Christopher Blevins en Matthew Beers. Foto: Twitter.
South Africa’s Matthew Beers and his American teammate – Christopher Blevins – are the overall winners of the Absa Cape Epic.
Although the two cyclists from Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne finished the seventh and final stage in second place, they still did enough to stand on the top spot on the podium.
They not only erased a deficit of eight minutes after the first shift, but they were also the shift winners quite a few times.
Wow. What a bonkers finish! Martin Frey went flying. Baum and Egger win the stage, and Beers and Blevins win the 2023 Absa Cape Epic. That was a wild final few kilometres. #capeepic pic.twitter.com/JwqQE6Qg21
— capeepic (@CapeEpic) March 26, 2023
“It was an incredible performance; not only today, but also the whole week. The fact that we were able to fight back after a very difficult first stage shows our good understanding and trust in each other’s abilities,” said Beers.
According to the 28-year-old South African, spectators also encouraged them to greater heights.
“They definitely fired us up and I think we finished the last stage on pure adrenaline. But now I’m dead tired!”
The 2023 Absa Cape Epic champions, Matt Beers and Christopher Blevins (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne). They made up an 8-minute deficit after Stage 1 to win the event. pic.twitter.com/iSbaSJHzRT
— capeepic (@CapeEpic) March 26, 2023
In the women’s division, Kim le Court and Vera Looser raced away with the laurels.
“It was a tough and difficult week and we really had to dig deep, but we made it. I think it will be a week or two before everything sinks in properly,” Looser said.
The two also shone earlier in the Cape Town cycle tour.
Le Court won that race, while her Namibian teammate then raced across the finish line in second.
Champers for the champs.#capeepic pic.twitter.com/Nolan1UO1m
— capeepic (@CapeEpic) March 26, 2023
Mans:
- Georg Egger en Lukas Baum (Orbea x Leatt x Speed Company): 3:07:26
- Matthew Beers en Christopher Blevins (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne): 3:07:36
- Simon Stiebjahn en Martin Frey (Singer Racing): 3:08:22
Women:
- Greete Steinburg en Monica Martinez (Cannondale Vas Arabay): 4:02:50
- Kim le Court in Vera Looser (Efficient Infiniti Insure): 4:03:08
- Amy Wakefield en Candice Lill (e-Fort.net: SeattleCoffeeCo): 4:10:20
Mans:
- Matthew Beers en Christopher Blevins (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne): 26:17:04
- Georg Egger en Lukas Baum (Orbea x Leatt x Speed Company): 26:20:53
- Nino Schurter and Andri Frischknecht (Scott-Sram MTB Racing): 26:21:15
Women:
- Kim le Court in Vera Looser (Efficient Infiniti Insure): 33:11:37
- Amy Wakefield en Candice Lill (e-Fort.net: SeattleCoffeeCo): 33:44:02
- Sofia Gomez Villafane en Katerina Nash (NinetyOne-Songo-Specialized): 33:54:55.
