Christopher Blevins of Toyota Ninety One Specialized during stage 6 of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race from Stellenbosch to Stellenbosch, South Africa on the 26th March 2022. Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic
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@ Absa Cape Epic 2023, for editorial use only
Also this year, the Cape Epic leads through the impressive landscapes of the Western Cape of South Africa once again. The riders will tackle around 658 untamed kilometers and 15.755 meters of climbing consisting of many single tracks and technical terrains.
Georg Egger (GER) / Lukas Baum (GER) (last year’s winner), the best mountain biker of all times Nino Schurter (SUI) (multiple Olympic Champion, World Champion and overall World Cup winner in the discipline Cross Country), Andreas Seewald (GER) (current Vice Marathon World Champion and reigning German Marathon Champion) / Martin Stošek (CZE), Matthew Beers (RSA) (2021 winner) / Christopher Blevins (USA) (former XCC World Champion), David Valero Serrano (ESP) (currently number 1 in the Cross Country World Ranking), Fabian Rabensteiner (ITA) (reigning European Marathon Champion) / Wout Alleman (BEL) the world’s best riders will compete against each other in the UCI Men category.
In addition to the best mountain bikers in the world, former greats of the road cycling scene will also be competing: Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) – former Tour de France and Giro d’ Italia stage winner, Niki Terpstra (NED) – Paris Roubaix and Tour of Flanders winner, as well as Dutch champion, David Millar (SCO) – stage winner of all three grand tours.
In the women’s race it remains to be seen whether last year’s winner Sofia Gomez Villafane (ARG) will be able to defend the title with her new partner Katerina Nash (CZE). Among the competitors are Greete Steinburg (EST) / Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez (COL), Amy Wakefield (RSA) / Irina Luetzelschwab (SUI).