2025 Epic Insights – Stage 4

Tune in for daily insights from inside the media team at the2025 Absa Cape Epic with the Diverge Podcast's vlogs. In the Stage 4 episode Seamus Allardice reflects on a day when the sun blazed down and the heat affected the event. At the sharp end; even the UCI Men, who started at 06:45 on Stage 3, were exposed to extreme heat. The stage winners, Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto held off Nino Schurter and Filipo Colombo in a sprint finish, but the tale of the day for the South Africans was the 3rd place and stellar performance of Imbuko ChemChamp. This made up for the difficulties Matt Beers continued tohave as his teammate Keegan Swenson. The Outride Toyota songo team lost 14 minutes on the day, while ORBEA Leatt Speed Company lost 15. The South African former winner is now 23 minutes back on the general classification while the Germans are 20 minutes down in 8th. Both teams will have to pivot to stage hunting now. At the sharp end Scott SRAM lead Willier Vittoria by 43seconds, with Nortje and Joubert in 3rd, at 9:49. Klimatiza ORBEA are 4th, at 12:38, with Torpado x Singer 5th, at 12:58. In the UCI Women’s race Annika Langvad Sofia and GomezVillafane, of Toyota Specialized, won their fourth successive stage. But were less assured on Stage 3, due to two crashes for Langvad. The second was particularly hard and thereafter the Dane’s confidence in the trails was shaken. Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda ceded 4:37 on the day, and start Stage 4 13:59 down. As in the men’s race the highlight of the day for local fans was the Absa African jersey team’s performance. Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen of Titan Racing SE Honeycomb had their best day of the race, finishing 3rd on the stage and gaining a general classification position. A tough day for Cannondale ISB Sport means that Haw and Preen’s nearest rivals are the Torpado Kenda FSA team of Katazina Sosna-Pinele and Claudia Peretti.Read the daily stories from the race on www.diverge.info.