First time entrants Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria) claimed a surprise win today at the 2025 Absa Cape Epic Prologue on Meerendal Wine Estate. In the Aramex UCI Women’s Category race, it was a successful comeback to the Absa Cape Epic for five-time winner Annika Langvad (Toyota | Specialized).
The Italian duo of Braidot and Avondetto are cross-country specialists, but ahead of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic they weren’t listed among the favourites. In hot, dry and dusty conditions, they claimed first place on the 26km Prologue in a time of 59:45.
Two-time winner Nino Schurter (SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing) – riding with countryman Filippo Colombo – finished second in 1:00:05 with South African duo Marc Pritzen and Wessel Botha (Honeycomb 226ers) rounding out the podium places in a time of 1:00:49. In a quirky twist to the day, first-place was all-Italian, second-place all-Swiss and third-place all-South African – a bit like getting three consecutive double-letter scores in Scrabble.
In the women’s race, it was a very slim victory margin for Toyota | Specialized. Langvad, racing with 2022 champion Sofia Gomez Villafane, hasn’t raced professionally since 2019. On her return to the Cape Epic, anticipation was high that she would carry on where she left off.
Thanks to a well-paced ride with Villafane, the Dane duly obliged, winning the Prologue by three seconds ahead of Margot Moschetti and Samara Sheppard (e-FORT x ChemChamp). Namibia’s Vera Looser and US rider Alexis Skarda (Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM) took third place on the day.
Like the wind buffeting cyclists on the top of the Dorstberg climb, multiple narratives swirled around the Prologue as riders descended on the Cape this week. Has Nino Schurter finally found a partner who could match him pedal-stroke-for-pedal-stroke? Can Matt Beers win a fourth Absa Cape Epic and close in on the joint-record five wins? Would Annika Langvad return to the top and claim a record-breaking sixth title? And who from the women’s field could challenge her pre-2020 dominance?
With only 26km to ride on the Prologue, not all questions were answered, but some serious hints were dropped. Colombo certainly looks strong enough to lead Schurter around the route this year. Villafane and Langvad look like a winning combo, as do Moschetti and Samara Sheppard. And Beers, racing with his good friend Keegan Swenson (Outride | Toyota | Songo) remains as tactical as ever when it comes to the Untamed African MTB Race.
“We believed we could have a good race today when we looked at the distance and the profile,” said UCI Men’s Category Prologue winner Simone Avondetto. “We are super happy with the victory and it’s nice to come here and surprise everyone. It’s a great feeling to win and an even better one to start in the Yellow Zebra Striped Jersey tomorrow. Today was a stage that suited us. We like the short stages. I think tomorrow will be a lot harder, but we are in a good place right now.”
Beers, the defending champion, finished two-and-a-half minutes behind the leaders in ninth, but was his usual sanguine self after the stage. “We may have started too hard and lost some ground in the middle of the stage,” he said. “But it’s a long week of racing to come so we didn’t see the point in popping our eyeballs out on a short stage.”
SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing’s Colombo – the current Swiss cross-country national champion – said he and Schurter are exactly where they want to be after the Prologue. “We tried to win but without going too hard, so I think we managed our effort very well. We weren’t uncomfortable at any stage, and we had a lot of fun. We are not far off first place, so we are happy all round.”
In the women’s race, Langvad and Villafane started the Prologue like they had left the garage door open and needed to race home to lock up. Villafane in particular was aggressive on the climbs, with Langvad taking the lead on the few fast, flat sections of trail that were available to riders on the hilly course.
“I love winning the Prologue,” said Villafane. “It’s a great moment but I believe it also sets you up for a good week. The plan going into the stage was to work on our communication and to stay calm. It was really important to stay controlled out there today. We never wanted to go full gas.”
Langvad added that making a comeback after six years away from competitive riding did produce some mixed emotions. “It was a new feeling on the startline but familiar at the same time. This is my first race in five years, so I didn’t go too hard. I did suffer a bit – but this is our first time racing together, so every metre we ride from now on improves our teamwork.”
In the race’s other major categories, Elrika Harmzen-Pretorius and Alexander Lawrance (NEO Energies – e-FORT) claimed first place in Toyota Mixed Category, Karl platt and Calle Friberg (BULLS Masters Legends) won the NTT Data Masters Men’s Category Prologue, while Tatiana Furlan and Kellyn Cumin (Especialíssima) took first place in the Masters Women. The Grand Masters Men win went to Ibon Zugasti and Kaare Aagaard (Orbea Factory Team), with Jenny Rönngren and Martha Koekemoer (UAG Epic) winning the Prologue in the Grand Masters Women’s Category. The Great Grand Masters victory was claimed by Barti Bucher and Peter Vesel (Meerendal Etis).
For all results, click here.
Stage 1 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic starts and finishes at Meerendal Wine Estate and will see riders tackle 96km with 2750m of climbing in and around the hills of Durbanville.
To follow the fierce racing as it unfolds, mountain biking fans can tune in to the live broadcast on the Epic Series’ YouTube channel. The live coverage begins on Monday, 17 March, at 07:00 (SAST | UTC +2).
For more behind the scenes stories from the race follow @capeepic on Instagram, download the Epic Series APP or like the Cape Epic Facebook page.
Source: Epic Series Press Department
