Cape Epic
Absa Cape Epic | |
Host country | South Africa |
Competition period | March April |
Stages | Prologue + 7 stages |
overall length | over 700 kilometers |
Starting field | 600 teams from different nations |
The Absa Cape Epic is a year in South Africa ( Western Cape take-find) Mountain - stage race and is in the international calendar of the International Cycling Union held. Together with the Swiss Epic Graubünden and the Pioneer Race in New Zealand, it forms the international Epic Series.
First held in 2004, the race usually covers more than 700 kilometers and lasts eight days. Cape Epic attracts top riders from all over the world. Amateurs are also allowed to participate, whereby the participants are drawn by lot. One stage is driven every day. To determine the winner in the respective category, the times of all stages are added up at the end of the race. The route changes every year, but the goal is always in the wine-growing region of the Western Cape. Since 2007 the highlight of the last stage is at Lourensford Wine Estate. The Cape Epic was once described by Bart Brentjens ( 1996 Olympic champion in mountain biking ) as "the Tour de France of mountain biking".
Origins
After founder Kevin Vermaak finished the Ruta del Conquistadores , a MTB stage race over three days in Costa Rica , in 2002, he left London and went to Cape Town . There he planned an event similar to La Ruta, which will allow drivers to experience the picturesque beauty of South Africa.
In 2016, Vermaak sold the organization to the WTC , a subsidiary of the Chinese Wanda Group , which runs cycling races, triathlon events, marathons and the like worldwide. organized. Kevin Vermaak was responsible for developing a series of mountain bike races around the world.
Racing concept
Team of two people
All drivers must compete in a team of two people. The teams register in one of five different categories (Men, Ladies, Mixed, Masters or Grand Masters). The concept of teams was originally developed because the stage race takes the drivers through very remote areas. Having partners who have to look after each other due to the regulations fulfills a useful safety function. The distance between the drivers of a team may be a maximum of two minutes during the race, otherwise a time penalty of one hour will be imposed.
Leading categories and jerseys
All riders aim to win stages, but mostly they want to win in their category. There are five categories: Men, Ladies, Mixed (one woman and one man), Masters (both drivers must be 40 years of age or older by December 31 of the year) and Grand Masters (both drivers must be at least 50 years old). The color of the jerseys indicates the category of the leaders. Yellow: Men, rust-colored: Ladies, green: Mixed, blue: Masters and pink: Grand Masters. The leaders in each category are determined by adding up a team's times on the daily stages. The team with the fastest overall time receives the jerseys at the end of each stage and is allowed to start the next stage in these jerseys.
winner
The following teams were able to win the Cape Epic in the categories "Men", "Women", "Mixed", "Masters" (since 2004) and "Grand Masters" (since 2013):
year | category | team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Men | Focus / Rocky Mountain | Mannie Heymans | Karl Platt | |
Women | Yellow jacket | Hanlie Booyens | Sharon Laws | ||
Mixed | HAI Bike / Scott | Kirsten Rösel | Robert Eder | ||
Masters | Bowmans - Giant | Frank Soll | Duncan English | ||
2005 | Men | Giant | Roel Paulissen | Bart Brentjens | |
Women | Fiat / Bianchi / Adidas | Zoe Frost | Hannele Steyn-Kotze | ||
Mixed | Team Microsoft | Nic White | Anke Erlank | ||
Masters | Getaway / Mongoos | Friedrich Coleske | Doug Brown | ||
2006 | Men | Specialized | Christoph Sauser | Silvio Bundi | |
Women | adidas fiat deer | Sabine Grona | Kerstin Brachtendorf | ||
Mixed | radys.com | Dolores Mächler-Rupp | Severin Rupp | ||
Masters | ABSA BUSINESS BANKING SERVICES I | Linus van Onselen | Geddan Ruddock | ||
2007 | Men | Team Bulls | Karl Platt | Stefan Sahm | |
Women | DURAVIT | Anke Erlank | Yolandè De Villiers | ||
Mixed | IMC / Mongoose | Yolande Speedy | Paul Cordes | ||
Masters | Cycle lab | Andrew Mclean | Damian Booth | ||
2008 | Men | Cannondale Vredestein | Roel Paulissen | Jakob Fuglsang | |
Women | Rocky Mountain | Pia Sundstedt | Alison Sydor | ||
Mixed | Joybike guided by VMT and Maloja | Ivonne Kraft | Nico Pfitzenmaier | ||
Masters | ABSA Masters | Doug Brown | Bärti Bucher | ||
2009 | Men | Bulls | Karl Platt | Stefan Sahm | |
Women | Absa ladies | Sharon Laws | Hanlie Booyens | ||
Mixed | adidas Big Tree | Nico Pfitzenmaier | Alison Sydor | ||
Masters | Absa Masters | Doug Brown | Bärti Bucher | ||
2010 | Men | Bulls 1 | Karl Platt | Stefan Sahm | |
Women | Rothaus-CUBE | Kristine Noergaard | Anna-Sofie Noergaard | ||
Mixed | MTN Business Quebeka | Yolande Speedy | Paul Cordes | ||
Masters | Cyclelab Toyota | Shan Wilson | Andrew Mclean | ||
2011 | Men | 36ONE-SONGO-SPECIALIZED | Christoph Sauser | Burry Stander | |
Women | USN | Sally Bigham | Karien van Jaarsveld | ||
Mixed | Wheeler BiXS | Bärti Bucher | Esther Süss | ||
Masters | Juwi | Carsten Bresser | Udo Bölts | ||
2012 | Men | 36ONE-SONGO-SPECIALIZED | Christoph Sauser | Burry Stander | |
Women | Wheels4Life | Sally Bigham | Esther Süss | ||
Mixed | Contego 28E | Erik Kleinhans | Ariane Lüthi | ||
Masters | World Bicycle Relief | Bart Brentjens | Jan Weevers | ||
2013 | Men | Burry Stander - SONGO | Christoph Sauser | Jaroslav Kulhavý | |
Women | Energas | Yolande Speedy | Catherine Williamson | ||
Mixed | RE: CM | Erik Kleinhans | Ariane Lüthi | ||
Masters | bridge | Nico Pfitzenmaier | Abraao Azevedo | ||
Grand Masters | Songo.info | Bärti Bucher | Heinz Zörweg | ||
2014 | Men | Topeak Ergon | Robert Mennen | Kristian Hynek | |
Women | RECM 2 | Ariane Lüthi | Annika Langvad | ||
Mixed | Synergy | Yannick Lincoln | Aurelie half wax | ||
Masters | BETCH.nl Superior Meerendal | Bart Brentjens | Abraao Azevedo | ||
Grand Masters | Cycle Lab Toyota | Andrew Mclean | Heinz Zörweg | ||
2015 | Men | Investec Songo Specialized | Christoph Sauser | Jaroslav Kulhavý | |
Women | RECM Specialized | Ariane Lüthi | Annika Langvad | ||
Mixed | ETIS | Peter Vesel | Ivonne Kraft | ||
Masters | BETCH.nl-Superior | Bart Brentjens | Abraao Azevedo | ||
Grand Masters | Meerendal BIXS KTM | Bärti Bucher | Heinz Zörweg | ||
2016 | Men | Team Bulls | Karl Platt | Urs Huber | |
Women | Team Spur-Specialized | Ariane Lüthi | Annika Langvad | ||
Mixed | Open - Kappius Components | Jean-Francois Bossler | Fanny Bourdon | ||
Masters | CST Superior Brentjens | Bart Brentjens | Abraao Azevedo | ||
Grand Masters | Robert Daniel | Robert Sim | Udo Bölts | ||
2017 | Men | Scott SRAM | Nino Schurter | Matthias Stirnemann | |
Women | Meerendal CBC | Esther Süss | Jennie Stenerhag | ||
Mixed | Scott-Sram Nextlevel | Jenny Rissveds | Thomas Frischknecht | ||
Masters | BMC Absa Racing Team | Cadel Evans | George Hincapie | ||
Grand Masters | Meerendal CBC 3 | Bärti Bucher | Heinz Zörweg | ||
2018 | Men | Investec Songo Specialized | Jaroslav Kulhavý | Howard Grotts | |
Women | Investec Songo Specialized | Annika Langvad | Kate Courtney | ||
Mixed | Journey by Junto | Nicky Giliomee | Brennan Anderson | ||
Masters | Wilier Force 7C 2 | Massimo Debertolis | Ondrej Fojtik | ||
Grand Masters | Robert Daniel | Robert Sim | Udo Bölts | ||
2019 | Men | Scott-Sram | Nino Schurter | Lars Forster | |
Women | Investec Songo Specialized | Annika Langvad | Anna van der Breggen | ||
Mixed | TBR-Werner | Sebastian Stark | Laura Stark | ||
Masters | Merida Factory Racing | Jose Hermida | Joaquim Rodriguez | ||
Grand Masters | CST Sandd Bafang | Abraao Azevedo | Bart Brentjens | ||
2020 | because Corona pandemic canceled |
statistics
The most frequent winners in the five categories are (as of: After the Cape Epic 2019):
- Men
- Karl Platt (2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2016) and Christoph Sauser (2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015) with five overall victories each.
- Stefan Sahm (2007, 2009, 2010) and Jaroslav Kulhavý (2013, 2015, 2018) with three overall victories each.
- Roel Paulissen (2005, 2008), Burry Stander (2011, 2012) and Nino Schurter (2017, 2019) with two overall wins each.
- Mannie Heymans (2004), Bart Brentjens (2005), Silvio Bundi (2006), Jakob Fuglsang (2008), Kristian Hynek (2014), Robert Mennen (2014), Urs Huber (2016), Matthias Stirnemann (2017), Howard Grotts (2018) and Lars Forster (2019) each with an overall victory.
- Women
- Annika Langvad (2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019) with five overall victories.
- Ariane Lüthi (2014, 2015, 2016) with three overall victories.
- Sharon Laws (2004, 2009), Hanlie Booyens (2005, 2009), Sally Bigham (2011, 2012) and Esther Süss (2012, 2017) with two overall wins each.
- Hannele Steyn-Kotze (2005), Zoe Frost (2005), Kerstin Brachtendorf (2006), Sabine Grona (2006), Anke Erlank (2007), Yolandè De Villiers (2007), Alison Sydor (2008), Pia Sundstedt (2008) , Anna-sofie Noergaard (2010), Kristine Noergaard (2010), Karien van Jaarsveld (2011), Catherine Williamson (2013), Yolande Speedy (2013), Jennie Stenerhag (2017), Kate Courtney (2018) and Anna van der Breggen (2019) with one overall victory each.
- Mixed
- Yolande Speedy (2007, 2010), Paul Cordes (2007, 2010), Nico Pfitzenmaier (2008, 2009), Ivonne Kraft (2008, 2015), Erik Kleinhans (2012, 2013) and Ariane Lüthi (2012, 2013) with two each Overall wins.
- Brennan Anderson (2018), Jean-francois Bossler (2016), Fanny Bourdon (2016), Bärti Bucher (2011), Robert Eder (2004), Anke Erlank (2005), Thomas Frischknecht (2017), Nicky Giliomee (2018), Yannick Lincoln (2014), Aurelie Halbwachs (2014), Dolores Mächler-Rupp (2006), Jenny Rissveds (2017), Kirsten Rösel (2004), Severin Rupp (2006), Sebastian Stark (2019), Laura Stark (2019), Esther Süss (2011), Alison Sydor (2009), Peter Vesel (2015) and Nic White (2005) each with an overall victory.
- Masters
- Bart Brentjens (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016) and Abraao Azevedo (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) with four overall wins each.
- Doug Brown (2005, 2008, 2009) with three overall wins.
- Andrew Mclean (2007, 2010) and Bärti Bucher (2008, 2009) with two overall victories each.
- Duncan English (2004), Frank Soll (2004), Friedrich Coleske (2005), Geddan Ruddock (2006), Linus van Onselen (2006), Damian Booth (2007), Shan Wilson (2010), Carsten Bresser (2011), Udo Bölts (2011), Jan Weevers (2012), Nico Pfitzenmaier (2013), Cadel Evans (2017), George Hincapie (2017), Massimo Debertolis (2018), Ondrej Fojtik (2018), Joaquim Rodriguez (2019) and Jose Hermida ( 2019) with one overall victory each.
- Grand Masters
- Heinz Zörweg (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017) with four overall wins.
- Barti Bucher (2013, 2015, 2017) with three overall victories.
- Robert Sim (2016, 2018) and Udo Bölts (2016, 2018) with two overall victories each.
- Andrew Mclean (2014), Abraao Azevedo (2019) and Bart Brentjens (2019) each with an overall victory.
Web links
- Official website
- Sport Xtreme broadcast. Cape Epic - Long and painful. ZDF, April 16, 2013, accessed on August 13, 2013 .
- Epic Series
Individual evidence
- ↑ Milestones of the Cape Epic (English). (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 13, 2013 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ New ownership for Absa Cape Epic August 18, 2016
- ↑ Rules of the Cape Epic. (pdf; 265 kB) (No longer available online.) March 8, 2012, archived from the original on October 2, 2012 ; accessed on August 13, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ About the race. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 9, 2014 ; Retrieved August 13, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Cape Epic: Past Winners . Online at www.cape-epic.com. Retrieved November 1, 2019.