South Africans Candice Lill and Amy Wakefield overcame a crash, a serious injury, strong rivals and gale force winds to win Stage 1 of the 2023 Absa Cape Epic and become the first all-South African team to lead the iconic race overall since 2008!
By Sean Badenhorst
Agreeing to team up last week after each lost their initial respective partners to illness and injury, Lill and Wakefield showed true South African ‘vasbyt’ (grit) to overcome a number of challenges, win the stage and take over the race lead in the CM.com UCI Women’s Category.
“We were really riding strong with the front group and about 30 kays in I took a corner and got caught on a stick from a tree. I went down and I felt my arm was quite sore, so I looked under my sleeve and there was this massive gash!” explained Wakefield afterwards.
“I could see fat and muscle and I was like, okay, so I can move my arm and nothing is bleeding. I said, ‘Candice get your duct tape. We just need to get this closed and I can ride. We carried on riding. It was kind of sore on the downhills,” added Wakefield.
“Amy is a really tough cookie!” said Lill. “I said to Amy, let’s stay calm and ride our own pace. We managed to that very well. Then, at around 60 or 70 kays we actually managed to ride away into the lead and win. I’m so happy, I can’t believe it!”
The pair won the stage in a time of 4 hours 57 minutes 46 seconds. They beat second placed overnight leaders, Sofia Gomez Villafane of Argentina and Katerina Nash of Czech Republic by 5min54sec and hold an overall lead of 5min24sec over the NinetyOne Songs Specialized pairing. They also took over the lead in the Absa African Team competition.
Wakefield’s wound appears to be serious and requires surgery. It’s not known yet if she will be able to continue on Stage 2 on Tuesday.
The last all-South African women’s team to lead an Absa Cape Epic was Yolande de Villiers and Anke Moore, who won all eight stages and the overall title at the 2007 edition. The only time an all-South African men’s team has led the race was in 2008 after Kevin Evans and David George won the first ever prologue stage.
It was Lill’s fourth Cape Epic stage win and it was Wakefield’s first. She joins an elite South African club of Absa Cape Epic stage winners as follows:
Hanlie Booyens 18
Robyn de Groot 10
Hanele Steyn 9
Yolande de Villiers 8
Anke Moore 8
Yolande Speedy 5
Zoe Frost 5
Candice Lill 4
Michelle Lombardi 3
Mariske Strauss 3
Karien van Jaarsveld 2
Leana de Jager 1
Christie Smith 1
Amy Wakefield 1
More information about the South African women’s Cape Epic success in this article we published last year.
