Cape Epic: Beers and Blevins boss men's Stage 2, Lill and Wakefield lead overall women

Both the men’s and women’s leaders held onto to their yellow and orange leader jerseys, respectively, after 116km of racing at the end of the Absa Cape Epic Stage 2 on Tuesday.

In the men’s race, Matt Beers and Christopher Blevins (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne) won Stage 2, while in the CM.com Women’s Category, Vera Looser and Kim le Court (Efficient Infiniti Insure) took the honours.

LIVE | The 2023 Absa Cape Epic - Stage 2 results

Nino Schurter and Andri Frischknecht (SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing) remained in yellow in the general classification, now with a handy three-minute lead over second-placed Georg Egger and Lukas Baum (ORBEA x Leatt x Speed Company).

Orange leader jersey wearers Candice Lill and Amy Wakefield (e-FORT.net | SeattleCoffeeCo) finished third on the stage and retained their five-minute gap overall at the top of the women’s category.

Thanks to their excellent ride, Beers and Blevins jumped up from eighth to fifth in the overall standings.

In both the men’s and the women’s races, the riding was tense and tactical. The men started at a furious pace, charging towards the village of Stanford.

Early pacesetters included Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne, SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing, ORBEA x Leatt x Speed Company, Wilier Pirelli Factory, Canyon Northwave MTB, PYGA Euro Steel and Imbuko TypeDev.

The lead bunch went through the 42km mark in a time of one hour and 11 minutes, barely noticing the festive Stanford revellers and party boat as they crossed the floating bridge ahead of the water point.

The pretenders eventually fell by the wayside, leaving Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne, SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing, ORBEA x Leatt x Speed Company, and Wilier Pirelli Factory’s Fabian Rabensteiner and Wout Alleman alone in the front.

With a flat