Blevens and Ferreand-Prevot take early lead in dramatic Cape Epic prologue
Schurter and Forrester struggle early in South African stage race
Photo by:
Nick Muzik/Cape Epic
The 2022 Cape Epic started with a bang on Sunday, with a short hour-long prologue delivering early drama ahead of seven full days of racing.
Early setbacks for pre-race favourites
Nino Schurter and teammate Lars Forster (Scott-SRAM) returned to South Africa to re-claim their Cape Epic title, which the pair last held in 2019. Much like that year, this year started slower than expected. The highly-decorated Swiss pair dropped a full 4 minutes 39 seconds over the course of a short prologue, largely due to mechanical difficulties along the route.
“That’s racing,” said a calm Schurter on Sunday. “It can happen to anyone at any time on any day. It’s a pity it happened on the Prologue because you do lose a lot of places, but we are still in the race and, hopefully, that is all our bad luck and everything goes smoothly for the rest of the week. It’s a long race with lots of riding to come.”
U.S.A.’s Christopher Blevins and South Africa’s Matt Beers (Toyota NinetyOne-Specialized) made sure they took advantage. Blevins, the current Short Track world champion, and Beers put 40 seconds into their closest competitor. With that, the Toyota NinetyOne-Specialized team step into the leaders jersey going into Stage 1 on Monday.
Germany’s Georg Egger and Lukas Baum (Speed Company Racing) step into second, with Canyon Northwave’s German-Czech duo of Andreas Seewald and Martin Stosek in second. For North American’s following the results, Santa Cruz’s U.S.-French pair of Keegan Swenson and Maxime Marotte
Highlights: Prologue -2022 Absa Cape Epic
Ferrand-Prevot shines early in South Africa
On the women’s side, unlike the men’s, the most decorated rider on the startline stood on top of the podium. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, racing her first Cape Epic, won the prologue by 42.5 seconds. She’ll lean on the experience of BMC Racing teammate Robyn de Groot, a South African with a wealth of Cape Epic experience, to keep extending that lead throughout the week.
“I felt really good out there,” Ferrand-Prevot said at the finish line. “It was hot, but I felt strong. Robyn was a great partner, she was really good out there. It was nice to push hard on the route and get the blood pumping; we are one stage win in and we’re very happy with that. It’s a long stage race to come, so we will just take each day as it comes.”
The closest challengers after Sunday are two more South Africans. Candice Lill and Mariske Strauss (Faces Rola) rolled in 43 seconds ahead of the third place team. Ariane Luthi and Amy Wakefield (Symbtech ZA) sit third.
The top North Americans after the prologue re Specialized’s Haley Batten and Sofia Gomez-Villafane. The U.S. rider and U.S.-based Argintinian sit fourth. Liv Racing’s U.S. duo of Crystal Anthony and Serena Gordon are seventh. Liv Factory Racing’s U.S./S.A. pair of Kaysee Armstrong and Sarah Hill are ninth.
Cape Epic racing continues on Monday with a 92km course covering 2,850m of elevation gain. Stage 1 starts and finishes from the Laurensford Wine Estates. The loop ventures out into the Helderberg Mountains, taking in the King’s Climb and summiting Die Nek before heading home on singletrack.
