cycling: Cape Epic 2019: The most important information before the start on March 17th

Cycling/ MTB: From March 17th to 24th, the Cape Epic will once again be one of the MTB highlights of the year early in the season. In the course of this week we will provide you with all the information about the race, the route, the teams and some background reports. At the start there is an overview of the most important information about Cape Epic 2019.

Cape Epic 2019: The Race

This year marks the 16th time that Cape Epic has started. Little known outside of South Africa in its early years, it quickly became well-known and attracted bigger and bigger names. It is now one of the most prestigious MTB events of all and attracts the who's who of the marathon and XC elite to the warm south of Africa early in the year. Up until three or four years ago, it was mainly the marathonists who shaped the event and reaped victory after victory. More recently, the pure XC pros have also managed to win daily or even overall victories time and time again. Will the pendulum swing back towards the marathon in 2019? The enormously difficult course might suggest this.

Cape Epic 2019: Route

This year's Cape Epic route is without exaggeration one of the toughest and most difficult in the history of the race. At 624km, the total route is a bit shorter than in the previous editions, but with over 16.500m of altitude difference, the route planners have accommodated a whopping 3.100m more than in the previous year, for example. Seven stages and a very demanding prologue are on the menu for the riders before the winning teams are crowned in Val de Vie on March 24th. It's a tight race for the Queen's Stage title at Cape Epic 2019 - three stages would be competing for it this year, but by a narrow margin, the fifth leg of the day should claim that unofficial title. On the 100 km long section from Oak Valley to Stellenbosch, 2.850 meters in altitude have to be mastered and numerous tricky trails have to be tackled.

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Cape Epic 2019: Riders, Teams and Favorites

However, this year's Cape Epic not only draws its special flavor from the demanding route, but also from the exciting teams and driver constellations that emerged in 2019 - for men and women alike. Naturally, last year's winners are particularly in the limelight. Jaroslav Kulhavy and Howard Grotts triumphed in the men's race last year. The duo would undoubtedly have started again this year as the big favorites, but Grotts had to drop out at very short notice due to illness. Replacement at Kulhavy's side is Cape Epic newcomer Sam Gaze - so can the newly formed Investec-Songo-Specialized be just as successful at the Cape? They will be challenged, among others, by the Scott-SRAM duo around Olympic champion Nino Schurter, who will be accompanied by Andri Frischknecht in 2019. In this constellation, the team was already able to celebrate the Cape Epic victory in 2017.

Marathon fans will have their eyes on the two newly formed Team Bulls top teams in particular: New signing Alban Lakata (Here is the interview with Alban) new constellations arise here, above all, of course, the "old master duo" with Lakata and the five-time Cape Epic winner Karl Platt. Platt's ex-partner and Epic winner 2016, Urs Huber, will be at the start together with all-round talent Simon Stiebjahn.

Cape Epic 2019: live broadcast

As in previous years, one has to be clear: the German broadcasters missed out on one of the absolute highlights of cycling this year. This means that the Cape Epic will not be shown on free TV this year either. The good news - in 2019 there will again be an official live stream every day directly from South Africa, which will bring the most spectacular pictures and all current developments directly to your home computer. Unfortunately, the transmission time is not necessarily employee-friendly: the starting signal always sounds at 8:00 a.m. or 8:30 a.m. German time.

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Web

www.cape-epic.com