Bike Check: Alban Lakata’s Canyon Lux CF
Team Topeak Ergon’s top team featured Alban Lakata, who has completed the Cape Epic an impressive 7 times (finishing as an individual rider on one occasion), and last year’s winner Kristian Hynek. This year the pair rode Canyon’s Lux CF marathon race bike. To my eyes, Lakata’s bike is looks pretty good. The first detail […]
Bike Check: Martin Gujan’s Silverback Superbike Concept
Team Novus OMX Pro (Fabian Giger and Martin Gujan) surprised many when they won the Absa Cape Epic Prologue and did well to break the top 10 with their 9th in the general classification. The ladies did even better finishing in 6th place. We take a look at Gujan’s Silverback Superbike Concept (SBC). The bike […]
Absa Cape Epic: Working on the Table Mountain trails
The Absa Cape Epic will help to rehabilitate trails on Table Mountain following the highly successful Prologue on its slopes. The new singletrack from below the Blockhouse and down to Plum Pudding – opened for the event – is in need of work after the March 15 Prologue and heavy usage in the few days […]
Bike Check: Rourke Croeser’s Full-Dynamix Higher
Late last year, Rourke Croeser and Travis Walker signed up to ride for the Full-Dynamix factory team. Full-Dynamix didn’t budget for the lads doing the Cape Epic, so they had to look to USN to help them compete. We chatted to Rourke and Travis during the Epic and got a look at Rourke’s Full-Dynamix Higher […]
Bike check: Centurion Numinis Carbon Team.29
Team Meerendal Centurion Vaude finished 8th at the 2015 Cape Epic as well as winning the final stage. We caught up with team rider Jochen Kaess and his Centurion Numinis. Centurion is a German brand with ties to Merida. The Numinis Carbon Team.29 is their flagship cross-country marathon offering. Despite sharing the same name, the […]
Bike check: Bulls Wild Edge Team 29
At the end of Stage 3 of this year’s Absa Cape Epic at Oak Valley, I took a brief look at Karl Platt’s Bulls Wild Edge Team 29. Platt’s bike features a Shimano XTR drivetrain. Interestingly, he goes with the electronic Di2 gear shifting components in the rear and sticks to mechanical parts in the […]
Gone in just 9 seconds
The 100 early bird entries for the 2016 Absa Cape Epic sold out in nine seconds on Monday. “A lot of people were ready and counting the seconds until they opened at 3pm,” said race founder Kevin Vermaak. “Nine seconds later they were all gone.” There were more than 500 hopefuls who completed the early […]
Epic Insider: Tough climbs, fast tracks and pure elation on the final stage
Waking up on Sunday morning I realised it was the final day of the 2015 Absa Cape Epic. For a brief moment emotions ran high. We were almost there, but not quite yet. You pull back the focus and press pause on any premature celebrations. With 91 km remaining on the final stage anything can […]
2016 Absa Cape Epic entries open on Monday
The 2015 Absa Cape Epic is over … now it is time to get your place in next year’s event. Tomorrow, 23 March, would-be participants get their first opportunity to enter the 2016 race when the early bird entries open at 15h00 (GMT+2). The early bird system gives the first 100 entrants a place on […]
Buys & Beukes go home in red
The thrilling contest for the Absa African special jersey ended with Philip Buys and Matthys Beukes of Scott Factory Racing taking the red shirt and Burry Stander memorial trophy home on Sunday after a tough Grand Finale stage. Matthys Beukes and Philip Buys of Scott Factory Racing win the African Leaders Jersey during the final […]
Unbeatable Kleinhans and Langvad cruise to victory
The Absa Cape Epic’s most impressive ever pairing in the Sasol Women’s category started high-fiving spectators 3km from the finish line at Meerandal Wine Estate on the Grand Finale of the 2015 Absa Cape Epic. From the Prologue to Stage 7, Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad dominated the 2015 Absa Cape Epic with their intensity […]
‘Susi’ gets win number five
Swiss mountain biking legend Christoph Sauser’s last Absa Cape Epic as a professional rider ended in triumph on Sunday as he inked his name into history by becoming the first person to win it five times. Christoph Sauser of Investec-Songo-Specialized and Jaroslav Kulhavy of Investec-Songo-Specialized celebrate winning the 2015 Absa Cape Epic during the final […]