![\"ccs-62657-0-51828800-1487756427.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-51828800-1487756427.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA total of 10 teams from New Zealand\u2019s Pioneer mountain bike stage race qualified to take part in the Cape Epic \u2013 some who won their categories and other finishers who got in through a lucky draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a significant moment in the evolution of the Cape Epic and mountain bike stage racing,\u201d says Kevin Vermaak, Managing Director of the Cape Epic MTB World Series. \u201cIt is the first step in building an international series of stage races that will culminate<\/p>\n
in the Absa Cape Epic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vermaak, who founded the race in 2004, has been charged by new Absa Cape Epic owners IRONMAN with creating a world series of stage races. The pinnacle event of the series will be the Cape Epic.<\/p>\n
\u201cBesides The Pioneer, which is also owned by IRONMAN, we will be acquiring more races as part of this series and they will offer Cape Epic qualification opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n Four of the five category-winning teams in The Pioneer took up the option of a guaranteed entry to the 2018 race \u2013 the only ones to defer were in the Grand Masters category, where the entry was passed on to the second-placed team.<\/p>\n Another five team entries were drawn from all the finishers of The Pioneer 7-day Epic at prize giving in Queenstown, New Zealand.<\/p>\n In just its second year, The Pioneer again proved to be a world-class event, drawing praise from all who took part. Close to 200 New Zealanders and 154 international riders took on the challenge of the 545km journey from Christchurch to Queenstown and the 15 000 metres plus of vertical gain through the week.<\/p>\n Vermaak was in New Zealand to see the Pioneer first hand and to announce those to earn their opportunity to ride in South Africa next year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Pioneer delivers an adventure travel experience second-to-none for mountain bikers from across the globe. We experienced authentic remote wilderness in the Southern Alps that regular tourists to the South Island (and many locals too, it seems) might only dream of seeing,\u201d Vermaak says.<\/p>\n And he so enjoyed riding two of the stages alongside Dave Beeche, Managing Director of IRONMAN Oceania and the man who thought up the event in the first place, that the South African committed to return and ride the full seven days in 2018.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n