South Africa’s Matt Beers and Amercian teammate, Howard Grotts (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne), tightened their grip on the 2024 Absa Cape Epic title when they won Stage 6 and put more time into their primary rivals on a tough 87km route in Stellenbosch on Saturday.
Beers and Grotts go into Sunday’s Stage 7, known as the Grand Finale, a relatively comfortable nine minutes clear of second-placed World Bicycle Relief (Nino Schurter and Sebastian Fini) in the general classification.
The gig was up for World Bicycle Relief after an early crash for multiple World Champion Nino Schurter. No damage was done, but Schurter decided soon after that he and Fini were out of the running for the overall title. Instead, they rode the stage as hard as possible to focus on second place.
With World Bicycle Relief dropping down the field, a few new contenders for the stage emerged, with Beers and Grotts always cool and calm at or near the front.
Scott Calabandida | Mazowsze (Sergio Gutierrez and Pawel Bernas) had a turn as leaders of the pack, as did BUFF – MEGAMO (Hans Becking and Wout Alleman), Wilier Vittoria Factory (Fabian Rabensteiner and Samuele Porro) and Canyon SIDI (Andreas Seewald and Marc Stutzmann).
Scott Calabandida | Mazowsze dropped off the pace, while the Canyon SIDI challenge faded towards the end of the stage, leaving Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne, BUFF – MEGAMO and Wilier Vittoria Factory alone at the front for the final third of the race.
Becking and Alleman then fell back after a puncture at the 75km point, leaving Beers, Grotts, Rabensteiner and Porro with a clear run to the Stellenbosch race village with 11km to go.
It looked like Wilier Vittoria Factory would take the win, but Beers noticed Porro struggling on the trails. Knowing there was only a short but steep climb to come, Beers alerted Grotts to the situation, and the pair powered past Rabensteiner and Porro on the final climb to race home comfortably in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
“The day just worked out perfectly,” said Grotts. “We wanted to play it safe, minimise the risks and just ride a steady race today. The plan worked and towards the end, we were able to pull away for another stage win. This race is far from over though and we have to stay focussed going into the last day.
Beers added, “Today was so good. It was quite an ‘easy’ ride for much of the stage. I think everyone is quite tired so the pace was not as hot as it had been at the start of the stage. But I knew we could do something today if we just kept it steady; the climbs on today’s route suit Howard. I just had to hang on while he climbed. I could see Samuele was struggling on the switchbacks so we knew he was on the edge. We just attacked on that last hill and moved past nicely.”
While anything can happen on the last day of racing, Schurter all but conceded defeat. “We don’t really have a chance to win this Cape Epic now so we will fight for second on the last day. Although today was a hard day for us, so we will need to see how we recover tonight.”
The Grand Finale is a 67km race on some of Stellenbosch’s most iconic trails, taking riders into Jonkershoek, through Eden and down G-Spot, finishing at the Coetzenberg Sports Fields. Expect raucous racing and a surprise or two as teams jostle for their final position of the 2024 Absa Cape Epic.
*Early bird entries for the 2025 Absa Cape Epic open on 25 March 2024 at 15:00 (GMT+2) and are sold on a first come first served basis. Early Bird Entries are highly limited with only 150 available. For those not successful with an early bird entry, The Lottery is already open and the first draw will take place on the 28th of March 2024.03.22.
For a full gallery of Stage 6 images, visit the Absa Cape Epic Facebook Page here.
Men’s Category, Stage 6
1 Matt Beers & Howard Grotts (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne) 3:46:48
2 Fabian Rabensteiner & Samuele Porro (Wilier Vittoria Factory) 3:47:29
3 Hans Becking & Wout Alleman (BUFF – MEGAMO) 3:48:38
Men’s Category GC after Stage 6
1 Matt Beers & Howard Grotts (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne) 22:27:01
2 Nino Schurter & Sebastian Fini (World Bicycle Relief) 22:36:23 +9:22
3 Hans Becking & Wout Alleman (BUFF – MEGAMO) 22:37:34 +10:33
Source: Absa Cape Epic Media
