“My partner knew that the Welvanpas and Val du Charron trails were coming up, so she drilled it to get to the top there,” said Tarryn Povey. “From there we just had fun! It was a really good day out on the trails.” 

The sheer joy on the riders' faces after a fun stage that followed a gruelling first five days is a testament to the power of innovation and perseverance. The post-stage transfer between Wellington and Stellenbosch promises to be a game-changer, marking the first time in the race's history that riders will experience this from a race village venue. With only two stages remaining, anything is possible, and the competition remains fierce across various categories. As we have seen time and time again in the Untamed African Mountain Bike Race, true victory belongs to those who never give up.

Here is how the overall GC in the various categories stands after Stage 5:

MIXED CATEGORY 
The standings in the Mixed Category remain unchanged, with Toyota Gazoo Racing holding a commanding lead over e-FORT Mix with Resicon in third.

AMATEUR MEN’S CATEGORY 
The yo-yo battle for third continues with Virta 46th (Sami Inkinen and Jasper Verkuijl) moving back up. Latvian wannabe pro cyclists are still in first and Alilililili in second.

AMATEUR WOMEN’S CATEGORY 
Ar&Co (Paula Lopez and Alejandra Cristina Tattenbach Arias) still holds a commanding lead over RoadexEMU with Carli Cooke and Mikayla Benkenstein of AbsaSheUntamed moving into third overall. 

NTT MASTERS CATEGORY 
The Bulls Masters (Karl Platt and Tomás Misser) are keeping their record stage-winning sweep going and have a commanding 50-minute lead over Unimed/fourlab with CzechRocket & SwissDiesel in third.

NTT MASTERS WOMEN’S CATEGORY 
Asterix & Cleopatra maintained their lead after Stage 5 followed by Absa LastLioness, while ILoveBoobies #FortyFour sit comfortably in third place.

GRAND MASTERS MEN’S CATEGORY 
In the Grand Masters Men's Category, the standings remain unchanged from Stage 4. Pedal Project is in first, with LGE Midas in second and Truls & Vidar (Vidar Olsen and Truls Veslum) stay in third.

GRAND MASTERS WOMEN’S CATEGORY 
Toyota Memory Keepers still hold a commanding lead with Absolutely SheUntamed in second place and Rola Motor Group in third.

GREAT GRAND MASTERS CATEGORY 
The situation in the overall GC remains unchanged after Stage 4, 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 
Philip Buys and Pieter Du Toit (PYGA Euro Steel) are not looking likely to relinquish the Red Special Jerseys in this coveted competition and extended their lead to 19:58 lead over Marco Joubert and Wessel Botha (Imbuko A) ValleyElectrical Titan Racing (Matthys Beukes and Rossouw Bekker) moving into third after Alex Miller was of Toyota Specialized was forced to withdraw. In the women’s special jersey competition, Efficient Infiniti Insure (Steph Wohlters and Danielle Strydom) remain in the lead 11:56 ahead of #SheUntamed (Sarah Hill and Hayley Smith), with Cape Classic (Tarryn Povey and Kylie Hanekom) in third.

EXXARO SPECIAL JERSEY
The Coopetto (Halalisani Njabulo Ndebele and Siyanda Gumede) maintain their lead and are now 09:45 ahead of Fairtree DPworld Cannondale (Kusaselihle Ngidi and Damon Terblanche). Exxaro Tamela 2 (William Sello Majapholo and Obvious Khorommbi are a further 30 minutes back. In the women’s race with Fairtree NTT 1 (Yomelela Mfazwe and Ongezo Mini) in the women’s green special jersey.