{"id":71704,"date":"2025-03-18T19:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T17:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/?p=71704"},"modified":"2025-03-23T21:20:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T19:20:19","slug":"buff-megamo-conquer-stage-2-toyota-specialized-dominate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/buff-megamo-conquer-stage-2-toyota-specialized-dominate\/","title":{"rendered":"Buff Megamo Conquer Stage 2, Toyota Specialized Dominate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Belgian rider Wout Alleman and Czech partner Martin Sto\u0161ek (BUFF MEGAMO 1) powered to a Stage 2 victory at the Absa Cape Epic near Paarl today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Martin STO\u0160EK and Wout ALLEMAN during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Starting at Meerendal Wine Estate and finishing at Fairview just outside of Paarl, the all-new team combination blitzed the 66km time-trial stage to finish 27 seconds ahead of Zebra Striped Yellow Jersey overall leaders Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo (SCOTT-SRAM MTB).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Aramex UCI Women\u2019s Category, it was another commanding performance from the all-star pairing of Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafane (Toyota | Specialized).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Annika Langvad and Sofia Villifane during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Dom Barnardt\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Starting last in the women\u2019s race in the time-trial format, Langvad and Villafane showed precision and power to claim the stage win in a time of 2:43:14. They now lead the Aramex UCI Women\u2019s Category by just over nine minutes, ahead of Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda (Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM) in second. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much was made of the Stage 2 time trial being the first point-to-point time trial to take place at the event – and of the 66km distance – the longest \u2018short\u2019 stage in the race\u2019s history. In the build-up hype, it seems that riders forgot to take into account the route conditions and the weather. Long, flat sections meant extra work for the legs – this as the temperature rapidly rose from warm to scorching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Annika Langvad and Sofia Villifane during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Dom Barnardt\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe started last today, so our plan was to see how the other teams rode and then to respond to that,\u201d said Annika Langvad. \u201cThe problem was, once we started catching teams we got a bit too excited and started going faster. Then the heat kicked in and took us a little by surprise.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monica YULIANA CALDERON MARTINEZ during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Michael Chiaretta\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Langvad\u2019s Absa Cape Epic experience kicked in and race management then became the order of the day. \u201cThere was some self-inflicted damage, so we had to slow down a bit and manage that for a while. Riding into the finish it felt like we were in an oven. We definitely paid the price for riding too hard. I am glad that stage is over but happy overall with the way I am feeling. We built some more time into our overall lead today and that\u2019s a great result.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the UCI Men\u2019s Category race, Schurter and Colombo were last to start, allowing them the advantage of knowing where their main rivals were in the field. However, it was the big engine of Wout Alleman that kicked in on the flat, work-rate-heavy stage, as he dragged partner Martin Sto\u0161ek through the dry, dusty route. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wout Alleman during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was tough!\u201d said Alleman \u201cIt was hot, with a bit of wind, but the hardest part was all the pedalling, there is just no time for recovery on a stage like this. Our plan was to try find a good pace that we could hold to the end, and then maybe attack a little harder at the end. It worked for us!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sto\u0161ek, who only joined Alleman in the BUFF MEGAMO 1 team days before the Absa Cape Epic started due to original teammate Hans Becking withdrawing from the race, was emotional on the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWout was pushing like crazy and I was just holding his wheel,\u201d said Sto\u0161ek. \u201cHe was so fast and I felt like I was slowing him down. I have had two bad days at the (Absa) Cape Epic and I really wanted to ride well for my partner, so I just hung in there – so now I am so happy to win this stage – that’s why we are here, to win stages. I am still taking it all in, it\u2019s wonderful to win a stage after three years. It\u2019s been seven hours of suffering for me this year and maybe two moments of fun. But now we have a stage win!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bianca HAW during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Michael Chiaretta\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tristan Nortje and Marco Joubert during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Dom Barnardt\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the Absa African Special Jersey, Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortje (Imbuko ChemChamp A) consolidated their lead over Marc Pritzen and Wessel Botha (Honeycomb 226ers) in the men\u2019s race, while Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen (TitanRacing SE Honeycomb) also rode impressively to finish fourth on Stage 2 and move into fourth overall in the Aramex UCI Women\u2019s Category while holding first place in the Absa African Special Jersey women\u2019s race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt strong today,\u201d said Nortje. \u201cMy strategy was just to keep the head down and the speed high!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UCI Men\u2019s Category Stage 2 Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Wout Alleman and Martin Sto\u0161ek \u2013 BUFF MEGAMO 1 \u2013 2:13:05<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Nino Schurter and Filippo Viero Colombo \u2013 SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing \u2013 2:13:32<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto \u2013 WILIER-VITTORIA \u2013 2:14:05<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 David Valero Serrano and Tiago Jorge Ferreira Oliveira \u2013 BH Coloma \u2013 2:14:16<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 Lukas Baum and Georg Egger \u2013 ORBEA Leatt Speed Company \u2013 2:14:50<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The men’s podium during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

UCI Men\u2019s Category GC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Nino Schurter and Filippo Viero Colombo \u2013 SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing \u2013 7:04:40<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto \u2013 WILIER-VITTORIA \u2013 7:05:24<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Lukas Baum and Georg Egger \u2013 ORBEA Leatt Speed Company \u2013 7:09:12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 Fabian Rabensteiner and Simon Stiebjahn \u2013 Torpado x Singer \u2013 7:12:21<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 Matthew Beers and Keegan Swenson \u2013 Outride | Toyota | Songo \u2013 7:13:57<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aramex UCI Women\u2019s Category Stage 2 Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafane \u2013 Toyota | Specialized \u2013 2:43:14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez and Tessa Kortekaas \u2013 CANNONDALE ISB SPORT \u2013 2:45:23<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda \u2013 Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM \u2013 2:45:38<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen \u2013 TitanRacing SE Honeycomb \u2013 2:47:26<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 Katazina Sosna-Pinele and Claudia Peretti \u2013 Torpado Kenda FSA WMN \u2013 2:48:25<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UCI WOMEN Podium during Stage 2 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Michael Chiaretta\/Cape Epic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aramex UCI<\/strong> Women\u2019s Category GC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafane \u2013 Toyota | Specialized \u2013 8:39:22<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda \u2013 Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM \u2013 8:48:44<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez and Tessa Kortekaas \u2013 CANNONDALE ISB SPORT \u2013 8:54:49<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen \u2013 TitanRacing SE Honeycomb \u2013 8:58:18<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 Rosa Van Doorn and Janina Wust \u2013 BUFF MEGAMO \u2013 9:01:09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Categories & Special Jerseys GC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Toyota Mixed Category: Riaan Weideman and Samantha Sanders – Toyota Gazoo Racing – 9:05:58<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • NTT Data Masters Men\u2019s Category: Pavel Gonda and Tobias L\u00fcthi – Czech Rocket&Swiss Diesel – 7:57:55<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Masters Women\u2019s Category: Tatiana Furlan and Kellyn Cumin – Especial\u00edssima – 11:03:29<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • GIC Grand Masters Men\u2019s Category: Ibon Zugasti and Kaare Aagaard – Orbea Factory Team – 8:16:41<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Grand Masters Women\u2019s Category: Jenny R\u00f6nngren and Martha Koekemoer – UAG Epic – 11:08:27<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Great Grand Masters\u2019 Category: Barti Bucher and Peter Vesel – Meerendal Etis – 9:19:50<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Absa African Special Jersey Men\u2019s Race: Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortjie \u2013 Imbuko ChemChamp A \u2013 7:14:18<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Absa African Special Jersey Women\u2019s Race: Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen \u2013 8:58:18<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Exxaro Special Jersey Men\u2019s Race: Damon Terblanche and Ziandro Jordaan \u2013 Fairtree DP World Can1 \u2013 8:48:14<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Exxaro Special Jersey Women\u2019s Race: Tsholofelo Nkosi and Bontle Phepiso \u2013 Exarro Academy Ladies 1 \u2013 13:43:36<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Belgian rider Wout Alleman and Czech partner Martin Sto\u0161ek (BUFF MEGAMO 1) powered to a Stage 2 victory at the Absa Cape Epic near Paarl today. Starting at Meerendal Wine Estate and finishing at Fairview just outside of Paarl, the all-new team combination blitzed the 66km time-trial stage to finish 27 seconds ahead of Zebra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":71706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-71704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-cape-epic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71704"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71716,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71704\/revisions\/71716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71704"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=71704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}