Absa Cape Epic 2025 – Absa Cape Epic 2025 – Stage 3: Sprint Finish in African heat
Stage 3 was predicted with hot temperatures up to 40 degrees. Organizers decided to go ahead with a 15-minute earlier race start and to shorten the route. With 78km in distance and 2.450 meters in climbing the race leads through the mountains of Paarl with a lot of rewarding single trails, but also loose and dusty ascents and descents. Stage 3 also marked the turning point, being halfway through the race.
It was another strong race of all-Italian team WILIER-VITTORIA of Luca Braidot (ITA) and Simone Avondetto (ITA), who took the stage win with a stunning sprint finish against SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing’s Nino Schurter (SUI) and Filippo Colombo (SUI), who retain their lead in the general classification. Team Toyota | Specialized’s current overall leaders had a tough day on route but were still able to show off with great dominance taking their fourth consecutive stage win.
| STAGE 3 – MEN | STAGE 3 – WOMEN |
| 1. WILIER-VITTORIA – 9-1 Luca BRAIDOT (ITA) & 9-2 Simone AVONDETTO (ITA) 3:22:44 | 1. Toyota | Specialized – 51-1 Annika LANGVAD (DEN) & 51-2 Sofia GOMEZ VILLAFANE (ARG) 4:14:53 |
| 2. SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing – 2-1 Nino SCHURTER (SUI) & 2-2 Filippo COLOMBO (SUI) 3:22:45 // +1 | 2. Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM – 53-1 Vera LOOSER (NAM) & 53-2 Alexis SKARDA (USA) 4:19:30 // +4:37 |
| 3. Imbuko ChemChamp A – 17-1 Marco JOUBERT (RSA) & 17-2 Tristan NORTJE (RSA) 3:22:56 // +12 | 3. TitanRacing SE Honeycomb – 62-1 Bianca HAW (RSA) & 62-2 Hayley PREEN (RSA) 4:21:58 // +7:05 |
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 |
