Beers flies SA flag winning Cape Epic with Grotts, Ghost Factory take women’s race

South Africa’s Matthew Beers completed his third Absa Cape Epic win with US partner Howard Grotts, the Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne pairing placing third in the eighth, Grand Finale stage in Stellenbosch and well within the time required for the overall victory.

The Ghost Factory Racing team of Anne Terpstra of the Netherlands and Nicole Koller of Switzerland took a clean sweep winning their eighth straight stage on Sunday for an ultimately convincing overall victory in the women’s race.

Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne rode within themselves in the Grand Finale across the hills and steep climbs and through the tight tracks through Cape fynbos and the scenic wine estates around Stellenbosch, finishing in 2hrs 55min 16sec, which was 3min 08sec off the leaders.

The final stage was won by the BULLS Mavericks team of Simon Schneller and Urs Huber (2:52:08), with the Wilier Vittoria Factory team of Fabian Rabensteiner and Samuele Porro in second place in 2:54:24, 2min 16sec behind the victors.

The World Bicycle Relief team of Nino Schurter (Switzerland) and Sebastian Fini (Denmark) began and ended the day in second place. Their fifth-place finish (2:57:01) at Stellenbosch University’s Coetzenburg Athletics Stadium saw the gap with overall leaders Beers and Grotts extended from 2min 57sec at the start of the stage to the final 11min 7sec.

Beers, 30, added to the titles he won with Jordan Sarrou of France in 2021 and American Christopher Blevins in 2023. He has three titles in the last four years. Grotts, 31, added to his 2018 title won with Czech rider Jaroslav Kulhavy.

Grotts said they “played it safe”, taking no risks in the final stage and ensuring the overall victory. Beers revealed he had a stomach bug and battled to sleep on Saturday night, which made the last stage his toughest.

“Today Howard was herding me pretty close. I went pretty hard in the beginning on that first climb, I emptied myself just to get the group as full as we could and from there I just hung on,” Beers said.

“Today was the hardest day for sure. I was suffering. I didn’t get a lot of sleep with some stomach issues.

“I knew I could get through it, I knew it was going to be super-hard but I'm glad it came at the right time.”

Ghost Factory’s domination of the women’s race was not unchallenged. Cannondale Factory Racing’s Mona Mitterwallner of Austria and South Africa’s Candice Lill stuck to the leaders like glue for the first seven stages meaning there was just a 3min 51sec gap going into the last leg.

But any dramatic final-day push to close that margin was put to bed as Terpstra and Koller opened a commanding lead on Sunday. They won the stage in 3:32:07, with Cannondale 4min 45sec behind in 3:36:52.

Ghost Factory's final overall lead margin was a commanding 8min 36sec.

The third-placed overall Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne pairing of Sofia Gomez Villafane and Samara Sheppard had an off final stage, ending in fourth place on Sunday (3:46:00), 13min 53sec behind the leaders. Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM’s Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda — the fifth-placed overall women’s finishers, had a strong final day with their third-place finish (3:40:09), 8min 02sec behind the leaders.

Koller said Ghost Factory's win was a team effort.

“It’s hard work for everybody. You would say three people as support staff for two riders is a lot but in a race like this it’s not because there are so many things to do, like logistics and all the small things that add up,” she said.

“That’s why it’s even nicer to see them at the finish line and to celebrate because it’s a real team effort.”

World marathon champion Mitterwallner could not disguise her disappointment, saying she could not ride to her full strength for the week and she wished she could have done more to help Lill win a second overall yellow jersey for a South African in the 2024 event.

“Candice is the best athlete I have met so far. I really love her and hope we try again,” she said.

“The past week just threw me some challenges and life just did not give me what I expected it would. I fought with everything I have but it was just not enough.”

Beers and Grott’s consistency throughout the gruelling 617km route across eight stages that winds through the Cape winelands from Tulbagh (about 80km north of Stellenbosch as the crow flies) earned them the men’s win.

Toyota-Specialized placed second in the prologue, were third in stage 1, and edged into the overall lead finishing in second place in the third and fourth legs. They consolidated that lead winning their first stage on Friday (stage 5), then won again in stage 6 on Saturday, before another third-placed finish was enough to clinch the overall yellow jerseys on Sunday.

The race is a test not just of endurance, strength and the spectacular fitness levels of some of the world’s best mountain bikers, plus the grit of the hundreds of enthusiasts who have trained hard to achieve the levels needed to complete the field and the event, but also of teamwork.

Riders cannot be more than two minutes apart at the check points and finish or they are penalised. The slowest time of the two riders counts.

The tag line of sponsors Absa is 'Your Story Matters', the branding message of which, the company says, is clients’ interests are equal no matter how large or small their finances. It is a sentiment echoed in a race where all the finishers' achievement of crossing the eighth-day finish line matter as much as the winner's does.

Absa Cape Epic Grand Finale (stage 7)

Men's leading results

1. BULLS Mavericks — Simon Schneller, Urs Huber 2:52:08
2. Wilier Vittoria Factory — Fabian Rabensteiner, Samuele Porro 2:54:24 (+2:16)
3. Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne — Matthew Beers, Howard Grotts 2:55:16 (+3:08)
4. Buff Megamo — Hans Becking, Wout Alleman 2:56:19 (+4:11)
5. World Bicycle Relief — Nino Schurter, Sebastian Fini 2:57:01 (+4:53)

Men's general classification

1. Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne — Matthew Beers, Howard Grotts 25:22:17
2. World Bicycle Relief — Nino Schurter, Sebastian Fini 25:33:24 (+11:07)
3. Buff Megamo — Hans Becking, Wout Alleman 25:33:53 (+11:36)
4. Canyon Sidi — Andreas Seewald, Marc Stutzmann 25:40:04 (+17:47)
5. Wilier Vittoria Factory — Fabian Rabensteinner, Samuele Porro 25:49:30 (+27:13)

Women's leading results

1. GHOST Factory Racing — Anne Terpstra, Nicole Koller 3:32:07
2. Cannondale Factory Racing — Mona Mitterwallner, Candice Lill 3:36:52 (+4:45)
3. Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM — Vera Looser, Alexis Skarda 3:40:09 (+8:02)
4. Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne — Sofia Gomez Villafane, Samara Sheppard 3:46:00 (+13:53)
5. e-FORT | PrivateClientHoldings — Léna Gérault, Hayley Preen 3:48:41 (+16:34)

Women's general classification

1. GHOST Factory Racing — Anne Terpstra, Nicole Koller 30:56:22
2. Cannondale Factory Racing — Mona Mitterwallner, Candice Lill 31:04:58 (+8:36)
3. Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne — Sofia Gomez Villafane, Samara Sheppard 31:32:10 (+35:48)
4. e-FORT | PrivateClientHoldings — Léna Gérault, Hayley Preen 32:40:59 (+1:44:37)
5. Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM — Vera Looser, Alexis Skarda 32:43:43 (+1:47:21)