[Words by Steve Thomas]

South Africa’s Cape Epic first appeared in 2004. It was a bold and brave venture into the untamed wilds of the Rainbow Nation and the then relatively small and low-key world of off-road stage racing. Despite many thinking it may be a one-off novelty race, it was a huge hit and captured the imaginations of cyclists, fans, and sponsors from all over the world.

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Some 21 years later, the race is widely considered as the “Tour de France” of mountain biking and is an eight-day stage race around South Africa’s Cape and its varying regions, which is run as a two-rider team format. Some of the biggest names in not only cycling but from other sports, too, are etched at the tops of their bucket lists. As the first major league mountain bike race of the season, and with the Cape’s favourable weather and riding conditions, many of the best riders in the offroad game truly start their seasons here – and always with serious intent.

Here's what you need to know and who to look out for this year.

Elite Men

Three-time winner and defending Champion Matt Beers, the South African offroad marathon specialist, will line up to defend his title with Keegan Swenson of the USA, who has dominated the Lifetime Grand Prix series and the US offroad endurance scene in the past years. Swenson has ridden the race twice before, though he only managed 11th both times around – having been the stronger of his pairings. This year, they will unite as Outride/Toyota/Songo, and are, by a gnat’s breath, favourites for the overall title.

Matthew Beers at the 2024 Cape Epic, by Nick Muzik

The biggest challenge to Beers and Swenson will likely come from XCO racing GOAT Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo, both of Switzerland and the Scott-SRAM team. Nino is a two-time winner of the race, and despite being the relative “old timer” in the Elite category, he finished second last year, while Colombo has only ridden once here – in 2021, when he finished seventh on GC, and his road racing background should stand him in good stead too, We expect these two teams to lead the battle for victory.

This is by no means to say they will have the lead all to themselves, not by any means; there is real strength in depth in the mix too, and at this race, anything can, and often does, go wrong, and with two-rider teams, that risk is doubled. Most likely to challenge are 2022 winners Lukas Baum and Georg Egger of Germany, who are racing for Orbea Leatt Speed Company. Also of interest, but unlikely to be in contention given the hilly and technical nature of the race, is former Olympic Road Race Champion and Paris-Roubaix winner Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium, who teams up with countryman Julian Siemons.

Elite Women

The Elite women’s race is always hard-fought, and over the years has produced some surprising duos and results, and often goes right down to the nail. Leading the charge this year is the Toyota Specialized duo of Annika Langvad of Denmark and Sofia Gomez Villafane of Argentina. This will be an intriguing one, as the veteran XCO racing ace Langvad is a three-time winner here, but she retired from racing in 2020 and became a dentist, and this will be her first professional race return. Meanwhile, Gomez has ridden the race four times and won once – all after Langvad retired – and they are very different in style and character. Can they gel?

Cape Epic_OffRoadCC_Anne Terpstra_018.jpeg, by Liam Mercer

With many of the recent past winners and bigger names absent from the start this year, it’s hard to see beyond Langvad and Gomez Villafane this time, although, as we already mentioned, it’s rarely that smooth. An interesting pairing that could surprise a few is the MAAP duo of Hayley Smith of Canada and Ella Bloor of Australia. Neither have raced the Epic before, though Smith is a past Swiss Epic winner and also won the overall Lifetime GP series in 2025, while Bloor is a fast-rising all-round endurance racer who is making her way on the gravel and MTB marathon circuit. The Slovakian duo of Janka Keseg Stevkova and Marina Krahulcova (Outsiterz D2mont Media) are also seasoned Epic riders with decent and consistent past GC finishes between them.

The route and stages

This year’s Absa Cape Epic covers approximately 605km and has a staggering 16,500m of rough-cut climbing scattered along its way. With a new host venue and 300km of never-before-used trails, the race follows its now familiar place to base outline but with multiple nights and single-lap circuit-based routes out of these, which makes it a whole lot easier logistically for all concerned.

Prologue, 16 March – Meerendal, Wine Estate, Durbanville, 26km loop with 750m elevation gain.

In Tour de France style, it determines the first leader’s jersey wearers for the coming cross-country stages, which in turn also dictates the starting grid order for the first stage.

Stage 1, 17 March, Meerendal Wine Estate circuit, 96km with 2,750m.

Stage 2, 18 March, Meerendal Wine Estate to Fairview, Pearl, 63km with 950m.

Stage 3, 19 March, Fairview, Pearl circuit, 90km with 2,600m.

Stage 4, 20 March, Fairview, Pearl – multiple interlined loops, 80km with 1,950m.

Stage 5, 21 March, Fairview, Pearl to Lourensford Wine Estate, Somerset West, 98km with 2,850m.

Stage 6, 22 March, Lourensford Wine Estate, big loops interlined, 88km with 2,550m.

Stage 7, 23 March, Lourensford Wine Estate circuit, 64km with 2,100m.

How to watch the race

The Cape Epic started back in 2004, when we were still pretty much living in an analogue era, and one with limited access to the plethora of digital, terrestrial and satellite viewing options we now have, and YouTube didn’t even fire up on the fast-evolving internet until a year later. Since the get-go, the organisers have realised the importance of providing as much coverage of the race as possible – and for free. This is extremely welcome in current times, especially for those in the UK being asked to fork out a small monthly fortune by Warner Brothers Discovery/TNT just to watch the UCI World Cup live.

Not to mention that the Cape Epic is arguably a far more “epic” and wildly scenic race to tune into. The full stages are streamed live on the Epic Series YouTube Channels, on the website, and through the iOS and Android apps. Full broadcasts and highlights are also posted on the same platforms – and, of course, you can follow the Reel and Stories on Instagram, too.

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