Cape Epic 2023: Egger-Baum win the queen stage and become new overall leaders

Egger-Baum signed a great victory in the fifth stage and took the overall lead. The pair launched an attack in the first half of the course that no one could replicate and increased the advantage as the kilometers went by. Scott-SRAM finished at 2 minutes and 40 seconds and gave up the yellow jersey.

Double win for Orbea x Leatt x Speed Company with the stage victory and first place overall

Today's day had been marked in red on the calendar since before the start of the Cape Epic. The organization had defined it as the queen stage of this edition. After a time trial that tightened even more the general classification, the route today proposed a distance of 102 kilometers with 2,450 meters of elevation gain.

The riders had to face Groenlanderbg, the most famous climb of the race, although the challenge already started in the first kilometers with the ascent to Tierkop. A stage in which the top teams would try to break the equality that had prevailed so far and snatch the yellow jersey from Scott-SRAM.

The queen stage took on a new dimension when it became clear that the rain, which had started to fall during the night, had filled the roads with puddles and mud. The rain continued to fall when the start was taken and confirmed that the riders were in for a difficult day.

The stage started with the main pairs together and Joubert-Du Toit in the lead.

The race continued and Egger-Baum demonstrated the health of their legs with an attack that no one could replicate and with which they put distance to their rivals. A move that gave them more than 50 seconds ahead of Beers-Blevins and Schurter-Frischknecht at km 41.

With the sun now clear in the sky, the Germans Egger-Baum continued to pound their quads at a great pace, only interrupted by a crash through a huge puddle.

Behind, the chasing group of Beers-Blevins, Schurter-Frischknecht and Stiebjahn-Frey tried to catch them.

However, the reality was different and the Orbea x Leatt x Speed Company team increased the gap to a minute and a half at the 58th km. A cushion of seconds was enough to take the overall lead.

The race situation remained unchanged at the next detection point: Egger-Baum in front while the chasing pack remained intact but failed to catch the leading pair.

The Germans pushed again and gained an advantage of no less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds after 89 kilometers of the stage.

In the end, the finish line was in style to certify a well-deserved stage victory and first place in the overall. Last year's winners will again wear the yellow jersey for the first time this edition after winning the queen stage of the race.

Scott-SRAM thus loses a lead it has been able to hold on to since stage 1. Despite the setback, the gap to the new leaders is only 1 minute and 29 seconds, so everything is still open in the two remaining stages.

Cape Epic 2023 Men's Category Results - Stage 5

1. Egger/Baum (Orbea x Leatt x Speed Company) 4:13'46"
2. Stiebjahn/Frey (Singer Racing) +2'32"
3. Schurter/Frischknecht (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing) +2'40"
4. Beers/Blevins (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne) +3'04"
5. Bou/Muñoz (Cannondale VAS Arabay) +16'01"
6. Rabensteiner/Alleman (Wilier Pirelli Factory) +17'22"
7. Swenson/Morton (EF-Easypost: SCB SRAM) +19'20"
8. Mantecón/Sánchez (Scott-Cala Bandida) +20'15"
9. Seewald/Stosek (Canyon Northwave MTB) +20'53"
10. Nortje/Boichis (Toyota-Sepecialized-NinetyOne 2) +22'08"

Overall classification Men's category Cape Epic 2023 - Stage 5

1. Egger/Baum (Orbea x Leatt x Speed Company) 19:35'29"
2. Schurter/Frischknecht (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing) +1'29"
3. Beers/Blevins (Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne) +7'08"
4. Rabensteiner/Alleman (Wilier Pirelli Factory) +23'30"
5. Seewald/Stosek (Canyon Northwave MTB) +38'44"
6. Bou/Muñoz (Cannondale VAS Arabay) +48'16"
7. Buys/Miller (PYGA Euro Steel) +49'26"
8. Vakoc/Stutzmann (Canyon Northwave) +54'42"
9. Becking/Dias (BUFF Megamo) +1:01'54"
10. Porro/Nibali (Italian Friends) +1:05'47"

Looser-Le Court win the queen stage but Wakefield-Lill keep the orange jersey one more day

The women's race started with Wakefield-Lill even more in the lead than the day before, and with doubts as to whether anyone would be able to stand up to them. Shortly after the start, the Efficient Inifity Insure - who won yesterday's time trial - had to drop back to fix a small problem with a shoe.

With Efficent Infinity Insure trailing and Gomez-Nash losing some pace with their main rivals, it was soon Wakefield-Lill leading alone in what looked like another monologue from e-FORT.net.

Even so, Wakefield seemed to have some problems and a recovered Looser-Le Court took the lead of the stage. In fact, they were able to break away to pull within 1 minute and 40 seconds of the overall leaders at the 41st kilometer mark.

Looser-Le Court continued to lead the stage with no signs of weakness and managed to keep the gap to Wakefielf-Lill at 58 km. And by the final stretch, the lead had increased to 2 minutes and 28 seconds at the 89 km mark.

Thus, the Looser-Le Court duo once again set the best time and took the queen stage of this Cape Epic. Even so, Wakefiled-Lill kept the orange jersey with a good margin of minutes.

Gómez-Nash again lost time and lost second place in the overall standings.

Cape Epic 2023 Women's Category Results - Stage 5

1. Le Court/Looser (Efficient Inifity Insure) 5:23'46"
2. Wakefield/Lill (e-FORT.net) +2'36"
3. Steinburg/Calderón (Cannondale Vas Arabay) +19'
4. Gómez/Nash (NinetyOne-Songo-Specialized) +20'09"

Overall classification Women's category Cape Epic 2023 - Stage 5

1. Wakefield/Lill (e-FORT.net) 24:24'32"
2. Le Court/Looser (Efficient Inifity Insure) +13'53"
3. Gómez/Nash (NinetyOne-Songo-Specialized) +28'15"
4. Steinburg/Calderón (Cannondale Vas Arabay) +1:53'27"