Epic stage 4: Blowing in the wind

Matt Beers and Chris Blevins tamed the wild wind that howled around Oak Valley during the fourth stage of the Absa Cape Epic to take their fourth win of the 2023 race and edge closer to the overall lead.

The Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne team won the 47km time trial by 22 sec from Germany’s Georg Egger and Lukas Baum (Orbea-Leatt), the defending champions, and 2 min 23 sec ahead of yellow-jersey holders Nino Schurter and Andri Frischknecht (Scott-SRAM) of Switzerland. They are just over 5 min off the lead having moved up a place to third, while Egger and Baum are now a slim 1:11 behind the Swiss in second.

In the women’s category, South Africans Amy Wakefield and Candice Lill (SeattleCoffeeCo), the overall leaders, rode a composed time trial to take second on the stage won by Kim le Court and Vera Looser (Efficient Infiniti Insure), the Mauritius/Namibia pair. Wakefield and Lill increased their overall lead in the orange jersey over Argentinian Sofia Gomez Villafane and Czech Katerina Nash (NinetyOne-songo-Specialized) when they passed them on the time trial. The South Africans now lead by 10:42.

If the women’s race is looking a little more settled, the men’s category is anything but.

“After yesterday when we didn’t have the chance to do anything good, it’s a relief that we see some cracks in the armour. It’s getting closer and closer to our goal of the GC [general classification]. We aren’t here for only stage wins. We want to be at the top at [the last stage at] Val di Vie,” said Baum.

“Unfortunately on the trail there’s not much slipstream available when it blows right from the side. Super windy again. I was missing the chopper every once in a while. I think even those guys [in the helicopter] were struggling with the wind.”

On Wednesday, Blevins, the American with a road riding background, said he and SA’s Beers were going to absolutely “smash themselves” on Thursday’s time trial. That, said Beers, they did.

“I was just suffering. I went a little too hard in the beginning. Kinda just couldn’t recover. Chris doesn’t give much slip,” laughed Beers about the slight Blevins. “I was just suffering the whole day. Thank goodness for Chris. He really helped me, motivated me. This [the time trial] is his speciality so I knew I was going to be in trouble today.”

After a bad day on Monday’s first stage when they had to relinquish the yellow jersey they won on Sunday’s prologue after Blevins struggled with a stomach bug and cramps, the American has found his groove.

“I felt amazing. It was kinda just one of those days when you don’t know why you feel so good, but you do. I kept pushing and we absolutely ripped those descents. I think that was the most fun I have had so far this Epic. Good day,” said Blevins, who wore an aero suit in the blustery conditions.

“I tried to get aero. Mountain bikers don’t think as much about aero gains but I have a bit of a road background so I was trying to get as aero as possible,” said Blevins. “We wish we could throw away the first stage when I had some issues, but these next three days are serious. The hardest days are yet to come. We’re feeling good. I think today was good for the confidence in the legs. We’ll give it a good crack.”

“It was a tough one,” said Schurter. “The time trial is always a bit different. It’s tricky to pace. We probably went in a bit too slow. We were thinking don’t over-pace, but in the end we lost two minutes. We are still in the lead with a minute. It was still a good performance and we saved a bit for the next stage. It was quite windy and tricky out there. In some of the corners, you come around the corner and the wind is from the side. It was hectic. Some nice single trails. We had some fun.”

Frischknecht, who has been a willing and able foil to Schurter, said defending the jersey was the name of the game now. “If we have the chance tomorrow we will try to make some more time, but it’s the Cape Epic, anything can happen. First of all we try to stay in the mix and defend the yellow. That’s the main goal.”