From the race village at Saronsberg Wine Estate, Stage 1 loops around the town in the Tulbagh bowl with more than a few trips up the slopes of its surrounding mountains. It will introduce riders to many of the new tracks in the area with the action starting on the day’s Land Rover Technical Terrain, the Bone Trail, which snakes upwards across the mountainside. Then it’s downhill on The Labyrinth's zigzag singletrack descent. Riders will also cross Confucius’s Bridge and enjoy the Fairy Loop. After some early climbing most of the cool sections are between the 45km to 70km marks, but include some rugged ascents – the profile for that section looks like a set of shark’s teeth.
Stage 2 of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic, the 100th stage in the history of the event, was held in another hot, windless day in Tulbagh. The racing in both the Men’s and Women’s categories was fiery too...
It's no surprise that Platt and Huber are dominating the Absa Cape Epic this year. With a third stage win, this time the 104km Stage 3 from Tulbagh to Wellington, Platt and Huber have moved nine minutes ahead of their nearest rivals, another German-Swiss team in the shape of Centurion Vaude by Me...
Kristian Hynek had a day of bad luck resulting in him pulling out of the race. Samuele Porro and Damiano Ferraro took the overall stage win and Annika Langvad won the stage in the Women’s category with Ariane Kleinhans, but only by five seconds!
