{"id":75367,"date":"2026-03-13T18:39:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/?p=75367"},"modified":"2026-03-15T20:20:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T18:20:36","slug":"mens-and-womens-title-wide-open-ahead-of-2026-absa-cape-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/mens-and-womens-title-wide-open-ahead-of-2026-absa-cape-epic\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Title Wide Open Ahead of 2026 Absa Cape Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The all-South African team of Matt Beers and Tristan Nortje (Toyota Specialized Imbuko) line up as one of the pre-race favourites ahead of a wide-open 2026 Absa Cape Epic that starts at Meerendal near Cape Town on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beers, the champion in 2021, 2023 and 2024, was meant to ride the race with his partner from 2025, much vaunted American Keegan Swenson. But the American champion was forced to withdraw at the last minute after being diagnosed with a fractured hip after a collision with a car during training. Into the breach stepped fellow South African Tristan Nortje, who, together with Marco Joubert, finished third in 2025. The pairing will be attempting to become the first all-South African men\u2019s team to win the overall title in the event’s 22-year history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s great to be able to sort everything out after all the turbulence of the last week and partner with Tristan. And the fact that we are an all-South African team is cool,\u201d the 32-year-old Beers said at the pre-race media conference. \u201cWe are going for big goals and we know each other well, and that\u2019s a huge benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nortje, 24, believed that his experience racing for the podium in 2025 was the ideal preparation for his role in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast year I learnt quite early that I could ride in the front. Once you make that switch in your head you get a lot more confidence,\u201d Nortje said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fresh from their victory in the Andalucia Bike Race in Spain, the Klimatiza Orbea outfit of David Valero and Marc Stutzmann will also be fighting for a podium spot by the time the race reaches the Grand Finale in Stellenbosch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe are both in good shape after Andalucia, and it went really well for us,\u201d Stutzmann said. \u201cIt was the first time that we had ridden together as a team, and we did the race as preparation for this race. To go for a win at the Epic is always hard, but we will be going for at least a podium.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Stutzmann and Valero will be riding in their fourth Absa Cape Epic events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Australian cycling legend Lachlan Morton teams up with Canadian Andrew L\u2019Esperance (EF Education First) for his fourth appearance can\u2019t wait to get the wheels turning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a unique environment, the course is always different, and it\u2019s just good fun,\u201d Morton said. \u201cI don\u2019t really have an idea of where we will finish, but we\u2019ll definitely have a red hot crack at it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former World Under-23 champion Sam Gaze of New Zealand returns to the Absa Cape Epic after having to retire from his first attempt in 2019 with a head injury. Gaze will be partnering with versatile German powerhouse Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon) who has won both World Cup titles in short-course cross-country and German national marathon titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the world\u2019s biggest stage race and everyone who rides a mountain bike knows it,\u201d Gaze said of his decision to return. \u201cI\u2019ve come back with a strong teammate, and I think there is a great opportunity to do well. We didn\u2019t come here to finish second, we came here to win, but we know it’s a stage race and there will be some gritting of teeth and suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former World Marathon champion Andreas Seewald is also back with an Absa Cape Epic record that includes a second, fourth and fifth in the race. He will be partnering with fellow German Jakob Hartmann for the second time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe shape looks good and we have done some good training in South Africa in January and February,\u201d the experienced 34-year-old said. \u201cThis race is unpredictable, so it’s difficult to have expectations. But we will just take it day by day and work together as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Women\u2019s Race<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 2025 winners Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafone not participating in 2026, the women\u2019s elite field is both competitive and open, with no clear favourites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current world marathon champion, American Kate Courtney, was forced to make a last-minute partner swop after her fellow American Melisa Rollins was forced to withdraw through injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courtney will now partner with the four-day Tankwa Trek winner, German Greta Seiwald, in the She Sends Foundation team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn every difficulty, there is opportunity,\u201d Courtney said. \u201cGreta and I share a coach and, in many ways, this is the best-case scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Seiwald was due to ride in the mixed category before she got the call from Courtney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really excited. I was looking forward to racing in the mixed, but my fire burnt more when I decided to ride with Kate. I knew it was the right way to do my first Epic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local favourite Candice Lill teams up in a new partnership with explosive Swiss 2025 World Short Course champion Alessandra Keller (Th\u00f6mus Maxon Sabi Sabi). Lill, who finished regularly among the top 10 at the World Cup races in 2024 and 2025, has finished second five times at the Absa Cape Epic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, I definitely feel the pressure to win it,\u201d the 34-year-old Lill confessed. \u201cBut I try not to let it affect me. It doesn’t do me any good, and you must learn in a race like this that you can\u2019t control everything. The hard work is done, and we will go out and do our best every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Keller, racing with the experienced Lill in her first Absa Cape Epic is the ideal scenario.\u201cYes, eight days is super hard, but we will take it step by step,\u201d Keller said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to be working together as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another South African looking set for a podium challenge is Cape Town\u2019s Hayley Preen who teams up with Canadian Haley Smith (Chemchamp Honeycomb).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has been my big focus for the start of the year and racing with Haley is exciting. I just don\u2019t want to let her down,\u201d Preen said. \u201cThe podium is always the goal but to finish among the top five this year would be proper. The field is at another level this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The all-South African team of Matt Beers and Tristan Nortje (Toyota Specialized Imbuko) line up as one of the pre-race favourites ahead of a wide-open 2026 Absa Cape Epic that starts at Meerendal near Cape Town on Sunday. Beers, the champion in 2021, 2023 and 2024, was meant to ride the race with his partner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":75378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-75367","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\/75367","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=75367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75379,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75367\/revisions\/75379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75367"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=75367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}