The overall leaders in both the men’s and women’s races of the 2026 Absa Cape Epic proved why they are at the top of the results page after a wet and muddy Stage 5 ‘Queen Stage’ from Greyton to Stellenbosch on Friday.
In the men’s race Italians Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria) finally got their first stage win despite having led the race overall for the last three days.
The two finished the brutally hard 134km, with 2750m of climbing, in 5 hours 9 minutes and 51 seconds, with David Valero and Marc Stutzmann (Klimatiza Orbea) eight seconds back.
The all-South African pairing of Matt Beers and Tristan Nortje (Toyota Specialized Imbuko) hung on for third to retain their second place in the overall classification.
In the shorter elite women’s race - over 90km with 2150m of climbing - South African champion Candice Lill and World Short Course Champion, Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon Sabi Sabi), were unstoppable as they finished just over nine minutes ahead of Kate Courtney and Greta Seiwald (She Sends Foundation) and now lead the overall classification by 14 minutes, 18 seconds.
MEN'S RACE
Trailing the leaders by just 1 minute and 28 seconds, Beers and Nortje were aggressive early on as a crosswind on the open gravel roads played into the powerful Beers’ strengths.
At 14km, the two South Africans put in a strong attack in an attempt to break up the lead group. The attack was brought under control and it was eventually the 7C-Pedregal team of Luis Meija and Keyron Fonseca who managed to get a gap up the road just before halfway.
On stage 1, Meija and Fonseca suffered major mechanical problems, including broken wheels, which forced them to ride two-up on one bike at times just to get to the finish.
But their time in the limelight was eventually snuffed out just after the Houw Hoek water point as the leading riders started upping the pace towards the big climbs of the day.
As they have done all week, the two Italians rarely took the lead, simply following the attacks and minimising their energy expenditure.
The race also included a compulsory portage section down the Gantouw Pass at 90km, which further split up the leading group.
By the time the race had summited the long Lourensford climb and reached the Eden trails of Stellenbosch, three teams remained with former Olympic bronze medallist Valero setting a furious pace.
But the Italians were eager to get a stage win, and as the group entered the final section of singletrack 3km from the finish, Avondetto darted ahead. It looked to be the race-winning move, but moments later, he crashed off the trail.
Quickly remounting, the Italian finally rejoined his partner up front, and the two recovered to open up enough of a gap over the pursuers to have time to celebrate before the finish.
“We really wanted a win and it's nice to get it on the Queen stage,” said the 25-year-old Avondetto, a former World Under 23 champion.
“Today was quite challenging in the first 40 to 50km. We are now looking forward to the final two days.” Beers and Nortje, despite their best efforts, were unable to break the Italians but were happy to have hung on to second place overall. “We saw there was a crosswind and we threw in a haymaker,” said Beers.
“I think it caught a few teams off guard and there was a lot of panic. But we were hoping to burn a few more teams. By the time we got down the Gantouw Pass, our legs were dying and we had to go full cockroach mode all the way home.”
After their second place, the Klimatiza Orbea team moved up to third overall, 5:59 behind the leaders.
WOMEN'S RACE
If there was any doubt that Lill and Keller were the class act of this year’s Absa Cape Epic, they certainly proved it on Friday.
After just 10km Seiwald was forced to stop when a stick got caught in her rear mechanism, and it was the signal for the Thömus Maxon Sabi Sabi team to fly the coop.
By halfway, they had already opened up an almost nine-minute gap as Seiwald struggled to keep pace with her World Marathon champion partner and the Chemchamp Honeycomb team of Hayley Preen and Haley Smith (Chemchamp Honeycomb) closed in.
Lill and Keller maintained their pace in the difficult conditions, eventually crossing the finish line in Coetzenburg in 4:29.08.
“It was a tough stage but we didn't want to get involved in racing the She Sends Foundation team the whole way,” said Lill.
“My favourite way of racing is to race from the front, where we can set our own pace and rhythm.” Meanwhile Seiwald admitted that she had struggled.
“Kate was my hero today. She literally pushed me up every hill,” the Italian said. “I just didn't have the legs today.” On Saturday, the penultimate stage is a relatively short 76km but with 2460m of climbing while the women’s elite race will be raced over 62km with 1850m of climbing.
RESULTS
Elite Men Stage
1. WILIER-VITTORIA: Luca BRAIDOT & Simone AVONDETTO (5:09.51)
2. KLIMATIZA ORBEA David Valero & Marc Stutzmann (5:09.59 | +8)
3. TOYOTA SPECIALIZED IMBUKO: Matt BEERS & Tristan NORTJE (5:10.03 | +12)
4. CANYON Luca SCHWARZBAUER & Sam GAZE (5:11.01 | +1:09)
5 TOYOTA SPECIALIZED IMBUKO 2 Marco Joubert & Travis STEDMAN (5:12.56 | +3:04)
Elite Men GC
1. WILIER-VITTORIA: Luca BRAIDOT & Simone AVONDETTO (5:09.51)
2. KLIMATIZA ORBEA David Valero & Marc Stutzmann (5:09.59 | +8)
3. TOYOTA SPECIALIZED IMBUKO: Matt BEERS & Tristan NORTJE (5:10.03 | +12)
4. CANYON Luca SCHWARZBAUER & Sam GAZE (5:11.01 | +1:09)
5 TOYOTA SPECIALIZED IMBUKO 2 Marco Joubert & Travis STEDMAN (5:12.56 | +3:04)
Elite Men GC
1. WILIER-VITTORIA: Luca BRAIDOT & Simone AVONDETTO (21:18.51)
2. TOYOTA SPECIALIZED IMBUKO: Matthew BEERS & Tristan NORTJE (21:20.40 | +1:49)
3. KLIMATIZA ORBEA: David VALERO SERRANO & Marc STUTZMANN (21:24.50 | +5:59)
4. CANYON:Luca SCHWARZBAUER & Sam GAZE (21:25.10 | +6:19)
5. BUFF-BH Wout ALLEMAN & Martin STOSEK (21:34.25 | +15:34)
Elite Women Stage
1. THÖMUS MAXON SABI SABI: Candice LILL & Alessandra KELLER (4:29.08)
2. SHE SENDS FOUNDATION: Kate COURTNEY & Greta SEIWALD (4:38.37 | +9)
3. CHEMCHAMP HONEYCOMB Hayley PREEN & Hayley SMITH (4:40.40 | +11:32)
4. MASSI ISB SPORT Monica CALEDERON & Tessa KORTEKAAS (4:43.32 | +14:24)
5 TORPADO FSA KENDA Katazina SOSNA-PINELE & Giorgia MARCHET (4:44.43 | +15.34)
Elite Women GC
1. THÖMUS MAXON SABI SABI: Candice LILL & Alessandra KELLER (18:48.02)
2. SHE SENDS FOUNDATION: Kate COURTNEY & Greta SEIWALD (19:02.21 | +14:18)
3. CHEMCHAMP HONEYCOMB: Hayley PREEN & Haley SMITH (19:31.27 | +43:24)
4 TORPADO FSA KENDA Katazina SOSNA-PINELE & Giorgia MARCHET (19:39.07 | +51:04)
5 SYMBTECH.NET Margot MOSCHETTI Claudia PERETTI (19:53.03 | 1:05.00)
Photo: © Michael Chiaretta/Cape Epic