It may be a rock-strewn trail, but the (BUFF-Megamo) outfit of Hans Becking and Wout Alleman made the Old Wagon Trail descent look like a manicured race track at the end of Stage 2. Stage 2, over 97 kilometres with some 2200 metres of climbing, proved another great day for the Becking and Alleman, with the pair winning their second stage and claiming the team’s first-ever Ciovita Yellow Leader Jerseys.

While Becking and Alleman blitzed the course in a time of 4:05:22; and Anne Terpstra and Nicole Koller (GHOST Factory Racing) claimed a hattrick of stage victories in the Aramex Women’s Category, many riders were simply ticking over to get across the finish line in Saronsberg in under the maximum stage time of nine hours.

The war stories in the chill zone tonight over chilled Devil’s Peak lagers will be all about the heat and the dust. Tales of comradery and conquering what was a truly brutal, untamed stage, together. “When we started riding in the mountains and building those trails I would never in my wildest dreams have imagined that the best riders in the world would ride them,” said Hannes Hanekom, who built many of the trails in the Witzenberg valley along with his brother and other landowners and is riding his 15th Absa Cape Epic in 2024.“Never mind in one of the biggest races in the world. It's a blessing to be able to do this and share these trails with like-minded people from all over the world. It might’ve been hellishly hot, but it was close to heaven up there on the summit.”

Here is how the rest of the field fared:

MIXED CATEGORY
In the mixed, Toyota Gazoo Racing (Riaan Weideman and Samantha Sanders) remain in the green jersey with Resicon (Angus Rodwell and Shelley Knowles). Stage 2 saw CBZ Asfalto (Alejandro Blanco and Kristel Espinoza) move into third ahead of DriveTrain (Joel Stransky and Rouxda Grobler).

AMATEURS CATEGORY 
Latvian wannabe pro cycling (Lauris Purnins and Oskars Muiznieks) remain comfortably in white, with Alilililili (Simeon Niederer and Patric Tinner) in second. A solid result on Stage 2 saw Team Virta (Sami Inkinen and Jasper Verkuijl) move into third overall.

AMATEUR WOMEN'S CATEGORY 
The GC in the women in the Amateur Women's category remains unchanged, with Team Ar&Co (Paula Lopez and Alejandra Cristina Tattenbach Arias), winning yet another stage, followed closely by Team RoadexEMU (Krista Pūcīte and Beate Kovgere), with Team Young&Brave (Tanja Schutte and Iliska Verwey-Schutte) sitting in third.

NTT MASTERS MEN'S CATEGORY
While Bulls Masters still lead the race, Craig Uria and Michael Posthumus of Absa Masters showed excellent skills and determination to secure the second position overall despite a major mechanical. They are followed by Pavel Gonda and Tobias Lüthi of CzechRocket & SwissDiesel in third position

NTT MASTERS WOMEN'S CATEGORY 
Asterix & Cleopatra maintained their lead, followed by Absa LastLioness, while ILoveBoobies #FortyFour moved up from fourth to third place.

GRAND MASTERS CATEGORY 
In the Grand Masters Men's category, while the leaders remained unchanged, second and third places saw significant shifts. Pedal Project maintained its lead, followed by LGE Midas, which moved up to second place, and Flash Harry Waterproofing, advancing to third.

GRAND MASTERS WOMEN'S CATEGORY 
The top two positions remained unchanged, but there was some movement in the third place. Toyota Memory Keepers held onto the lead, with Absolutely SheUntamed securing second place. However, Musas Paradisiacas made a significant advancement, moving up to claim the third position overall.

GREAT GRAND MASTERS CATEGORY 
The overall GC situation remains unchanged after Stage 2, with Multiple Absa Cape Epic category winner Barti Bucher with Meerendal teammate Peter Furrer, holding onto a commanding lead ahead of Toshiba Namibia and Forestiére & C&C.

SPECIAL JERSEYS

ABSA AFRICAN SPECIAL JERSEY
After a storming ride on Stage 2,  Philip Buys and Pieter Du Toit of PYGA Euro Steel have surged to the top spot and will wear the red jerseys on Stage 3. Following closely behind are Alexander Miller and Johan Van Zyl of Toyota-Specialized, who now sit in second place. Meanwhile, Marco Joubert and Wessel Botha of Imbuko A have slipped to third position. In the women’s category, #SheUntamed (Sarah Hill and Hayley Smith) remain in control.

EXXARO SPECIAL JERSEY 
Fairtree DPworld Cannondale’s Kusaselihle Ngidi and Damon Terblanche hold onto their comfortable lead after another solid performance in the men’s race, with Fairtree NTT 1 (Yomelela Mfazwe and Ongezo Mini) in the women’s green special jersey.