Dual track links provide ample overtaking opportunities and allow the fastest teams to set the best possible times and secure start batches for the week of white-hot racing. The first half drags steadily uphill, driving heart rates ever-upwards, before the second phase of the day is packed with roller-coaster downhills on manicured singletrack. Stunning mountain and ocean views await those who can lift their eyes from their stems. Packed with singletracks, but optimised for overtaking, it sets the tone for the seven stages that follow. What a race it will be, especially if it lives up to the highlight filled billing of Prologues passed. In 2022 Lourensford serves as the starting point for another edition of The Race That Measures All. Fortunately, the 25-year-old trail has been extensively reworked recently, so one doesn’t need to be John Tomac to ride it, fast.” Prologue | 20 March 2022Īfter eight years the Absa Cape Epic returns to Lourensford Wine Estate. In 2022, the Cape Epic revisits the old Downhill World Cup course on Botmaskop, for example. Stellenbosch needs no introduction as a cycling destination as it is surrounded by historic trails. Though in those days the long weekends of mountain biking featured multi-disciplines rather than multiple stages. Greyton, meanwhile, used to host some of the first proto stage races in South Africa. “Lourensford due, in no small part, thanks to the role it played as the host of the final stage of eight editions of the race. “Lourensford Wine Estate, Greyton and Stellenbosch are all synonymous with mountain biking in South Africa,” Burger continued. “Between the memorable singletrack climbs, which vary from immaculately manicured to incredibly raw, the stages offer trails, descents and views that will ensure the Cape Epic carves its place into long lasting memories. There will be opportunities to overtake, to attack and to defend for the elite teams while the less competitive riders will emerge knowing that their finisher medals were hard earned.” “I believe that the 2022 Cape Epic route provides a great balance,” route director Hendrico Burger promised. Two action packed stages await, filled with awe-inspiring trails, as the race builds towards the Grand Finale and the final finish line at Val de Vie.
Once in Stellenbosch, the trails reward for every metre of elevation gained. Stage 5 traverses back to the west, summitting three of the Cape Epic’s most infamous climbs in the process. As does the African summer essentials, heat and dust. Rugged, unsculpted, trails await on Stages 3 and 4. Crossing the Hottentots Holland Mountains and entering the Overberg. Elandskloof, near Greyton, is home for three nights after a 118km trek into the hinterland. Teams are in for a treat, of epic proportions, on the Prologue while Stage 1 is set to be a test of fitness and skill worthy of the race’s historic precedent of arduous first marathon stages.įrom Lourensford the route heads east, on Stage 2. The 8 long years have been well spent, however, and the trail builders have been busy. In 2022 The Race That Measures All returns to Lourensford Wine Estate, in Somerset West, for the first time since 2014.
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