A historic change in the Cape Epic: the routes are adjusted to give more visibility to the elite women's race

The Cape Epic aims to give greater relevance and improve the coverage of the women's race. To achieve this and create a more spectacular development of the event, they will adjust the routes of this category so that the stages have the same duration as the men's counterparts, which will also allow for better broadcast coverage.

The stages for elite women and men in the Cape Epic 2026 will last the same

Important change in the development of the women's category in the upcoming Cape Epic, which will take place from March 15 to 22, 2026. The organization, seeking to make the development of women's races more competitive and spectacular, has decided to adjust the distance of the stages so that their duration is equal to that of the men's stages.

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This will allow for faster and more contested races, as well as open the possibility for early attacks that were difficult to see in the current format where the stages were extended for them. Additionally, this will result in tighter differences in the classification, which aims to maintain the excitement of the competition until the end.

To achieve this, the organization of the Cape Epic has prepared specific routes for the women's category. In some cases, the same course is shared, while in others, variants are used, and even in the line stages, a different starting point closer to the finish point is utilized. In any case, this modification will only apply to the Elite category, so those cyclists competing in any other categories: Open, NTT Masters, GIC Grand Masters, or mixed will continue to complete the longer route.

With this change in the routes for the Elite Women's category, the Cape Epic also seeks to gain greater attention for the broadcast of this race. This decision has taken into account the opinions of the cyclists, who have positively evaluated a decision that will allow them to showcase their full potential or broaden the range of cyclists who can participate in the event.