![\"ACE22_Stage](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/304840979_ACE22_Stage7_NickMuzik_0003-2.d5d738aaaea9bcbdaa57f5c7aa60f5d0-1.jpeg\" "\\"\\"")
\n\tGeorg Egger and Lukas Baum of Speed Company Racing during stage 7 of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic Mountain. Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSpeed Company Racing\u2019s Georg Egger and Lukas Baum made history at the Absa Cape Epic by becoming the first team in the history of the event to chase down the overall leaders on the Grand Finale stage and claim the crown for themselves.
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\n\tNever before in the Absa Cape Epic has the race lead changed shoulders on the final stage – the closest finish to date was in 2007, where Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm just about hung on for the win, a three-and-a-half minute victory over future Tour de France star Jakob Fuglsang and Roel Paulissen (Cannondale-Vredestein). After eight days of yellow-jersey yo-yo, the German pair won their first of three titles together, but only after a brutal final stage into Lourensford Wine Estate.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t \t![\"ACE22_S7_SimonPocock_7242.jpeg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ACE22_S7_SimonPocock_7242.08846f529b5394093b98634ed52d265e-1.jpeg\" "\\"\\"")
\n\tLukas Baum and Georg Egger of team Speed Company Racing during stage 7 of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic. Phot by Simon Pocock.<\/em>
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\n\tFast-forward 15 years, and the air of inevitability on the Grand Finale start line in Stellenbosch extended beyond the can-do minds of the race\u2019s 2022 underdogs. Team Speed Company Racing had been talking up their chances of winning the event outright since a surprise second-place finish in the opening Prologue in Lourensford, seven days before. The German upstarts quickly became crowd darlings; privateers in the biggest mountain bike race in the world taking the racing to the factory teams, winning stages and hearts with their aggressive approach to each stage.
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\n\tOn Saturday\u2019s Stage 6, they had cut their deficit to Andreas Seewald and Martin Sto\u0161ek (Canyon Northwave MTB) by nearly four minutes to head for Val de Vie needing just two minutes and 46 seconds to snatch yellow. That they were going to hit it hard, from the gun, was a given. Could they make it stick? The form book said yes.
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\n\tOnly SCOTT-SRAM\u2019s Nino Schurter and Lars Forster and the Santa Cruz duo of Maxime Marotte and Keegan Swenson could go with them when they pressed launch early on the 68km, 2 000m brute. Muratie\u2019s sublime trail network was the site of the first detonation, and it would prove to be the one that counted. By the 16km checkpoint, Egger and Baum had already taken 40 seconds over Seewald and Sto\u0161ek, who had defending champion Matt Beers and his new (Toyota-NinetyOne-Specialized) partner Christopher Blevins for company.<\/p>\n![\"ACE22_Stage](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/770118796_ACE22_Stage7_NickMuzik_9603-2.d0eb35c7d72245276765f6aa2e1a7aaf-1.jpeg\" "\\"\\"")
\n\tMartin Sto\u0161ek of Canyon Northwave MTB during stage 7 of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic.<\/em>
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\n\tThe foursome worked well to limit the gap to the charging Germans for the first hour-and-a-half of racing. Past winner Stefan Sahm, riding the media e-bike behind Speed Company Racing, could barely keep up. “It’s like they are winching themselves to the finish,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do; they have nothing to lose.”
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\n\tThe gap hovered under a minute, but then slowly started stretching before free-falling as they hit the final climbs of the race in the Simonsberg Conservancy. Santa Cruz and SCOTT-SRAM kept pace with Speed Company Racing for much of the day, potentially setting up a final-day sprint finish. But with barely believable energy, Baum and Egger attacked once more on the final, steep, winding climb of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic. The elastic snapped, with Santa Cruz and SCOTT-SRAM dropping back.\n<\/p>\n