Cape Epic: German males and South African ladies prime podium in stage 3

“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote”} }”>

Stage 3 of the Cape Epic noticed lightning quick racing within the elite fields on Wednesday.

South African duo Candice Lill and Mariske Strauss (Faces Rola) noticed their first stage win on Wednesday, bumping them into second place general. The Faces Rola workforce accomplished the 101k stage in 4:50:35. Individuals Haley Batten and Sofia Gomez Villafañe had been with them on the end line, 2,9 seconds behind in a dash. One other South African workforce, Personal Shopper Holdings, completed third on the day.

Stage 3 winners – Candice Lill and Mariske Strauss (Faces Rola)!@CMcom_ @WOOLWORTHS_SA #epicwomen pic.twitter.com/8K7cvaGS7i

— capeepic (@CapeEpic) March 23, 2022

Hayley Preen and Mari Rabie (Personal Shopper Holdings) set the tempo early within the race and at one level constructed a two minute hole over their rivals. Ultimately, Batten and Gomez Villafañe and Faces Rola bridged simply forward of the 60km mark, and all three groups rode collectively for the remainder of the stage.

It was cat and mouse for the ultimate 40k, with a win trying good for Personal Shopper Holdings. Then, Lill attacked on the ultimate climb and he or she and Strauss, together with Batten and Gomez Villafañe handed Personal Shopper Holdings.

Lill and Strauss finally managed to get forward of Batten and Villafane on the ultimate singletrack.

Within the males’s race, Germans Lukas Baum and Georg Egger (Pace Firm Racing) stormed to their first win in simply 3:48:23 . Blevins and Beers (Toyota-NinetyOne-Specialised) adopted 2:15 behind, and GC leaders Seewald and Stošek (Canyon Northwave MTB) completed third on the day, 3:28 off the entrance. 

Baum and Egger moved to the entrance of the race earlier than the 20km mark and by no means seemed again. The blistering tempo impressed some good chasing early within the day — notably by Maxime Marotte and Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz) — however because the race wore on, no groups had been in a position to sustain and at one level the Germans had a two minute hole.

Later within the stage, solely Blevins and Beers tried to chase.

Nino Schurter and Lars Forster (SCOTT-SRAM) had a tough day, ending 9 minutes behind the stage winners.

1. Andreas Seewald / Martin Stošek (Canyon Northwave MTB), 14:06:53
2. Georg Egger / Lukas Baum (Pace Racing Firm), at 4:42
3. Christopher Blevins / Matt Beers (Toyota-NinetyOne-Specialised), at 6:52
4. Hans Becking / José Dias (BUFF-MEGAMO), at 9:05
5. Nino Schurter / Lars Forster (Scott-SRAM), at 14:33

1. Haley Batten / Sofia Gomez Villafañe (NinetyOne-Songo-Specialised), 17:14:58
2. Candice Lill / Mariske Strauss (Faces Rola), at 10:07
3. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot / Robyn de Groot (BMC MTB Racing), at 12:19
4. Ariane Lüthi / Amy Wakefield (Symbtech ZA), at 16:26
5. Mari Rabie / Hayley Preen (Personal Shopper Holdings), at 44:36