Absa Cape Epic 2025 – Stage 5: Overall leaders dominate Queen Stage
Stage 5 marked the Queen Stage of the Absa Cape Epic 2025. It is the with 98km and 2.850m in climbing the longest and toughest course. It is a point-to-point route as the riders left Fairview, Paarl to Lourensford Wine Estate, Sommerset West.
The riders had to challenge four brutal ascends today, but the race was only decided 15km before the finish line on the very last climb called “The Neck”.
Team SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing of Nino Schurter (SUI) and Filippo Colombo (SUI) were able to split apart of the other teams and increased the gap on the descent to the finish line by 1 minute 10 seconds. The all-Swiss duo take the stage win of the Queen Stage with a time of 4 hours 13 minutes 27 seconds and extend their lead in the General Classification to 1 minute 52 seconds. WILIER-VITTORIA of Luca Braidot (ITA) and Simone Avondetto (ITA) showed off with another strong day but could not keep up the pace in the end, finishing in second place. Imbuko ChempChamp A of Marco Joubert (RSA) and Tristan Nortje (RSA) raced with their heart and lead the pack after attacking, but it was Joubert who could not keep up in the end. However, they finish in third and keep this place in the GC with two more days to come.
In the women’s race Toyota | Specialized of Annika Langvad (DEN) and Sofia Gomez Villafane (ARG) take their sixth consecutive stage win and extend the overall lead to 22 minutes 20 seconds.
| STAGE 5 – MEN | STAGE 5 – WOMEN |
| 1. SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing – 2-1 Nino SCHURTER (SUI) & 2-2 Filippo COLOMBO (SUI) 4:13:27 | 1. Toyota | Specialized – 51-1 Annika LANGVAD (DEN) & 51-2 Sofia GOMEZ VILLAFANE (ARG) 5:23:38 |
| 2. WILIER-VITTORIA – 9-1 Luca BRAIDOT (ITA) & 9-2 Simone AVONDETTO (ITA) 4:14:37 // +1:10 | 2. CANNONDALE ISB SPORT – 57-1 Monica CALDERON (COL) & 57-2 Tessa KORTEKAAS (NED) 5:23:50 // +12 |
| 3. Imbuko ChemChamp A – 17-1 Marco JOUBERT (RSA) & 17-2 Tristan NORTJE (RSA) 4:16:30 // +3:03 | 3. TitanRacing SE Honeycomb – 62-1 Bianca HAW (RSA) & 62-2 Hayley PREEN (RSA) 5:31:18 // +7:40 |
Broadcast times on DreamSports.tv:
| Date
| Stage | Live Broadcast Window (local time (GMT+2)) | Finish Location | ||
| 16-Mar-25 | Prologue | 07:00 – 15:00 | Meerendal Wine Estate | ||
| 17-Mar-25 | Stage 1 | 07:00 – 12:30 | Meerendal Wine Estate | ||
| 18-Mar-25 | Stage 2 | 07:00 – 13:00 | Fairview, Paarl | ||
| 19-Mar-25 | Stage 3 | 07:00 – 12:30 | Fairview, Paarl | ||
| 20-Mar-25 | Stage 4 | 07:00 – 11:30 | Fairview, Paarl | ||
| 21-Mar-25 | Stage 5 | 07:00 – 13:00 | Lourensford Wine Estate | ||
| 22-Mar-25 | Stage 6 | 07:00 – 12:00 | Lourensford Wine Estate | ||
| 23-Mar-25 | Grand Finale | 07:30 – 12:30 | Lourensford Wine Estate |
