Stage 1 out of Saronsberg Wine Estate around Tulbagh over 88km with a brutal 2450m of climbing was no short on drama. The stage featured four major climbs with Raptor Rise setting a tone of sweeping switchbacks through fynbos, continued by Boegoe and the Kliprivier Trails and finally Fanti’s Pass, the final two kilometres of which average a 14% gradient and peak at over 20%.
Hans Becking and Wout Alleman (BUFF-MEGAMO) won Stage 1 in the men’s elite race at the 2024 Absa Cape Epic, while Anne Terpstra and Nicole Koller (GHOST Factory Racing) were Stage 1 winners in the Aramex Women’s category at Saronsberg Cellar in Tulbagh. Both the men’s and the women’s races concluded with thrilling sprint finishes after a fair amount of cat and mouse in the closing kilometres.
The 2024 Absa Cape Epic roared into life on 17 March with some furious action on the foothills of the Hottentots Holland Mountains at Lourensford Wine Estate.
Lourensford Wine Estate, in Somerset West, played host to the 2024 Absa Cape Epic elite rider registration on Friday, 15 March. While performing pre-race media duties the top teams imparted some wisdom and offered insights into what they are expecting from the 20th edition.
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