Absa Cape Epic 2026 | Stage 1

After an action-packed Stage 1 of the 2026 Absa Cape Epic, Max Cluer and Mike Finch unpack all the drama from the day’s racing. From Matt Beers and Tristan Nortje’s incredible comeback ride overcoming a four-minute deficit after a puncture to storm back onto the podium—to the dominant performance from Candice Lill and Alessandra Keller in the women’s race, the hosts break down the key moments that shaped the stage.

They’re also joined by special guest Jason Boulle, who experienced the race from a completely different perspective while piloting the media E-Bike for the first time. Mixing it up at the front of the race, Jason captured the intensity of the leaders’ battle from his onboard camera and shares what it’s like to ride alongside the world’s best during one of mountain biking’s toughest stage races.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Right, we're here at stage number two of the APS of Cape Epic in 2026. And behind us you can look at the beautiful mountains here in Montague. And it's a little bit cooler now as the stage is now finished as we do this podcast. But Matt, Matt, Max, I'm getting confused with Matt Bears because I say his name so much in the day. Because I'm so good looking. Because he's so good looking, exactly. But it's one of those days where they told us that they were starting the stage early this morning, which they did at 6.30, so it was half an hour early for the men's race, because of the heat. And when we were here throughout the day, I wasn't out in the course much. I thought, well, what was it about this heat they were talking about? But actually, out on the course, with everybody I spoke to, at some stages it was 42, 43 degrees out there. So it might not have been that hot here at the finish line, but it was certainly hot there on the course.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

Yeah, and I think that's expected here in Montague. You know, that what was quite nice, I think, that took away a bit of that heat was was there was a breeze today. And I think that made a massive difference. And and um, yeah, I mean, so many valleys here, so many different routes just meandering through this this course today, that uh there was protection at times, and at some times there certainly wasn't.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

What was interesting, I was speaking to Litshekazulu, who's a regular here at the Absol Cap Epic um every year, and uh, she's got a lot of experience having done many uh epics herself, but she said to me today felt like it was the queen stage. That's that's how tough it was. Um, and we talked about the wound, and we talk about the fact that you know we've got a lot of climbing to do today, 90 kilometers, 2,150 metres of climbing. It's a it's a big day, but not a queen stage day. But she said it was definitely felt like a queen stage day today, and that's stage number one.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Yeah, and I think coming from Latejo, someone who's got lots of experience, you know, she's she's been there, she's she's got the t-shirt for sure. So to hear that from her certainly uh is a bit daunting for some of the stages coming on later this week, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Yeah. Well, let's just go through the results. Um, it was quite a day in the men's race, and we'll talk about the men's race first because that's probably the big story of the day. Let me give you the results first of all for the stage, and then we can kind of embellish exactly what happened on the course today. So the stage was won by Bart Annemann and uh Martin Stossek, uh, the Czech and the and the Belgian rider from the team B Buff BH. Uh, second place was Willia Vittoria of Luca Brado and Simona Avandote, and third place was the Teota specialised in Bucko team of Matt Biers and Tristan Nukia. Fourth place went uh Mateus Lazzaro and Yuri Zanotti, the team from Oro Gene Wilia, and Clemetizer Urbea was the fifth team and David Serrano and Mark Stutzman. But the results don't tell the story until you actually look at the finishing time. So the winning time was three hours, 38 minutes, 43 seconds, second place was three hours, 38 minutes, and 44 seconds, third place was three hours, 38 minutes and 46 seconds, because it was an unbelievably chaotic last five kilometers, wasn't it? Because there was five or six teams in the mix in that last five K's, and we couldn't pick a winner.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Yeah, I mean, less than I think, I think the top five there, less than 10 seconds apart. And yeah, I I think if you if you go into what happened out there today um and the way that that all came back together, uh, and to have that on the finish line here at the end of stage one was was incredible because there were some proper stories out there today.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Yeah. So the big story, and if I I I write a lot of the press releases for the APSICAP Epic Wired during this year's race, the big story for me, and it let's not take away from the fact that Alan and Stosic did a great job winning this in winning the stage today, but Matt Biaz and Tristel Nukia, halfway through the stage, they puncture. Rear-wheel puncture on Tristel Nukia's bike. They can't fix it, they have to then wait for their backup team. And just for those of you who are not familiar how the backup teams work here, a lot of the big teams have teams behind them who then can supply spares. Um, Nokia was trying to fix it, his backup team arrived, they lost four minutes, and it was one of those now. Four minutes, you think, well, four minutes at the back of the field, that means nothing. But at this level, four minutes, I would have thought was an unassailable deficit for them to pick up, but they did.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Yeah, and I and I think what you've got to understand there is that this this uh this team of Toyota Specialiser Buca has six riders, which means that were three teams. Uh the story there was was that the second team, Marco Joubert, came past with Travis Stedman, gave them extra plugs, and they thought that would solve the issue. It didn't. So after putting in four plugs, that didn't work, and then we had Jaden Telot coming through with Lewitt, and they actually gave them their back wheel and sacrificed their day. But at that stage, like you said, three three minutes, 45 seconds, I think it was at the end of the day, was the time to make up. And then, you know, to do that on a day like today with the climbs that we had today and and in the heat of today was spectacular. But I wouldn't put that responsibility on anyone else than the beer train.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Well, we'll get to the interviews later on after we've spoken to our guest, because uh the interviews are very interesting as to why the Teoter specialised team uh felt that they could actually get to that front group because it wasn't an easy task, and but and they did. And not only did they do it, but once they got there, there was further attacks off the front that they had to chase down as well. So the fact that they got third place was, I reckon, one of the best comebacks I've seen in Cape Epic history, purely because they had to come from such a big deficit and they still were in the mix in the final sprint.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Yeah, and I think they were lucky because there was a stage when that front group, which was getting cheered by by Aleman and Stosek, did slow down a little bit. There was that little bit of respite, and we hear that from the guys on the lead bikes. Uh, and and I think that there was just that, you know, when when you've got Matt Beers on the front and he can see someone, then he can sniff someone, and if he can sniff someone, he can catch someone. And I think that is that is the secret there. Um they weren't out of sight, they weren't out of mind, and uh they certainly uh had good help. You know, if you if you look at the help that they had, Andreas Sievelt was there. Um Andreas Sievelt's uh ex-world champion on the marathon side, we know how good he is. So there was those teams sitting in in five, six, and seven, which gave Matt and them just that extra bit of incentive to to bridge that gap.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Yeah. I mean they they talked about like the doot doot the Matt Bears train. You know, once that Matt Bears train is going, it can go some. And I think Tristan Nokia probably found out what it was like to follow a train today because, although he did, he he wasn't like it was Matt Bears in the front the whole time. He was doing his fair share from what we could see on the on the television coverage.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Yeah, Tristan an absolute weapon, and and just the the BMT, the big match temperament from Tristan O'Kea. Um, you know, he comes out of two days and he's got two yellow jerseys, and and and and and again, this is a team event. Without Tristan pulling his weight, they would not be where they are. So an incredible day. And and like you said, don't take away the stage win from uh from Vo Talleman and Martin Stosek because Luca Bradeau uh was right there with Simone Aventetto, and they are these quiet assassins. We know what they did last year, you know, to fall short just of coming against Filippo Colombo and Nino Schutter. Um this team is on fire. And they were quiet today. No one's talking about them, but look at the times on the GC. There is five seconds separating first and second.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Well, there we go. So let's let's look at the the GC at the moment. And as I say, we're gonna get to some interviews after our guest, where you can listen to Matt Bears, Tristan Nukia, and of course our stage winners today, and about what happened out there today. But as we already said, Matt Bears and Tristel Nukea lead this race after two days. Uh the first stage, of course, the prologue yesterday. And they have the max their total time, four hours, 23 minutes, 23 seconds. They are five seconds ahead of William Vittorio of Luca Braido and Simeona Vendetta. Then is the Clemetiza Ubea team. We didn't have a great day today, but they were still there about some technical issues. Um, that's a team of David Serrano and Tomark Stutzmann, 20 seconds behind them. Then Origin William, Matei Cesaro, Yuri Zanotti, 26 seconds behind, and then in fifth place, Topado Kenda, FSA, Fabian Robinstein, and Casey South, one minute and 38 seconds. So those top four all within 30 seconds of each other, after uh what are we talking about? Uh 110 kilometers of epic riding.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

It was a great day today. You know, I I just think that again, uh, what is so exciting about the Absicab Ebeck in the men's field, the elite men's field in 2026, is that you know, we look all the way down to to the top 20, you know, and and inside that top 20, on a good day, any one of these teams can take a stage win. And and I think that's what makes it so exciting.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Let's move on to the women's in Eat Field. And uh this was it wasn't, I mean, it wasn't exciting in terms of the fact that we saw sprint finish, but it was also fascinating because there are three teams that seem to be kind of m coming out of the woodwork here. But what was interesting, and all of the teams said this, they started, they had a shorter distance, what was it, 66 kilometers today? 60, yeah, 68, 66. Yeah, so and and they started literally at the base of a hill, which every single person that we spoke to said it was literally full gas, X E type racing from the gun.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Seven kilometers uphill. Remembering that for the first time ever in the history of the Episcope Epic that the women have their own start. Um, this this parody certainly proving to be exciting because that is what we wanted. We wanted racing from the gun, and that's exactly what we got. Um, obviously we we saw a lot of the stuff today, we saw a lot of the way that they were working, um, we saw that they stayed together for some time, especially the top three teams, and then that separation came where the Thomas Maxim Sabi Sabi team, Candace and Alessandra managed to get away. And and they got away, but they didn't stay away. You know, that gap didn't go too far. They did enough to to get the lead, they did enough to consolidate the GC, but it's less than three minutes between first and second after stage one.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Yeah. So that that that was, I mean, as the stage unfolded, we were talking to, and you'll hear Candace Lill and uh Alexander Killer talk a little bit about their stage today, but it wasn't uh it wasn't a deck. As you said, they just kind of pulled away when everybody was having a bad patch, and the the time gaps kind of remained the same. So, second on the stage today, which was kind of a bit of a surprise, but when you hear what happened to third, you'll understand it, was the team of Buff BH Efficient Infinity, Rosa van Duren, the Dutch rider, along with uh Namibia's Vera Lozer, and they were one minute 35 back. That was a great ride from them because we often see them as like third, fourth tier, but they were second place today. And as they have shown, and as Vera Loza, who's got lots of experience has shown, she's just one of those athletes who just doesn't give up, does she?

SPEAKER_03 10:04

She is absolutely one of the toughest riders out there. Vera, again, uh like a Matt Beers, like a vote Alleman, is a good leader. And and to have the the youth and exuberance of Rissa Van Duren in there, we know Rissa last year, winner of the overall World Cup UCI series, so she is a weapon as well. Vera's got the experience of winning here with Kim La Court in 23. Um, and and I don't think we need any explanation further for them because the pedigree is there, and and looking at what happened today, um I I think that that is gonna be the fight for second and third. I really believe that that fight is gonna continue. And remember, because this is the Cape Epic, first place is only safe once they cross the finish line in Stelenbosch on Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Well, they always say you only want to flat away from losing the lead, so that's kind of what happened. Tell us a bit of the story. So um, in third place, Kate Courtney, the World Marathon champion, the American, along with Greta Sevot, the Italian, they finished third, the team from She Sens Foundation. But they had some problems out there today because they were complaining about missing feed zones. What was the story?

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Yeah, no, they missed the feed at around 50Ks. I spoke to Kate on the line and she just said this, and they got there and they missed their bottles. So their bottles weren't there. And on a day like today, at that point in the game where you've only got 68 K's and you're relying on that last feed, uh, that can make the difference. And that's why you see the difference in the time there. Not much at all. Uh it's it's 20 seconds. You know, 20 seconds on a day like that, this is is absolutely nothing. So I don't think it shows uh very much other than the fact that the women's race is still tight. We know that SimTech came in, Margot Machete was there with Claudia Peretti and four. Uh, Kemp Champ, the two Haleys came through really nicely in fifth overall. And again, Mike, it's eight days.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

You forget that. Um, Kate Courtney very um is always every single stage, quite eloquent about she's one of those athletes who really tells you the story about what happened to today. She was talking a bit about the fact that when they lost those bottles and they had they realized they were going up a climb, they had 20 kilometers to go and they'd run out of water. Um, and so she was she said they were almost in a slightly panicked state because you know, when you run out of water with 20 Ks to go, you've got at least an hour's riding ahead of you in these conditions, 42 degrees at some point. Um, so it is it's a scary place to be when you do miss those water bottles. It shows you how important those water points are, particularly for the pros. They just cannot afford not to pick up their nutrition.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

Absolutely, and I think also interesting today, you know, you have a look at the teams in the women's race. Um, and and we know that uh the South African or African jersey is up for grabs there. Um Fortress Toyota coming in 11th overall today. Um, that's uh Sharice uh Sharice Willett and Islas Stowe, but we also know that Sam Saunders and Bianca Hall had a bad day today. So that ABS African jersey wide open again. Um we chatted also about the South African teams and how they get stronger towards the end of the Abscape Epic every year. I think last year at the end of the Abscape Epic, four or five South African combinations in the top ten. Right now we've got Matt Beers and Tristan at the top, and then 16th place is Insect Science, Versalbuta and Johan von Sell. So we're seeing just how big the depth is here in 2026.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Yeah, yeah. So just to just inform you about how the GC is looking in the women's elite race before we get it with our guest. It is indeed the team of Candace Lill and Alessander Keller from the Thomas Max on Sabi Sabi team. Their total time, three hours 53 minutes and 16 seconds uh for their total time they've been riding so far. This uh this epic. The She Sands Foundation of Kate Courtney and Greta Servalt in second place, they are two minutes and fifty-three seconds down, and then Buff BH, Efficient Affinity, Rosa Fundun and Vera Lozo had such a great day today. They are in third, three, forty-five down. Then quite a big gap between them and fourth place. The Simtech team of Moschetti and Peretti, they're they're at 11 minutes back from that, and then Preen and Smith another 15 minutes back from that. So it looks like at the moment the top three teams are kind of sorting themselves out, but as we've already said, there's so much that can happen. And some of these teams that we don't really see competing for the GC, they decide one day we're gonna try and win the stage, and it messes, and it really kind of messes with those GC leaders, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Absolutely, and I think we're gonna see that both in the women's and the men's field. Um, you know, we saw today Mark Pritz and Felix Stilly having a terrible day. Still he's uh cutting his back wheel early on. Um we know that they're capable of a stage win. We saw Sam Gaze uh and Lucas Swazbah having a tough day today as well. Uh uh Luca battling with his gears, then a puncture, they lost five minutes, but we know that they can take a stage. So the riding now is gonna become tactical, and and I think the safety of the teams is gonna help the likes uh of the Clematis Orbier team, the likes of the Toyota Specialised and Buco team. Having those extra members to protect you and look after you uh as we go into the big, big stages is is going to be critical.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

Right, we're gonna take a break and then we'll be back with our guest in our next segment. Right, welcome back to our Epic Series podcast here at the 2026 APSA Cape Epic. And uh as uh as you've seen at the start, I have Max Kleer, one of our great commentators, uh not only at the Epic, but of course around the world. You're renowned for being uh commentating and bringing the excitement to many of the events, but you're doing many of the interviews uh with the top uh athletes out there today and involved in the TV setup. And another person that's kind of not only I suppose you are working in a way, but doing a great job in bringing some of the pictures to us. Jason Bull, now you're the man who sits on the e-bike. Can you just explain if people have never heard what you do, kind of explain what the e-bike does at the Absolute Cape Epic?

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Okay, well today was day one on the job, and thanks for thanks for having me on the Epic series.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

So not a lot of experience, but but you've got at least three and a half hours of experience.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

It does feel like something I've been training for for the last uh the last couple years. So typically it would be Stefan Sam uh from the Bulls Bikes team who's won multiple um is multiple Cape Epics? Yeah, he's won a couple of three Cape Epics um and has been doing the uh the Bulls bike coverage for the last nine years now. This would be his tenth year, and he's unfortunately come down with a bit of sickness. So last minute call up to to hop on the bike. Essentially, what this does is it allows us to bring a camera on board right into the elite racing, whether that's with the women's race, which Jesse Nixon is doing and covering superbly, or in the elite men's case, um, that I was doing. And so we've got two GoPros running on the on the chest, one that's banking footage for use late on, and one that's live streaming straight to the broadcast, and another GoPro on the helmet as a as a backup. Um, and then comms in the ears, so I can hear what Gerald and Benno and Ariano are talking about in the studio, ideally, if the signal's working, which it wasn't uh it wasn't today. Um, and then comms from the the media team as well.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

So just give us an indication, I mean, first of all, how heavy is that rig? Because when you see you guys wearing this kind of stuff, it feels like a lot of gear that you kind of have to, and you're still doing some incredible riding at high speed through some single track. Does it feel quite unsteady to be able to riding with all that stuff on that?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Yeah, I definitely got put under pressure a bit today by the by the the top riders. Um it's pretty hefty. The the I wouldn't, I'd say around seven kilos, the backpack, seven to ten kilos. Um it's got cooling fans on there, storage technical things I don't know much about. So the cooling fans are for you or for the machine at the back? For me. Um better for the machine at the back. Yeah, all the all the technology that's running in the back there, because they're pulling from eight different SIM cards the data to be able to have a strong enough uh connection. Um so it's pretty heavy on your back. Um, and then the bike's heavy as well. It's a it's a big e-bike. So you've obviously got good thrust coming uh through the the powertrain from that bull's e-bike um on the climbs, but then descending all these scars on their light X e-bikes that can just turn on a on a time, and you're having to now get the the big 23 kilo e-bike around the corners, um turns out is a bit dicey. I found out uh today. I might have run wide into the bushes a couple times, but uh we kept it somewhat upright. But it's it's a lot to manage, and you constantly trying to be aware of your positioning in the bunch, you don't want to get in the way of the racing and interfere with it. Um, but you also want to be getting good shots, you want to be ready to go with the brake if that is the case. Um, but if there's drama and uh a major team to get some mechanical, which was inevitable out there today, and with the treacherous conditions that we did have um on track, you would need to be able to also hang back with them. So there's a lot of yo-yoing back and forth, a lot of chasing. I went through four batteries on the e-bike, not depleting all of them, but every time there's an opportunity to pop a fresh battery in at the tech zones along the route, you jump on that opportunity just so you know you've got a full charge that you're going into the next section of the route with.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Mike, I think it's important to point out here though that Jason can ride a bike, he's a two-time South African enduro champion. Well, he's going to be two times, I'm telling you, because he's that good. Exactly. That good. So so I have a question, if I may. So my question is today, uh, don't the riders, the elite men's sharp end of the field, get disillusioned when you go past them like you did today, towards the top of the hill. Because there was one picture where I saw Valero on the front, and we know David Valera's only a bronze medalist at the at the Olympic Games in Paris. And you went straight up and past them. I mean, I would just it must feel like Matt Beers is going past you.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Yeah, though I'm just very grateful that the motor does not cunt out at 32 kilometers as it's supposed to, and it's ungoverned, so I can just haul past the guys when I need to, either catching the front or trying to get ahead to the water point so I can swap the battery and not lose too much, uh lose too much time on them. But I was blown away by the descending of those riders today. As I said, treacherous terrain. I can't quite communicate how rocky, gnarly, messy the train was. There's ruts all over those roads because there isn't much dense vegetation coverage. Sure, there's there's fain moss and whatnot out there, but it's not enough to stop the water runoff. So every time there's a storm out here, it just pulls debris onto the roads, it wears away the washes away the roads. So, particularly that first 60 kilometers was just littered with loose gravel, big rocks, sharp rocks, hard bed rocks, soft sand, a whole mix. And these guys are charging flat out 30, 40 k's an hour on the descents, even faster than that. Dust coming off the front of the bunch, and just following the line of the wheel in front of them because they know that's their best bet because you can't see anything else, which was definitely unnerving for me. I was uh I punctured early on in the stage. Thankfully, the tire sealed itself and I managed to nurse it to the next water point. But the these guys on lightweight cross-country tires, not as much protection as I've got on the on the e-bike, and they're managing to get through relatively unscathed. There were several mechanicals, but I was amazed that there weren't more given just how how gnarly the train was, and uh they were not holding back on those descents. I got dropped a couple times, it was it was full of it. Is it loose enough for the debris to be coming off those back wheels? Yeah, you can hear rocks hitting the frames all the time with like big, like fist-sized rocks getting kicked up. I took a couple to the shins, it's it's like war out there, it's full on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

I mean, the way you describe that, actually, I'm like gobsmacked. My mouth is hanging open just listening to those conversations with you because we have no idea the average person we understand that they're fit and they're strong and they can climb hills really well. But we don't we don't really get a sense of how good they are in these technical sections because we'll never ride with them. But you have that chance, and you and as you've as Max has already said, you you're a really competent, you know, endurer rider. You can handle it, you can handle all this stuff. It does it feel does it feel they're in control, or does it feel that they're taking chances because you have to take chances to be able to stay with the group?

SPEAKER_01 21:21

I had a brief chat with Ariane Lutti about it, and she said there's definitely as a racer something that comes over your mind when you can you can feel the yellow jerseys within reach, or you can you can you can taste the finish line where you do start taking those chances and you don't really think about the consequences and you do what's needed to be done to to catch the group, to get the break, just to stay with the group sometimes. Um I would certainly say there was they were in control to a higher degree than a lot of other riders would have been out there, of course. But even that being said, there multiple times I saw riders lose the front wheel in a soft bit of sand, um, back wheel stepping out around around corners, um, having to quickly change a line. And hop across so they're it's not perfection that they they're executing out there, but they're in control even when they're not in control, if that makes sense. Like even when things don't go as as planned, they're able to just keep their body off the ground and keep the air and the tires mostly and and keep on rolling. But there was, I mean, obviously Beers and uh North Kier had that puncture, Willia had a puncture, uh Valero had a puncture, um Canyon. Yeah, Canyon, like Hans Becking, we saw him puncture as well. All these top teams that were still there at the in the end with some chasing and whatnot, were having to deal with those factors today.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

What sort of communication are you hearing between the riders? Because obviously you get in, but the body language is real, and there's a sense of urgency and there's a sense of ownership uh of these riders. Do you see them protecting each other? Do you see them, you know, when they're pushing the line or when the how often are you seeing them working together? How often are you seeing them holding?

SPEAKER_01 22:53

It is interesting. I really did get a feel today in the in the bunch that you do see the moments when there's a bit of tension and everyone's quite alert. Is someone looking to make a move? Like, are they looking to make a move? Um, those sort of moments, and then also times when everything settles down and you'll see Wout Alleman chatting to Matisse Azaro, who's not his teammate. They have nothing that they need to talk about at that moment, but he'll have a chat and ask. I couldn't quite hear what they were saying. Um, the Italian team of uh Giole De Cosmo, I think it is, and uh Jakob uh Torigone, Torigoni. Um still learning a few of these guys. They were very vocal. They they had a lot to say on the back of the bunch. I wasn't translating it quick enough in uh with my meta AI uh brain, um, but they they had a lot to say, so they were quite vocal in the bunch.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Um they say they say Italians when they use their hands, they're happy. And they're shouting they're happy, but when they don't use their hands, they cross.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

I think I saw the hands come off the bars a couple times, but uh yeah, so there was definitely there's some vocal moments where the guys are very very expressive, um, and particularly the the European riders who have got their own uh languages that might not be understood by the rest of the the bunch, they're freely free to um communicate a bit more, but otherwise there's lots more subtle movements, gestures, looking head, um nudge of the shoulder just to to kind of indicate what the plan is. Uh Wout Aleman uh in the latter stages was was looking to put a bit of pressure on the group, and him and uh Martin Stosek had been sitting so quietly in that in that um in the bunch, I'd barely even noticed they were there for kilometres. Um and then Aleman came up, kind of gave Stosek the nod and started slowly moving up the bunch. Stosek then moved into position and then Wout went and they they took off. Um that was just before the other jersey made touch with the the group again. So there's there's a lot of really subtle communication, um, which when you're seasoned pairing, I think that's done quite a few races together becomes really, really efficient and effective.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

And that awareness is so important. I mean, Ho Talaman at the moment won the first round of the Hero World Cup, UCR World Cup this year, uh Stosek inside the top four. But the awareness to know that Beers is coming um and then to go. What was interesting for me when I had the interview with them and and and congratulated them on the win today, I also just nudged in there and and made a comment that do you know that Matt Beers and Tristan O'Kea were three minutes 45 seconds off with a puncture and his eyes went up and and and he he realized that what effort had been put in uh by the by the the Beers train.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Yeah, I think I did also hear from uh some of the the specialized team that Beers said he doesn't want to do that again. Funny though. So certainly took its uh it would have taken its toll out there, um, and it's not an effort he won't be feeling maybe for a for a couple day a couple days. It was pretty monumental. Um but yeah, there's uh there's some big moves that can can will be made out there. Well, question for me.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Uh do you do the whole route?

SPEAKER_01 25:43

So today I was started at water point one. Um and even there, because the trick is you don't want to get caught too much in in the big bunch. Uh we want to try and stay with the the leaders, but even coming through water point one, 24Ks in, there are about 30 teams between me and the front cars when I managed to find a gap to slot in. So that was quite a thing to experience in itself. Thankfully that that big climb was long enough that things started to spread out and I could slowly start hopping my way back up to the to the sharp end of things. Uh but it seems tomorrow the plan is going to be to to roll out um and do the do the whole route. Probably start ahead of the riders and get myself onto that first uh major climb, position myself somewhere where I'll be able to spot a gap and and jump in. Um but yeah, the e-bike really comes into its own once the racing started spreading out a bit and you can move between those those little groups.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Um I mean you got the best seat in the house, haven't you? Absolutely. It's pretty important you you earn the right to do it because you can ride a bike as well as you do, but I mean it is it must be fantastic to be able to see the race like that.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

No, I mean there's I know so many people in in my circles that dream of of having this job, and it's something I've I've dreamt of for years, and I've put some nudges in here and there. Um and I mean Stefan Sarm's phenomenal at this job, he knows the riders, he knows the racing so well. Um, and so uh I'm I hope he can be back in um as soon as possible because he can certainly add more value than than I can out there. But I'm just loving the opportunity to to get to experience it, to get to learn a lot more about uh these riders and and how they race, and get to witness it uh myself and yeah, hopefully bring some some fun and some some good images and maybe a bit of commentary tomorrow. We'll see if uh that would be nice. That would be nice because the signal plays uh plays ball with us. Uh Jason Bull, thanks very much for your time. My pleasure. Thanks for having me, guys. Cheers.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Right, so thanks very much to Jason Bull. What a fantastic character and some amazing stories. I don't think we could have him on on every single day if you have to tell us that.

SPEAKER_03 27:39

So cool, so cool. And it's so as you say, best seat in the house, right? Uh unbelievable. Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Talking about unbelievable, we've got a very special guest. He's not actually not here at the Absolve Epic, um, because for the first time in many years, and he'll explain a little bit who he is uh very shortly. But he's gonna be one of those athletes, one of those uh uh expert commentators, uh probably the best expert commentator we could find who could kind of we wanted to say to him, well, who is your player there? Who is your team of the day? So will you tell us who that person is?

SPEAKER_03 28:07

So Carl Platter. Um is going to be sending us through every day a little take on the day, the the team of the day. And and there's no one else and and no one better to give us that commentary than Carl Platt. Um Carl Platt has got uh five of uh Abscape Epic wins, which he shares that record with Christoph Sauzer. So both of them the goats of the Applescape Epic to date. Um Carl Platt has also got more age group wins and more stage wins than anybody else in the history of the Applescape Epic. So an absolute legend. We miss you, Carl, but thank you for agreeing to send through your daily report and and your daily uh uh take on what happened on the racing. Well, here is Carl Platt.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Hey guys, this is Carl Platz from Germany. Unfortunately, I'm not racing the Epson Cape Epic this year, but I'm following it as a fan. So I was watching the coverage today and I felt uh dust in my nose, and uh it felt like I'm in there, and uh yeah, it's uh it's uh it's been really fun to watch the race. And uh the theme of today was for me definitely Matthew, and uh they had uh bad luck in the beginning and um and then they managed to fix the wheel, they lost about four minutes, and uh they came raced back again to the front, but not like in one goal. They had good legs and they used uh the momentum to come back, and uh yeah, definitely as you agree with every one of you, they uh they did uh such an amazing race, and um I'm excited uh to see them racing the other days. So today was only the first uh day, just uh not a warm-up warm-up was yesterday, but uh it was already delight to see where everyone is standing. I think the other teams they saved some energy, they were not going super full gas, but it stays uh super interesting, and uh yeah, I'm crossing fingers for disguise and uh watching carefully.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

So Carl, thanks very much uh for um not only for today, but I think you're gonna be doing it throughout the week and being a serial player of the day. It's all yeah, I I'm hoping that he's not gonna always go for the winner because he's maybe not the winner that's gonna be the the team of the day. Sometimes it's somebody else that can come through. But Carl, thank you very much for being part of this podcast. And uh, even though we missed you being here, because and I tell you what, they're gonna have a lot more spare beer available because Carl isn't here because he he likes his beers, even when he's racing, he likes his beers.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

Also, the man that invented the stage nine party at the Abscape Epic. Stage nine is obviously after stage eight, but it doesn't involve bicycles involve bicycles at all, does it? Absolutely, right.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

Uh let's go on to some of the other interviews as well, and uh let's kick off with an interview with uh Matt Bears and Tristan or Kier, and uh this is what they had to say after their uh stage today.

SPEAKER_05 31:00

How the hell did you do that? I don't know. I mean we had if you have the legs you gotta use them, huh? So um yeah, then it's a little bit much. Yeah, uh it's obviously a big it was a big gap when I heard 340 or whatever it was. I was like, oh gosh, that's uh that's a proper one. I don't know if we'll get that back just due to the terrain. Um but yeah, just try to keep the keep the corners real high and like just try and flow because sometimes when you're on your own you can actually flow a lot faster through through the trails, and um yeah, that was a one trail section. We actually crawl back a ton of time at like 77 Ks, I think, uh without even having to pedal. So yeah, you just learn over the years where you need to spend your effort, and uh yeah, Christian had a great ride. Um so couldn't ask for much better.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Just tell us about uh were you having any conversations out there when you were chasing back between the two of you?

SPEAKER_07 31:58

Yeah, I think I think that yeah, we run. Yeah, didn't actually chat, but yeah, I just I recon a bit of um this this trails like in February, so I kind of knew what was coming. Um so I just tried to help Matt and said what was coming and what these things was fast and open and we can push a bit and then what drag and how long is the drag and stuff. So that's what that helped a lot today with the recon I did uh two weeks back. So yeah, but we just like Matt said, we just kept it smooth because I also knew um on this type of terrain actually riding alone is faster than being in a bunch of four or five teams because it's that yo-yo the whole time in the bunch. So yeah, we just kept it smooth and yeah, happy with it.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

Which tie was it?

SPEAKER_07 32:41

It was my tie.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

Which one?

SPEAKER_02 32:42

Uh the tire, but yeah, I don't know how it ended up, but yeah. So we got Matt Bears and Tristan Orkea, the two South African stars. And what's interesting about those two, and for those of you who have been reading the media stuff and the social media stuff on the Abse Cape Epic, if they do win the Absicape Epic, and I don't want to jinx them yet because we're a long way from the finishing line, but it'll be the first South African team to win the Absicape Epic, which is um we had lots of South Africans win it, but always with foreign um partners. But it's amazing to think we've had no all South African team win this race.

SPEAKER_03 33:13

Yeah, incredible. And uh and and I think that's a part of the magic of the Abscape Epic, isn't it? You know, we look at I think we said 56 countries taking part here in 2026, and and it's become a community. You know, riders get to meet each other every year, they see each other at the other races around the world, the Epic Series races, some of the World Cup races. Uh they look at form, they look at personality, they look at can can can we work together? How do we make that happen? And if we can make that happen, well, let's ride together at the the greatest show on earth in the Epsic Cap Epic.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Yeah, there we go. And then uh let's uh also hear from Martin Stosek. Well, first of all, Valt Aleman actually, he was the first person I spoke to. He he'd actually done his interviews and I kind of waited for him to go into the cleanup area and kind of got him to chat a little bit about how his day went from today. But so Valt Aleman first, and then he'll hear Martin Stosek uh talking about his day today as well.

SPEAKER_06 34:00

Uh we were just following in the beginning, and yeah, you know, it's just the first day, and everyone is still uh fresh and everyone can still ride fast. So we waited and like slowly the group was getting uh like was less and less riders. Um and we decided to stay calm and to keep the bike in one piece because it was a lot of punctures today and the terrain was super rocky and super uh was was quite rough. And then in the end we tried a few times but the climbs were just too short to make a gap. Um then we decided to go full gas for the sprint and I had a good position into the last single trail. I was not sure if Martin was there, but then he shouted to me that I had to go and I just went full gas to the finish, and uh it was just the perfect sprint, I would say. How many stages have you won in the epic have you?

SPEAKER_00 34:47

I did not my fifth epic and sixth stage win.

SPEAKER_06 34:52

I managed to win uh in every game at least one stage, so it's super good to continue this trick.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

You got into the wheel of walks right at the end? How did you get into position?

SPEAKER_04 35:05

Uh yeah, I had quite a good leg, so I had plenty of uh like space to go last K. I knew that I'm quite in good position, and I knew that the last corners will be quite tight and that the finish line is not that long, so I wanted to be as much as as much as front as possible. And I managed to go third position, so it was good, yeah. It was tricky because there were a lot of people in the sprint. Yeah, yeah, but the field was already like stretched out because Villier did crazy pull for the last climb, and then somehow there was not many chances to overtake, so we were like comfortably sitting the last K on the wheel, and yeah, when I see that we are getting closer, uh I I just shout to Wow that we should start to we should start to sprint. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

So Wad Aleman is uh certainly, I mean, he's not he's not a rare winner of stages here the Absicke epic. He's won six stages in in sorry, five stages and sorry, six stages in five Absicap epics. So he's won a stage in every single Abse Cap epic he's ever done. But he's also got an incredible Palmares outside of the EPSIC, hasn't he?

SPEAKER_03 36:06

Yeah, I mean genetically very similar to Matthew Beers. He's got a massive engine, he loves to win, he loves to race. Uh he's a winner of the um uh four islands epic in Croatia, uh, with Hans Becking. Um and we and we know that this Buff BH team has got a very strong uh pedigree, they've got an amazing team behind them, and uh they continue to perform at the top level. Remember, winners of the time trial here last year at the Absolve Epic as well, him and Martin Starsek. So they're a team that I'll try to test it, and I I I can tell you now, in the two plus five hour days coming our way, they are going to be very dangerous. Yeah, I can't agree with you more.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

They're certainly a formidable team. And then our final interview today, we've got uh with Candace Lill and Alessander Keller who talk a little bit about uh their day. And as usual, Candace is uh always one of those amazing people to interview because she really just tells you what's happening out there in the day, and she's always even though she's been putting basically putting a hundred percent effort in for uh three or four hours every single day, she always says an amazing person to interview. So here's Candace Lill first and then Alessandra Keller just after her. So Candace, uh that went according to plan?

SPEAKER_09 37:08

It did, well done. Um yeah, today was good, um, really hard from the start. Like the woman started a seven kilometre pass, a really steep one, and we just went from the gun. Um so I think that made the racing really cool. Um and it's so cool to see that the shorter distance is basically making more exciting racing. I mean we had three teams within a very small gap today. And then just in terms of when you when you started pulling away, was it an attack or when it's pulling away? Yeah, I think in this kind of racing it's just you know the terrain kind of dictates how long you can go, and it's more about like uh you know picking people up one by one than doing a huge attacks, so we just kind of kept our pace, tried to ride within ourselves and know what we can maintain to the line. And then at one point we saw like a bit of like the others were struggling a bit and we just put a little bit harder and we kept back out.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

Sandra, can I get in there quickly before you sort it up? Tell me about what your first big stage of the epic was like for you when it's uh it was really hard, especially at the beginning.

SPEAKER_08 38:12

I didn't expect it like a frustrated, but yeah, we we did our thing and we focused on our side and we were classic. And uh yeah, but it was brutal.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

And then uh how was the difficult communication? Was it one person that felt stronger than the other, or were you just wicking it all together?

SPEAKER_08 38:27

I think we did well uh communication, we did well communication, but you know I didn't want to because I'm not so experienced in racing, so I didn't want to go over the limit too too fast too early the race, so I think uh that went well, and so the Candice did a bit more of work in the front.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

So short calls for champions and ethnic stage finish is a huge difference in terms of time. How do you deal with that mentally?

SPEAKER_08 38:53

Oh well, you know, it's just a different kind of suffering, but I think uh you know, I trained for it and I do like the hours as well. So I know what it's like to suffer, and suffering feels to say, but just for a bit little bit longer.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Right, so let's go on to the uh the stage number two, day three. What's ahead for these riders tomorrow?

SPEAKER_03 39:14

So tomorrow morning, Montague to Montague again. Uh the men are going 102 kilometres, uh 2,250 metres of climbing. And and we look at the the profile here, it's definitely loaded towards the front middle part. The moves are definitely gonna come in there. In the women's race, uh 80 kilometers, 1,730 metres of climbing, and that is loaded towards the front as well. So it's gonna be exciting from the get-go. I'm sure we're gonna see the women out of the block uh vaulting the stable early. Uh the men's race, we've got that one big climb uh that comes through it just on 30 kilometers, and I think that is where things are gonna get choking up tomorrow. So exciting day of racing. Montague, as you can see here this afternoon cooled down. You can see the cloud coming over the mountains, and uh the race village has gone quiet. We'll go through to the awards this evening, but what a day, what a day, and it's only stage one. We've still got uh six big stages to go. I can't wait to see the action tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

Thanks very much for your time, and we'll speak to you tomorrow on after stage number two.