The Cape Epic started with a blistering #prologue in extremely windy conditions at the Meerendal Wine Estate. The 27 km course took riders up some steep climbs, Dorslandberg and Stairway to Heaven, climbing a total of 800 m. In the women’s category, South African Robyn de Groot continued her impressive form, when she and Swedish partner Jennie Stenerhag (Ascendis Health) grabbed the category leaders’ orange jersey, finishing in 1:17.35. Close behind on their wheels was the 2 times champion duo of Ariane Kleinhans and Annika Langvad (Team Spur/Specialized) who finished second 18 seconds off the pace. The strong German Sabine Spitz and youngster Yana Belomoina (Team Sport for Good) took the third place on the podium trailing by 1: 17’.
The race to watch this year will be for the Sasol Orange Jersey, the women’s race which has a separate start group for all UCI-registered riders. The dominant duo of Kleinhans and Landvad have some serious competition this year, with the race format changing and with the inform Robyn De Groot and Jennie Stenerhag racing for the podium.
The mens race was won by the dominant Karl Platt and Urs Huber from Team Bulls in 1: 04.
Follow all riders with the live tracking feature www.cape-epic.com.
Today starts with a very difficult Stage 1 108 km 2300 m of climbing, a sharks tooth profile which will be a killer for the legs.
Women’s Race Rule Changes
In 2012 the Absa Cape Epic women’s race received UCI HC (beyond categorisation) classification and in 2014 it introduced equal prize money for the Women’s category. In August 2015 the Cape Epic announced additional far-reaching and innovative changes to the rules by announcing that from 2016 onwards the UCI-registered women will start in a separate group.
