Cape Epic Stage 5: Egger and Baum race into yellow, Looser and Le Court win again

The defending Champions of the Absa Cape Epic, Georg Egger and Lukas Baum (ORBEA x Leatt x Speed Company) raced to victory on Stage 5 at Lourensford Wine Estate, moving into the yellow leader jerseys at the same time on Friday.

ORBEA x Leatt x Speed Company go into Stage 6 with a minute-and-a-half lead over Nino Schurter and Andri Frischknecht (SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing) in the Men’s race at the 2023 Absa Cape Epic.

In the Women’s category, Vera Looser and Kim le Court (Efficient Infiniti Insure) claimed back-to-back stage victories, winning Stage 5 two-and-a-half minutes ahead of Amy Wakefield and Candice Lill (e-FORT. net | SeattleCoffeeCo). Le Court and Looser also jumped into second place overall in the CM.comwomen’s race.

Wakefield and Lill remain in the orange leader jerseys after Stage 5. They hold a lead of 14 minutes over Looser and Le Court. Sofia Gomez Villafane and Katerina Nash (NinetyOne-Songo-Specialized) dropped to third overall and are almost 30 minutes off the lead. 

The 2023 Absa Cape Epic field went to bed after Stage 4 in stormy weather and woke to grey skies, heavy rain and the prospect of a long, wet day in the saddle. In the Men’s race, the riders battled intense downpours and a drenched course for the first 30km. It wasn’t enough to douse the fire of Egger and Baum, though.

The German duo, who won the 2022 Absa Cape Epic on the final day of the event and so only wore the yellow Ciovita leader jerseys at prize giving, have been determined all week to race in yellow. Their decisive move to claim the overall lead came on Stage 5. Sensing weakness in the field, they attacked on the Tierkop climb and never looked back.

By 41km, they’d raced over Groelandberg and held a commanding 50-second lead over the