Beers and Nortje overhaul GC in finale to win men's Cape Epic, as Lill and Keller complete near total domination in women's race

The Absa Cape Epic mountain bike race in South Africa wrapped up on Sunday, with Matt Beers and Tristan Nortje (Toyota Specialized Imbuko) overhauling the GC leaders to win the men's race on the final day, whilst Candice Lill and Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon Sabi Sabi) won all but one stage of the women's race.

Going into the seventh and final stage around Stellenbosch on Sunday, Beers and Nortje were sitting 13 seconds down on Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria) who had led the incredibly close men's race since stage 3.

It was the Canyon duo of Luca Schwarzbauer and Sam Gaze who powered away to win stage 7, their third of the week. But a minute behind them, despite a crash for Nortje, he and Beers claimed second, 1:22 ahead of the Wilier-Vitoria pair and enough to claim the victory overall.

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In winning, South Africans Beers and Nortje became the first ever all-African team to conquer the elite men's Cape Epic, though Beers has claimed the title himself three times before. They won just one stage of the race, last weekend's prologue, but rode consistently through the 700km week to seal the historic overall title.

"People want to win the Tour de France, but it's always been a dream of mine to win Cape Epic," an emotional Nortje said. "I got the yellow jersey at the beginning of the week, that was the first goal, and we lost it and we had a lot of bad luck. But we just kept believing… and won it."

"I got [to know] him as a youngster and I knew he was capable of it," Beers said of his teammate. "To get here and win with him is a cool full circle moment. I feel like the grandpa here, I feel like his dad! But we got it done, and we got it done for SA."

Braidot and Avondetto had to settle for second, the same spot they took a year ago behind Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo, whilst Schwarzbauer and Gaze's triple stage victories saw them finish third.

If the men's race was tight going into the final stage, the women's race was the complete opposite, with Epic veteran Candice Lill and World Cup-winning debutant Alessandra Keller winning all but one stage to complete a dominant GC victory by a whopping 52 minutes.

The high-profile win was particularly significant for South African native Candice Lill. Lill has ridden nine Cape Epics and finished on the podium five times before this year, finally managing to step onto the top step with a partner making her very first appearance.

"It's crazy. It feels like so many years of hard work and commitment, and from my husband Darren. If anyone knew what it really took to get here… I can't even talk," Lill said through her emotions. "It was a lot of years of disappointment and overcoming and keeping believing."

"It was amazing," Keller said. "Just to do it with Candice, I know how much it means to her and how much it means to me and the whole team. It's a project that started and now it ended in a good friendship, and that makes me really proud. I'm really happy that we finally reached the finish line and got to win this."

Hayley Preen and Haley Smith (Chemchamp Honeycomb) finished second overall, whilst third were Katazina Sosna-Pinele and Giorgia Marchet (Symbtech.Net), over an hour down on the winners.

Lill and Keller won the prologue and six of the seven stages, only beaten by a two-second margin on stage 4 by Kate Courtney and her last-minute stand-in partner Greta Seiwald (She Sends Foundation).

Prior to the race, Kate Courtney and her original partner Melisa Rollins were touted as top contenders for the win, and would have been expected to challenge Lill and Keller.

However, after losing Rollins to an off-bike accident days before the race, Courtney drafted in Seiwald, who proved a worthy replacement as they sprinted to victory on stage 4. However, the bad luck wasn't over for the team as Seiwald fell sick before stage 6. The Italian started the sixth stage so that Courtney could ride it, but stopped after just a few minutes.

Marathon world champion Courtney rode on to finish the last two stages, but as a solo rider her placings did not count.

"I got to cross the finish line in the rainbow jersey with my coach Barry Austin who helped me earn it. He is the reason I have stayed in the sport long enough to find myself again on the race course - and while I would have loved to end this adventure racing for the finish with Greta, this had some magic to it too," Courtney wrote on Instagram.

"It wasn’t about the result today. But it was about all the things I get to take with me into what’s next. The people. The lessons. The memories. The love of racing my bike. And the spark for my next adventure."

In the mixed category, World Cup racers Jenny Rissveds and Simon Andreassen won by an hour and 29 minutes, having won every single stage.

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