Haley Batten moves into Cape Epic lead as brutal heat on Sage 1 rearranges leaderboard
Specialized team soars as early leaders struggle on first major day of racing in South Africa
Photo by:
Nick Muzik/Cape Epic
A new day and 92km of racing in brutal South African heat brought new leaders after Stage 1 of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic. The NinetyOne-Specialized crew had mixed luck, with its men’s team struggling and conceding both time and the leader’s jersey. Haley Batten and Sofia Gomez-Villafane, though, soared to a stage win and the women’s lead.
Men: Specialized struggles, Canyon shines and Schurter’s mechanical woes continue
After a prologue and one stage of racing, the 2022 Absa Cape epic is already exciting. Christopher Blevins and South Africa’s Matt Beers went from winning the prologue to finishing 12th on Monday. Beers appeared to struggle on the day.
“I’m not sure what happened. My stomach was giving me issues all day and I couldn’t keep any food down,” said Beers of a rough day out. “It was just one of those days. There was no option to quit; I just need to ride my way back into it from tomorrow.”
“That climb in the middle made it a tough day,” Belvins said after the stage, adding his support for his ailing teammate. “Matt is such a champion for pushing on.”
Beer’s stomach issues shuffle the Toyota-NinetyOne-Specialized team from first to seventh.
Canyon Northwave’s German-Czech team of Andreas Seewald and Martin Sotšek were well poised to take advantage. The Cape Epic veterans rode smart through soaring temperatures to move into the orange leader’s jersey on the back of their Stage 1 victory.
After mechanical difficulty during the prologue, superstar Swiss duo Nino Schurter and Lars Forster (Scott SRAM) again struggled with flat tires on Monday. The pair finished fifth, pushing them up to eighth overall.
“It’s hard to motivate yourself when you fall so far behind. It’s very draining mentally,” said Schurter, “But we did what we could and we will ride hard on Stage 2.”
Santa Cruz’s team of Maxime Marotte and the U.S.’s Keegan Swenson had an excellent ride on Monday, placing fourth. That pushes the Frech-U.S. team up to third overall behind Buff-Megamo’s Hans Becking and Jose Dias.
Heat rocks women’s standings
There was upheaval on the women’s side as well. NinteyOne-Specialized-Songo’s women’s team of Haley Batten and Sofia Gomez-Villafane soared in the heat, moving from fourth after the prologue into the women’s lead. The U.S. rider and U.S.-based Argentinian put 1:49 into the next fastest team.
Ariane Luthi and Amy Wakefield (Symbtech ZA) also jumped up the standings. The pair led for a portion of the day, even through mechanical difficulty. Eventually, they were overtaken by Batten’s relentless pace. The Symbtech ZA team jumps from third to second overall.
Candice Lill and Mariske Strauss (Faces Rola) finished 3:42 back of the Specialized team, holding onto third on the day and in the overall.
After setting a blistering pace in the prologue, BMC Racing’s all-star squad of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Robyn de Groot struggled in the heat on the first full day of racing. The duo finished fourth, nine minutes back of the stage winners. The French multiple-time world champion described suffering a headache and starting to hallucinate from the heat on the day’s major climb. Heat and stomach issues have ended the Cape Epic effort of many great riders in past years. For now, Ferrand-Prevot says she is ready to battle on for Tuesday’s second stage.
The Cape Epic, though, leaves little time for struggling riders to recover. Stage 2 lays down a massive 123km of racing from Laurensford Wine Estates to Greyford. There’s a staggering 2,350m of elevation gain as the route crosses the Gantouw Pass, Kat Pas and Van der Stel Pas.
You can watch Stage 2 live on the Cape Epic YouTube channel.
