Belgian rider Wout Alleman and Czech partner Martin Stošek (BUFF MEGAMO 1) powered to a Stage 2 victory at the Absa Cape Epic near Paarl today.

Starting at Meerendal Wine Estate and finishing at Fairview just outside of Paarl, the all-new team combination blitzed the 66km time-trial stage to finish 27 seconds ahead of Zebra Striped Yellow Jersey overall leaders Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo (SCOTT-SRAM MTB).

In the Aramex UCI Women’s Category, it was another commanding performance from the all-star pairing of Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafane (Toyota | Specialized).

Starting last in the women’s race in the time-trial format, Langvad and Villafane showed precision and power to claim the stage win in a time of 2:43:14. They now lead the Aramex UCI Women’s Category by just over nine minutes, ahead of Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda (Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM) in second. 

Much was made of the Stage 2 time trial being the first point-to-point time trial to take place at the event - and of the 66km distance - the longest ‘short’ stage in the race’s history. In the build-up hype, it seems that riders forgot to take into account the route conditions and the weather. Long, flat sections meant extra work for the legs - this as the temperature rapidly rose from warm to scorching. 

“We started last today, so our plan was to see how the other teams rode and then to respond to that,” said Annika Langvad. “The problem was, once we started catching teams we got a bit too excited and started going faster. Then the heat kicked in and took us a little by surprise.” 

Langvad’s Absa Cape Epic experience kicked in and race management then became the order of the day. “There was some self-inflicted damage, so we had to slow down a bit and manage that for a while. Riding into the finish it felt like we were in an oven. We definitely paid the price for riding too hard. I am glad that stage is over but happy overall with the way I am feeling. We built some more time into our overall lead today and that’s a great result.” 

See the full results HERE. 

UCI Men’s Category Stage 2 Results
1 Wout Alleman and Martin Stošek – BUFF MEGAMO 1 – 2:13:05
2 Nino Schurter and Filippo Viero Colombo – SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing – 2:13:32
3 Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto – WILIER-VITTORIA – 2:14:05
4 David Valero Serrano and Tiago Jorge Ferreira Oliveira – BH Coloma – 2:14:16
5 Lukas Baum and Georg Egger – ORBEA Leatt Speed Company – 2:14:50

UCI Men’s Category GC
1 Nino Schurter and Filippo Viero Colombo – SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing – 7:04:40
2 Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto – WILIER-VITTORIA – 7:05:24
3 Lukas Baum and Georg Egger – ORBEA Leatt Speed Company – 7:09:12
4 Fabian Rabensteiner and Simon Stiebjahn – Torpado x Singer – 7:12:21
5 Matthew Beers and Keegan Swenson – Outride | Toyota | Songo – 7:13:57

Aramex UCI Women’s Category Stage 2 Results

1 Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafane – Toyota | Specialized – 2:43:14
2 Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez and Tessa Kortekaas – CANNONDALE ISB SPORT – 2:45:23
3 Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda – Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM – 2:45:38
4 Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen – TitanRacing SE Honeycomb – 2:47:26
5 Katazina Sosna-Pinele and Claudia Peretti – Torpado Kenda FSA WMN – 2:48:25

Aramex UCI Women’s Category GC
1 Annika Langvad and Sofia Gomez Villafane – Toyota | Specialized – 8:39:22
2 Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda – Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM – 8:48:44
3 Monica Yuliana Calderon Martinez and Tessa Kortekaas – CANNONDALE ISB SPORT – 8:54:49
4 Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen – TitanRacing SE Honeycomb – 8:58:18
5 Rosa Van Doorn and Janina Wust – BUFF MEGAMO – 9:01:09

Other Categories & Special Jerseys GC
- Toyota Mixed Category: Riaan Weideman and Samantha Sanders - Toyota Gazoo Racing - 9:05:58
- NTT Data Masters Men’s Category: Pavel Gonda and Tobias Lüthi - Czech Rocket&Swiss Diesel - 7:57:55
- Masters Women’s Category: Tatiana Furlan and Kellyn Cumin - Especialíssima - 11:03:29
- GIC Grand Masters Men’s Category: Ibon Zugasti and Kaare Aagaard - Orbea Factory Team - 8:16:41
- Grand Masters Women’s Category: Jenny Rönngren and Martha Koekemoer - UAG Epic - 11:08:27
- Great Grand Masters’ Category: Barti Bucher and Peter Vesel - Meerendal Etis - 9:19:50
- Absa African Special Jersey Men’s Race: Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortjie – Imbuko ChemChamp A – 7:14:18
- Absa African Special Jersey Women’s Race: Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen – 8:58:18
- Exxaro Special Jersey Men’s Race: Damon Terblanche and Ziandro Jordaan – Fairtree DP World Can1 – 8:48:14
- Exxaro Special Jersey Women’s Race: Tsholofelo Nkosi and Bontle Phepiso – Exxaro Academy Ladies 1 – 13:43:36