The Cape Epic route is out! And it is even more brutal than we had feared…
After weeks of building the hype online and announcing the 9th of October as the launch date for the route, last Thursday at 21:00, finally the live stream was there. And I must honestly say, both Jeroen and I were excited about it. So 20:58 sharp we tuned into the stream on YouTube to see what awaits us in March…..
Spoiler alert: there’s a reason why the Cape Epic is considered the toughest MTB race in the world:
Total distance: 692km
Total elevation: 15.900m
Compared to last year, it’s 84km longer, but with 600m less of climbing, although I think the extra distance for sure offsets the discount in climbing. Were very excited knowing what’s coming and being able to think and talk about the approach for the race in more detail now, but I must admit we were also maybe a bit intimidated by some of the stages. Let’s walk you through of what’s coming.
This short 20 km run determines in classification order for the pro’s, and the order in which the amateur will be seeded into the stage 1 race (the race starts in batches, with the fastest riders in batch A, then batch B and so on).
Meerendal Wine Estate has hosted the prologue many times now, it’s a short and punchy ride, but with only 20km and 650m of climbing very doable. My guess is that we should be able to do this in 1h:00-1h:05, and hopefully that gets us in the A or B batch, so that we can start early for stage 1. This is key for not getting into traffic (yes, it does get that busy in the later batches) and, if physiologically speaking we'd be able to, keep the dream of a top 20 Masters classification alive.
The first real race day! I’ve lived in South-Africa for a small year, and the races moves to a small town that me and my loved to visit during that time: Montagu. Being part of the Klein Karoo, is it a semi-arid area, with unforgiving terrain where temperatures can rise to serious heights! This first ‘’real’’ stage will expose anyone who didn’t prepare properly or went too deep in the prologue.
If day 1 was easy, because most of the climbing was distributed over the length of the race, then day 2 will hit anyone in the face. Straight from the gun it is a relentless climb that covers more than half of the climbing of this stage in only one third of the length…hopefully we haven’t burned too many matches in stage 1 and get of to a good start.
In the earlier days of Cape Epic (so I learnt online) it was more of a marathon race, covering close to a 1000km over the entire event, but with less single track and more dirt road and jeep track. According to the organization, this year’s edition has elements of an oath to the past, which stage 3 surely represents. Covering 134km in distance in the transition to the next race village of Greyton is just brutal. Even of a flat road it is a big distance, let alone if you mix in 1750m of elevation to be covered. My guess is that this is where the bloodbath starts, knowing that each year less than half of the participants make it to the finish…..
The village of Greyton is wonderfully located in the midst of nature and has a very chill and laid-back vibe to it. Probably by now we’ve learnt that chill and laid-back does not apply to the race itself 😉. From looking at the profile of this race, the first 15k or so are very gentle, but then each of the climbs is steep as crazy. Apparently, the trails around Greyton are amazing, so I am really looking forward riding there.
In the route announcement, there was a lot of emphasis on stage 3 being an oath to the past of Cape Epic. When the intro for stage 5 was there, it was dubbed ‘’the Real Queen’’ (stage). And boy, will it be! It is only 6km shorter than stage 3, but the climbing is just insane….the transition from Greyton to Stellenbosch includes 2700m of elevation in total, and after the 100km mark there’s another 500m of steep climbing waiting for you. If the field hasn’t been thinned by the time we get to this stage, surely the Queen will take its toll on many of the teams!
After what I am sure will be a cruelling stage 5, this day offers some relief, but only in distance. With 2450m of climbing over 76km you know it will be steep. Especially after the Queen stage and with the day starting with a big climb, straight from the gun. Psychologically, once you’re over half of stage 6, I am sure your mind starts moving to seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Problem is, that you first have to get there!
This almost feels like they’re making up with us for putting us through the Queen stage. With ‘’only’’ 58 km of cycling, (but still 2k of climbing) this is a relatively short stage, and the shortest by a distance, apart from the prologue. I am really curious how we will feel at this point, with the finish for grabs, and hopefully that top 20 classification in the Masters category. Only time will tell.
Until then, Keep Chasing!
