Thursday’s Stage 4 will start and finish at the Wellington race finish and be spent almost exclusively on the highly regarded Welvanpas trail network. By Absa Cape Epic standards it is short – only 75km – but has some sharp climbs and an accumulated altitude gain of 1850m.
Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
The distance and conditions suggest it will be a day for the cross country specialists, so expect the likes of Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory Racing) or Martin Gluth and Sascha Weber (Novus OMX Pro) to have a good day. Sport for Good’s Sabine Spitz and Yana Belomoina should also find the route to their liking and might fancy a crack at a Women’s category stage win.
Not long after the start the legs will be tested on the Patatskloof climb, then it’s down Cool Runnings Too, up the Aap d’Huez (with a mere 29 switchbacks) and down Route 66. The loop also includes Welvanpas’s White Route, filled with interesting singletrack and one notoriously bumpy section called the Cheesegrater. A day for the purist mountain biker perhaps, but there are a lot of testing climbs – including three tough ones shortly before the finish.
Source: Cape Epic Media
