Cheers as SA’s Beers, and partner Grotts, win stage 6 of Epic and lead into finale

Matthew Beers, with his American partner Howard Grotts, is flying the South African flag at the Absa Cape Epic as the pair won Saturday's 87km penultimate stage 6 in Stellenbosch and lead into Sunday's Grand Finale.

In the women's race, the Ghost Factory Racing team of Anne Terpstra of the Netherlands and Nicole Koller of Switzerland won their seventh straight stage from day one in 4hrs 30min 39sec.

Beers and Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne partner Otto have a 2min 57sec lead going into the final stage over second-placed World Bicycle Relief riders Nino Schurter and Sebastian Fini, who only managed ninth on Saturday (3:53:13).

Beers, the 30-year-old rider who won the 2021 Epic with Jordan Sarrou of France, is one of South Africa's premier cross-country mountain bikers who has notched multiple titles including the SA Marathon Championships (2021 and 2023) and SA Gravel champs (2022 and 2023).

Grotts, 31, represented the US in the cross-country event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and won the Leadville Trail 100 for three successive years from 2017 to 2019.

Beers and Otto will feel they can carry their consistency across the seven completed stages into Sunday's 67km (with 2000m climbing) Grand Finale, which also takes place in the scenic hills and across the wine estates around Stellenbosch.

Toyota-Specialized placed second in the prologue, were third in stage 1, finished second in the third and fourth legs and won their first stage on Friday (stage 5), then were first again on Saturday.

The Buff Megamo team of Hans Becking and Wout Alleman and are in third place overall after their finish in the same position in stage 6 in 3:48:38 (1min 50sec behind the stage winners).

However, at 8min 43sec behind the leaders overall they will need a special performance, and slip-up by the top two teams, to stand a chance of a race victory on Sunday.

Ghost Factory would have demolished the women's race of the gruelling eight-day event that winds from Tulbagh (about 80km north of Stellenbosch) across a 617km route to the finish had it not been for the Cannondale Factory Racing team of Mona Mitterwallner and South Africa's Candice Lill sticking to them like glue.

That was the case again on Saturday as Cannondale, who finished in 4:31:39, rode within feet of Ghost's back tires again for almost the entirety of stage 6, Terpstra and Koller again pulling away at the end for a one-minute lead at the finish.

That pattern across the seven days so far means Cannondale are just 3min 51sec behind Ghost going into the Grand Finale.

Terpstra and Koller remain the overwhelming favourites to pull on the overall yellow jerseys on Sunday's finish at Stellenbosch University’s Coetzenburg sports fields. However Mitterwallner (Austria) and Lill's tactical showing has kept them just 3min 51sec behind overall.

The final stage will reveal if the second-placed pairing have an ace up their sleeve that might make for two South African podium places at the end.

Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne (Sofia Gomez Villafane and Samara Sheppard) ended stage 6 in third (4:40:55), 10min 16sec behind the leaders.

They are also in third place in the general classification, but at 21min 55sec off the pace will need the top two teams to effectively crash out to stand a chance at a win.

Sponsors Absa's tag line is, Your Story Matters. The company's branding message is that your are important no matter how big or small your finances, or if you're a beginner or pro cyclist. It's a cliché, but in the Epic, in a similar manner, every racer who completes the technical race up and down the hills of the Cape winelands, will matter as much as the winners will.

Absa Cape Epic Stage 6

Men's leading results

1. Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne — Matthew Beers, Howard Grotts 3:46:48
2. Wilier Vittoria Factory — Fabian Rabensteiner, Samuele Porro 3:47:29 (+41)
3. Buff Megamo — Hans Becking, Wout Alleman 3:48:38 (+1:50)
4. Canyon SIDI — Andreas Seewald, Marc Stutzmann 3:48:57 (+2:09)
5. KMC — Tim Smeengem, Teus Ruijter — 3:50:05 (+3:17)

Men's general classification

1. Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne — Matthew Beers, Howard Grotts 18:40:13
2. World Bicycle Relief — Nino Schurter, Sebastian Fini 18:43:10 (+2:57)
3. Buff Megamo Hans Becking — Wout Alleman 18:48:56 (+8:43)
4. Canyon SIDI — Andreas Seewald, Marc Stutzmann 18:52:01 (+11:48)
5. ORBEA Leatt Speed Company — Georg Egger, Lukas Baum 19:00:13 (+20:00)           

Women's leading results

1. Ghost Factory Racing — Anne Terpstra, Nicole Koller 4:30:39
2. Cannondale Factory Racing — Mona Mitterwallner, Candice Lill 4:31:39 (+1:00)
3. Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne — Sofia Gomez Villafane, Samara Sheppard 4:40:55 (+10:16)
4. e-FORT | PrivateClientHoldings — Léna Gerault, Hayley Preen 4:45:13 (+14:34)
5. Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM — Vera Looser, Alexis Skarda 4:49:02 (+18:23)

Women's general classification

1. GHOST Factory Racing — Anne Terpstra, Nicole Koller 27:24:15
2. Cannondale Factory Racing — Mona Mitterwallner, Candice Lille 27:28:06 (+3:51)
3. Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne — Sofia Gomez Villafane, Samara Sheppard 27:46:10 (+21:55)
4. e-FORT | PrivateClientHoldings — Léna Gerault, Hayley Preen 28:52:18 (+1:28:03)
5. Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM — Vera Looser, Alexis Skarda 29:03:34 (+1:39:19)