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NinetyOne-Songo-Specialised’s Haley Batten and Sofia Gomez Villafañe are proving unstoppable in South Africa.
The American duo celebrated their third stage win on Saturday, and now lead Faces Rola (Candice Lill and Mariske Strauss) by over 16 minutes going into Sunday’s ultimate stage.
NinetyOne-Songo-Specialised has lastly opened a spot over Faces Rola within the @CMcom_ Girls’s class. View from the e-bike via the paths. @WOOLWORTHS_SA #epicwomen pic.twitter.com/Wy6kEHBdup
— capeepic (@CapeEpic) March 26, 2022
It was a two-team battle on the 76-kilometer stage on Saturday, with the 2 main groups swapping locations all through the largely singletrack course. With round 10k to go, NinetyOne-songo-Specialised lastly managed to shake off Faces Rola. Batten and Gomez Villafañe rode gracefully as a unit on the tight turns, and rode the ultimate kilometers comfortably collectively.
Gomez Villafañe stated after the stage that the week she and Batten spent pre-riding in Stellenbosch gave them a bonus throughout Saturday’s race.
Faces Rola doing their utmost to chase down NinetyOne-Songo-Specialised as they close to the end of Stage 6 within the @CMcom_ Girls’s class. #epicwomen pic.twitter.com/AEbkTdKkQJ
— capeepic (@CapeEpic) March 26, 2022
The lads’s race noticed one other pair of latest faces on the highest step of the rostrum as Italian-Belgian duo Fabian Rabensteiner and Wout Alleman (Wilier-Pirelli) rode an impeccable race to the highest.
The Italian marathon MTB champ and former Belgian XCO champ seemed robust from the beginning, attacking on the primary climb. Pace Firm Racing and Toyota-NinetyOne-Specialised adopted, however Beers and Blevins quickly dropped off. Wilier-Pirelli was additionally in a position to draw back from Pace Firm Racing.
The yellow jersey leaders Canyon Northwave MTB seemed to be struggling, notably Andreas Seewald, who’s battling a rib harm.
From the 40km mark, Wilier-Pirelli was in a position to draw back from the chasers, driving to the end with out a lot stress for the ultimate 30km.
Ending sixth on the day, Blevins and Beers drop again into third total, after a quick interval in second place on Friday.
A merely elegant show of tremendous clean biking from Fabien Rabensteiner on the entrance of Stage 6. #capeepic pic.twitter.com/JSvR0SBTbK
— capeepic (@CapeEpic) March 26, 2022
- Haley Batten / Sofia Gomez Villafañe (NinetyOne-Songo-Specialised), 30:13:51
- Candice Lill / Mariske Strauss (Faces Rola), at 16:29
- Pauline Ferrand-Prévot / Robyn de Groot (BMC MTB Racing), at 38:10
- Mari Rabie / Hayley Preen (Personal Consumer Holdings), at 1:12:12
- Ariane Lüthi / Amy Wakefield (Symbtech ZA), at 1:16:16
- Andreas Seewald / Martin Stošek (Canyon Northwave MTB), 24:54:46
- Georg Egger / Lukas Baum (Pace Racing Firm), at 2:45
- Christopher Blevins / Matt Beers (Toyota-NinetyOne-Specialised), at 7:40
- Hans Becking / José Dias (BUFF-MEGAMO), at 20:14
- Urs Huber / Simon Schellner, at 30:37
