South Africans storm Stage 6; Calderon Martinez & Kortekaas crush it

rugby22 March 2025 16:58
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All week long at the 2025 Absa Cape Epic, South African riders Tristan Nortje and Marco Joubert (Imbuko ChemChamp A) have been threatening to run away with a stage.

Live action from every stage of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic, only on SuperSport at 8:30am CAT on Variety 1

Success finally came on the penultimate Stage 6 at Lourensford Wine Estate as the local favourites raced to victory ahead of Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria).

Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo (SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing) came in third on the stage, losing over a minute in their general classification lead.

They will start Stage 7 just 32 seconds ahead of Wilier-Vittoria on what should be a thrilling Grand Finale of the race. 

There were also new faces on the top step today in the Aramex UCI Women’s Category, with Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez and Tessa Kortekaas (CANNONDALE ISB SPORT) dominant from start to finish on Stage 6.

They pulled away from the women’s field midway through the 88km stage and never looked back, finishing six minutes and 40 seconds ahead of overall leaders Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafane (Toyota | Specialized).

The CANNONDALE ISB SPORT stage victory did no damage to Toyota | Specialized’s overall lead, with Langvad and Gomez Villafane still managing to stretch their lead in the Aramex UCI Women’s Category to just over 23 minutes over Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda (Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM) with a single stage to go. 

'WE NEVER GAVE UP'

The UCI Men's race was full throttle from the get-go.

Tristan Nortje led the charge on the 10km climb out of Lourensford Wine Estate.

Matt Beers (Outride | Toyota | Songo) then took over, just to remind the rest of the field that he was still in town.

With around 25km to go, though, the race took on a familiar shape with Imbuko ChemChamp A, SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing and Wilier-Vittoria grouped together.

Samuele Porro and Marc Stutzman (Klimatiza Orbea) hung on gamely, but they couldn't match the skill or descending speed of the three leading teams. 

With 12km to go, the decisive move came when Wilier-Vittoria - desperate to eat into Schurter and Colombo’s overall lead - attacked. Nortje and Joubert responded immediately, but Colombo dropped off the pace.

Schurter, ever the pro, dropped back to assist his ailing partner.

On the home stretch, it was anyone’s stage, with cat and mouse being the name of the game.

Nortje and Joubert - perhaps with some local knowledge - surged on a short, final climb and snuck into the singletrack descent.

From there they controlled the pace and with just over a kilometre to go, a slice of good fortune intervened when a chain slipped off a Wilier-Vittoria bike.

Nortje and Joubert took full advantage and sped home to rapturous applause from the home crowd. It was just reward for a team that has electrified the racing this week. 

Nortje, overcome with emotion at the finish line, said they had tried all week for a stage win.

“We just never gave up. And today it came. That stage was so intense though. It was wild. There was mud, rain, trails, everything. I felt good. I felt bad. At one stage I didn’t think I would even finish the stage. I have never suffered so much on a bike. It was so sketchy out there and so stressful trying to keep it all together, but we did it!” 

Teammate Joubert was equally emotional. “I didn’t cry when I broke my collarbone but I am crying now. That’s how much this means to me and Tristan. I can’t describe the feeling right now.” 

'FELT LIKE WE WERE FLYING'

In the Aramex UCI Women’s Category, CANNONDALE ISB SPORT’S Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez and Tessa Kortekaas built on their impressive Stage 5 performance.

They took the racing to the women’s field as soon as riders filed out of Lourensford Wine Estate.

For the first time this week, overall leaders Toyota | Specialized couldn’t respond. 

“Yesterday we felt good, but today we felt even better,” said Kortekaas.

“We planned to push the pace from the start and then see what happens. We didn’t know if we could hold it, but we just kept going. We had absolutely no issues out there and it felt like we were flying.” 

Kortekaas admitted that things haven’t gone to plan for the team at this year’s Absa Cape Epic, but they hope to make up for the slow start to the 2025 Absa Cape Epic with a solid finish.

“It’s been a difficult week. We came out here with a plan to make the general classification riding a bit more exciting but we struggled early in the week. We know that when we feel good we can be competitive and we are showing that in the racing now.” 

Five-time Aramex UCI Women’s Category winner Annika Langvad was full of praise for the stage winners, admitting at the same time that she battled in the conditions.

“Monica and Tessa were so strong. They fully deserved that stage win because they worked super hard from start to finish. I was dying a million deaths out there today. The ground was so sticky. It was a nightmare. At one stage I was trying to decide what was worse, riding in that mud or giving birth…” 

RESULTS

UCI Men’s Category

1 Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortje – Imbuko ChemChamp A - 3:49:37
2 Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto – Wilier-Vittoria - 3:49:51 (+14)
3 Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo – SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing – 3:51:11 (+1:34) 
4 Samuele Porro and Marc Stutzmann - Klimatiza Orbea - 3:53:12 (+3:35)
5 Matt Beers and Keegan Swenson - Outride | Toyota | Songo - 3:54:32 (+4:55)

UCI Men’s Category GC

1 Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo – SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing – 21:38:38
2 Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto – Wilier-Vittoria – 21:39:10 (+32)
3 Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortje – Imbuko ChemChamp A – 21:49:59 (+11:21)
4 Samuele Porro and Marc Stutzmann – Klimatiza Orbea – 22:00:48 (+22:10)
5 Jakob Dorigoni and Gioele de Cosmo - Torpado Kenda FSA 2 - 22:15:11 (+36:33)

Aramex UCI Women’s Category

1 Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez and Tessa Kortekaas - CANNONDALE ISB SPORT - 4:47:57
2 Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafane – Toyota | Specialized - 4:54:37 (+6:40)
3 Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda – Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM - 4:55:33 (+7:36)
4 Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen – TitanRacing SE Honeycomb - 4:59:23 (+11:26)
5 Katazina Sosna-Pinele and Claudia Peretti – Torpado Kenda FSA WMN -  5:03:20 (+15:23)

Aramex UCI Women’s Category GC

1 Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafane – Toyota | Specialized – 27:03:38
2 Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda – Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM – 27:26:41 (+23:26)
3 Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen – TitanRacing SE Honeycomb – 27:43:11 (+39:56)
4 Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez and Tessa Kortekaas - CANNONDALE ISB SPORT - 27:48:38 (+45:23)
5 Katazina Sosna-Pinele and Claudia Peretti – Torpado Kenda FSA WMN – 28:09:18 (+1:06:03)

Courtesy of the official Absa Cape Epic website. For the full results and more, visit epic-series.com/capeepic