Stage 3 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic, held on the Paarl Trails network, was stopped early due to scores of riders suffering in the extreme heat, but that was after some strong performances by South African teams in several categories, including the Elite Men and Women’s races.
Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortje (Imbuko ChemChamp) rode a superb stage, finishing a close third after a race-long battle with the two top teams in the event SCOTT SRAM Racing’s Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo and Wilier Vittoria’s Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto.
Armed with local trails knowledge and buoyed by fan support, Joubert and Nortje put themselves at the front of the race for much of the 78km route, which incorporated a large section of the Paarl Trails singletrack network. On the steady ascent after Water Point 3 at the 66km point, Schurter and Colombo upped the pace, which distanced the South Africans, who were leading the Absa African Team competition and were sixth overall at the start of the day.
On the final descent from the top of Paarl Mountain, Joubert took some risks and Nortje followed courageously in an effort to close a 19-second gap to the leading quartet. Assisted by some tactical soft-pedalling by the leading four riders on the approach to the finish, the South Africans managed to close the gap and immediately threw themselves into the battle for the stage win.
But with 500 metres remaining, the four Europeans aggressively contested the finale, narrowly won by Braidot and Avondeto. Joubert and Nortje rolled home in third place, just 12 seconds back. This performance extended their lead in the Absa African Team competition and moved them up to third on the overall General Classification.
Not since 2012 has all-South African team held a top three place overall on the Absa Cape Epic Men’s General Classification. Matt Beers, the South African that’s won three of the past four editions, has achieved those victories with teammates from other countries. Beers and American teammate, Keegan Swenson are struggling to challenge at the front of the 2025 race and are lying 11th at 23 minutes 35 seconds back.
“Today’s plan was to the move up in the GC. We came to this Epic to get onto the final podium. We showed in the lead-up races and during training that it was possible. We had some bad luck on Stage 1 with a wheel issue. And on the Stage 2 time trial, I missed a turn and had minor back issues, so it wasn’t a smooth start. But today was a smooth day,” smiled Joubert.
“We all race to win. When we saw we had the opportunity, we had to try everything to beat the others. All four of those XCO guys have won or been on podiums at World Champs, World Cups or the Olympics, so it was always going to be hard to beat them at their own game – sprinting for the finish line. So, we had to try from far out. It didn’t work out, but we executed our plan quite well. Actually, I think we saved our legs a bit by attacking early in the stage and not later on. We are super pumped for the next couple of days,” added Joubert.
In the Elite Women’s race, South Africans Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen enjoyed their best stage result so far when they finished third. Wearing the red jerseys of the leading team in the Absa African Team competition, Haw and Preen managed the extreme heat well and moved up two positions, from fifth to third overall.
“I think both Bianca and I enjoy it when it gets tougher. We just managed the whole stage well and rode our own race until we knew the race for third was on. I think we both know how to suffer and there was plenty of suffering today!” said Preen.
“We knew we were always in the mix for third as there were a couple of us quite close together. At the top of the QOM climb we were actually in fifth but not far off the two teams in front. We kept pushing and caught the fourth team on the long singletrack descent. After the second water point, we were right behind Cannondale in third and could tell they were struggling, so we managed to get in front of them for the long singletrack climb and really just rode our own pace,” added Preen.
In terms of managing the excessive heat, Preen and Haw were mindful of the need to stay hydrated in the latter part of the race.
“We stopped at both the last two water points to fill up with water and drank lots at the water points. We doused ourselves with water too! And even though the last water point was at the top of the descent with about 10km to go, we still stopped to drink and cool off!” explained Preen.
