some pressure on yeah we’re going to uh see how we feel at the start and uh Pace it well and kind of race our own race we have like we know how much time we need to make up so if we’re feeling

Good we’ll go for it if not we’ll kind of reserve for tomorrow heading out for the last time from CP UT’s Wellington campus the ARX women’s race would follow the wellestablished trend a steady start to the first significant climb and then a dramatic ramping up of the pace though

That did not mean that the start was relaxing jostling for position and a general air of tension made from mentally taxing beginning to the day’s Riding powering off the asphalt and onto the gravel roads outside of Wellington the Canyon City support team member Peter vot led the field with Byer Urus ste’s Philip base and Beed a toy right behind but on the first little kicker of the day beers took over at the front the

Big South African is a firm believer in defending from the front and when he sets a Tempo it often prevents attacks entirely especially over rolling terrain the hills and dals of the Wellington wine lands are ideal for the Toyota specialized 91 Rider to work his magic but the landscape was not hard

Enough to reduce the group to under 10 teams the aply named roller coaster was the first single track of the day and provided a thrilling ride through the r ELD Fain boss at the front beer still LED while in the middle of the group piger eurals DET toy was followed by his

Team leader base dust and early morning light made the descending on Dual tracks between The Vineyards difficult and dangerous yet with each Rider trusting the wheel ahead there was no need to stress a rider who knew the trails better than anyone else in the group was Johan for saale the young Toyota

Specialized Rider’s partner Alex Miller withdrew after the start and he was thus Riding Solo because of this he couldn’t get involved in the racing but had to sit at the back of the lead group through the trails in the single track climb shurter came to the four the world bicycle

Relief Rider knew he had to keep the pressure on beers and grots in order to soften them up for an attack later in the stage the only men who could follow his Pace with a Toyota specialized 91 team finny Canyon City seol and stutzman and the Bulls Mavericks Simon schneller and ubu are

Bringing up the back of the group but having their best day of the race when the pace increased under pressure from beers Uber and schnella were distant slightly as was sealt who was caught behind the Bulls m pair but there was no cause for concern they’d be

Able to close the small Gap when the trails turned downhill the same could not be said for buff Meo who are 140 back was singer racing in fale in the ARX women’s race the undulating early kilometers provided no challenges significant enough to thin the UCI women’s field thus the full 18

Team group erode together for the best part of 10 km behind the big General classification battles there were fights unfolding for 9th 10th and 11th as well as for 13th 14th and 15th teams like pertek efficient infinity insur and she Untamed had exchanged positions throughout the week as had the cape

Classic 380 cruise control and elements teams these battles within the greater race are one of the untold features of every edition of the abser cape epic unseen by the viewers but of vital importance to the Riders involved especially for Daniel om and step Walters who are wearing the Absa African

Jerseys when the pace increased as the climbs became slightly more arduous a more Elite selection was enforced by Lil she and Mitten valda were joined in that group by their usual Rivals turpster and cola as well as Gomez vfan and shepher Lon and Scara were also present in the

Group along with both E4 teams E4 Private Client Holdings and E for M corpo Dron P been strong all week on Maro mosetti and constan Faso have grown into the event getting stronger day by day the same is true at a slightly higher level for Scott calab bandida

Bulls Natalia Fisher and Lina lelab while the efficient Infinity andure SCB sham combination have been losing ground since stage three on stage five Scar and L again lost contact with the favorites group too early in the piece a gravel road clearly had G’s vfan feeling at home because the Argentine

Used a kick in the district road to reduce the lead group to adjust her Toyota specialized 91 and the two Factory racing teams the single tracks which followed were ghost Factory racing territory tster and Cola used the trails to put their rivals on the back foot and

On a Dusty descent managed to distance Gomez Vian and Shepherd this set up a finale between the leaders and canadale Factory racing at the back of the race Matthew Carter and Richard McMartin are the hyenas the official sweeps of the ABS AIC what what I’ve learned over the

Years is that um we always used to hope that we’ have clean days and we get to the Finish quickly but as this as the race sweeps every broken bike every broken body every broken chain is is is is a friend of ours and a partner of

Ours so it’s always a long long week um I think there’s a big field this year it’s going to be hot so we are forecasting an action-packed week as Always though they’re not allowed to physically help either by providing mechanical Assistance or a helping hand Carter and McMartin provide emotional support to those who need it most when the Untamed Bears its Teeth been a hell of a day yes my shadow nerves has been a hell of a day it’s um that clim to the vitenberg valley was was really tough for the back of the field it hurt a lot of people and then up in the bitberg it’s so Rocky and and

Technical that there’s a lot of tied Riders at the back of this race this is our last rider in the field he’s from Portugal we got about 4 Cas to go he’s got about 20 minutes he’s absolutely exhausted but he’s in good spirits so I reckon we’ll get

There on stage two the hyena nurse Luis Dominguez to the Finish Line at sensburg after a tough day out was very hard today it’s the last point I want to finish and then the the the Marshal said you must go and finish this stage and I

Go yes Rich assist me and the last push me push me and I finished it’s a very emotional job um you know you spend hours with these Riders and you you develop a relationship with them you’re chatting with them and you’re really you know spurring them on wanting them to finish

But the amazing part of the job is that they are a lot of heartwarming happy stories they’re riders that Against All Odds they make it to the finish line and I think that’s why we do it it’s it’s eight beautiful days of riding we get to ride every meid of this beautiful race

And we see the best of the human Spirit come out at the back and um that’s why we did it back with the UCI men and the lead group of Toyota specialized 91 World bicycle relief Canyon City and Bulls Mavericks were into the wild board trails and the back half of the course

True Grit suited shter skills to Perfection but Uber’s imperfect preparation for the race was starting to tell he’s been a late replacement for Axel rudil CER and has not been training for an 8-day stage race he was not giving in without a fight however and continued to battle to cling onto his teammates

Will the climbs out of dof back towards Wellington made this ask even harder seeing the trouble his partner was in schella went to the front of the pack and made an attempt to control the tempo by slowing slightly on the climb he was buying time for Uber to Summit

Within touching distance of the group even this though was too little too late Uber never regained contact and the Bulls Mavericks had to abandon their hopes of a stage victory further back the buff Meo willia vorian singer racing teams were in a futile Chase there was no way they would be

Able to reel in the group which sh was driving towards the Finish though the 10 time world champion speed was having the opposite effect to that which he had intended rather than putting beers grots Sil and stutzman Under Pressure it was making life uncomfortable for his partner Finny the Dane lost meters at

First then dropped off entirely forcing shura to halt his charge he had to drop back to nurse finny through the trails though they were still making better time that Chella and Uber unaware and unaffected by that drama willia Victoria buff Meo and singer racing continued to ride to limit their

Losses smelling blood beers seized control of the stage and stomped massive power through his pedals GRS was hiding in his slip but by no means had a free ride to the Finish Canyon said he had missed the train and were watching hopes of a second stage win right

Away for sherter and Finny the consequences were greater every second they conceded would make their task of overturning their pre-stage 2-minute deficit harder over the coming days winning in yellow Toyota specialized 91 claimed to potentially fital stage Win Canyon City were content with their hard for second while World bicycle relief were less enamored by seeding time to beers and grots amazing it’s awesome we really obviously it’s a awesome being in yellow and everything but uh We’ve really wanted a stage WI know we’ve come second

Third third fourth and uh so it’s nice to get a stage run and in yellow it’s even better so um yeah we weren’t sure but the pace was really high um I said it really high in the beginning maybe a bit too high I thought um Nino and them

Would run a roll with us but um yeah I think it was a little maybe went a little bit too hard so yeah our plan was uh from uh midstage there was like coming a lot of single Trails up and uh our plan was to put a bit of pressure on there

And I realized a bit late that uh finy was a bit in in struggle so uh we had then to change our strategy and uh tried to get to the Finish unfortunately last hour half an hour was missing a little bit but uh was good racing was uh was

Was a fun stage uh that’s that’s racing yeah oh yeah it was quite different stage but yeah we we both felt good uh that pace was sometimes brutal uh I was a couple of moments in the at the back of the group and it was I was riding almost blind sometimes

Uh and then I decided to to try to go in front and worked out quite well uh yeah super nice I I would not somehow would not expect this from a stage like this for us but it’s it seems like we we are on a good

Direction for the first time in the race beers and grots stood at top the stage Podium they were flanked by seol and stutzman as well as by shter and Finny P to specialized 91’s margin of victory was 12 seconds over Canyon City World bicycle relief conceded 57 seconds to

The day’s Victors the Bulls Mavericks had their best result of the race finishing fourth beers and GRS will be wearing yellow heading into the penultimate stage the Toyota a specialized 91 teams buffer after stage five is 2 minutes and 57 seconds over World bicycle relief B Meo maintained their Podium place but

Their Gap to Canyon City is down to 3 minutes and 5 Seconds the Absa African jersey wearers moved up to 10th overall following Scott calab bandida Major’s plunge from 9th to 18th in the rmx wom’s race the top two teams are locked in their seemingly eternal battle so little has separated

The ghost Factory racing and canadale Factory racing squads during the 2024 abser Cape epic’s first 6 days on two occasions turron Cola had earned a single minute advantage on a stage but generally the Gap has been one of narrow seconds Lil and mitala shadowing the women in orange or the race leaders

Matching the moves of the world and South African Marathon Champion there had been moments of weakness for mavala in particular but as stage five war on Lil appeared to be taking strain ing the South African struggles Cola up the pace turning a bad moment into an extremely

Tough few minutes and then more in a show of great patience and then precise application of their Superior form ghost Factory racing cranked up the pressure though the elastic snapped Lil did not crack having summited the final climb Cola kicked off the time trial to the Finish Line she and terpstra swap turns

On the front keeping the pace as high as they possibly could eeking out additional seconds in the battle for over all Victory closing in on the finish it was clear that ghost Factory racing would win their sixth successive stage as they hunted Laura stiger and CA

Fri record of a Perfect Clean Sweep of stage victories Finish Line high fives and Broad grins kept another M performance for the women in Orange Lil and M’s chase behind limited canadale Factory Racing’s losses as best they could but once again they had to be content with second Toyota specialized 91 completed

The podium on the day when Gomez Vian and shepher drove across the line yeah we we knew the trail the last trail and we could ride into it with one and two like just behind each other and we got a little Gap and yeah in the end

We we just tried to to share the work until the finish and we came away with a few seconds and yeah and our win it’s pretty cool last climb I tried a lot um like many times to get around but they were like yeah they they are racing very

Smart like in the trail they’re going super slow and then as soon as it’s open they push on and then I try to overtake but it’s always too short and obviously they together they can block me um but yeah for sure I smelled like a little

Bit of weakness today 100% like um so it’s two more days to go so I think we we we can get it right like today I felt a lot lot better and I could have gone lot faster in the end um so we will we will get it in the next

Two days R I think yeah great to see Sophia bounced back after yesterday she’s riding really strong so um yeah it’s good we’ve still got some strengths to play with for the last couple of days and then we’ll be heading into trails that we know around stallin bsh that we

Really enjoy as well so yeah still Anything Can Happen out there the K pepic there’s so much can happen so uh yeah we keep fighting and see what we can do for the sixth time of the race turpster and cola top the Podium Lil and Mna stood alongside them with Gomez vfan

And sheer on the other side ghost Factory Racing’s margin of victory was a slender but important 20 seconds Toyota specialized 91 lost 3 minutes and 40 on the day while E4 Private Client Holdings continued to stay in front of efficient infinity insur scbam and finished fourth on the

Day turpster and cola will wear the aramax orange Chita jerseys the penultimate stage the ghost Factory racing pairs Advantage heading into Stage six is 251 to her to specialized are at 11:39 while 7 and 1/2 minutes separate fourth and fifth Steph alters and Daniel strum are the best placed Absa African combination in

11th stage six is a deceptively tough day in the stellos windlands taking in the Steep mounted dual tracks and centilating single tracks of the Simmons the 87 km route includes 2,400 M of climbing Spectators can base themselves at Mory to see the teams twice including as they drop down the Toyota tough segment Methuselah [Applause]