South Africa’s Matt Beers and his American partner Howard Grotts of the Toyota-Specialised NinetyOne team have won the 2024 edition of the Cape Epic mountain bike stage race in Stellenbosch.
Anne Terpstra of the Netherlands and Switzerland’s Nicole Koller were flawless in the Women’s category, as they were also crowned champions of the Cape Epic.
Stage 7 was dubbed the Grand Finale, and Simon Schneller and Urs Huber of the Bulls Mavericks team took the stage honours.
Beers and Grotts finished third on the day but ultimately had done enough to win the Cape Epic. It’s a third title for Beers and a second for Grotts, as they beat the World Bicycle relief team of Nino Schurter and Sebastian Fini in the general classification.
Ghost Factory Racing’s Terpstra and Koller rode the perfect Cape Epic from start to finish, winning the prologue and all seven stages. They saw off South Africa’s Candice Lill and Austria’s Mona Mitterwallner of Cannondale Factory racing, who finished the Epic in second place.
Cape Epic winner Matt Beers says “In the beginning up that first climb I emptied myself just to get the group as small as we could and then from there I just hung on and thank goodness I think we played it perfect. And so many crowds en route so many people cheering it definitely when you are feeling a little bit sore it definitely boosted you.”
Cape Epic winner Anne Terpstra says, “Because we won everyday people think it is easy but it is not it is really really hard and both specialised and Cannondale they put up a great fight and we had to go for it every single day and that’s just it is exhausting but to then make it is even more special.”
