Really, No Epic 2023 Thread?

[Robbie Stewart]

2 hours ago, Jbr said:

Sho still 5+mins behind for Spez despite 3 stages wins including 2 since the day Blevins was in the hurtbox, I thought they only lost 5 mins then 😕

Beers and Blevins lost just over 8 minutes to GC on Day 2. They clawed back about 3 minutes on the last 3 days which is pretty impressive considering the form of the rest of the bunch. I don't see them taking the win since Nino is on a absolute blinder unless Frischknecht blows up, but I'd be very chuffed for them to knock Orbea back a spot on the podium.

[Lexx]

Aren't there somewhere a list that shows what bike brand most riders are riding etc. Like for instance Comrades are doing with the running shoes on race day?

[Stephan]

2 hours ago, Shebeen said:

The shallow depth of the ladies field is way more concerning for me. Equal prize money and own start group doesn't seem to have attracted the top riders to this race anymore.

Looking at numbers, the 4th place ladies team is an hour 1:37 back. The 26th mens team is that far off, way out of the prize money.

Relatively this is 8.5% off the pace, the equivalent mens team that far down is 21st spot.

Totally agree.

The whole XCM vs XCO issue must play a part, but surely not the only reason? Why so many UCI men then? 

[BaGearA]

6 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Aren't there somewhere a list that shows what bike brand most riders are riding etc. Like for instance Comrades are doing with the running shoes on race day?

will definitely be available soon 

[ChrisF]

Is the "Queen stage" tomorrow ?

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, Lexx said:

Aren't there somewhere a list that shows what bike brand most riders are riding etc. Like for instance Comrades are doing with the running shoes on race day?

Tread run it

[Shebeen]

54 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

Is the "Queen stage" tomorrow ?

According to the route description

[babse]

1 hour ago, Stephan said:

Totally agree.

The whole XCM vs XCO issue must play a part, but surely not the only reason? Why so many UCI men then? 

I think it is.

 

I think the amount of woman XCM focused pro teams (think Canyon/Bulls/Pirelli) traveling the world for racing are far less than men... if any at all!?

[devvydoesdonuts]

9 minutes ago, babse said:

I think it is.

 

I think the amount of woman XCM focused pro teams (think Canyon/Bulls/Pirelli) traveling the world for racing are far less than men... if any at all!?

I think if they could get more of the ladies from XCO it would be great, Kate Courtney has done it before and would have a great team behind her, but Scott-Sram would need to get another female rider to join the team. Trek have Neff and Evie as well as Gibson that has joined, so they could make a decent team there, not sure how they would handle stage racing but a team of strong riders. Canyon could make a team out of Lecomte and Burquier, throw the Ghost team of Terpstra and Bohe in and you will already make the ladies race that much more interesting. The ladies field is is filled with so much talent but unfortunately we do not get to see at the Cape Epic.

[devvydoesdonuts]

2 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Beers and Blevins lost just over 8 minutes to GC on Day 2. They clawed back about 3 minutes on the last 3 days which is pretty impressive considering the form of the rest of the bunch. I don't see them taking the win since Nino is on a absolute blinder unless Frischknecht blows up, but I'd be very chuffed for them to knock Orbea back a spot on the podium.

Not sure if Andri is able to hold the pace for much longer, Nino really just has another gear at the Epic compared to his partners. Maybe Spez and SCR spent too many matches today and Scott took the loss of time today and used it as a bit of a recovery day knowing what lies ahead Friday and Saturday? I think the mens race is going to be rather interesting.

[babse]

1 minute ago, devvydoesdonuts said:

I think if they could get more of the ladies from XCO it would be great, Kate Courtney has done it before and would have a great team behind her, but Scott-Sram would need to get another female rider to join the team. Trek have Neff and Evie as well as Gibson that has joined, so they could make a decent team there, not sure how they would handle stage racing but a team of strong riders. Canyon could make a team out of Lecomte and Burquier, throw the Ghost team of Terpstra and Bohe in and you will already make the ladies race that much more interesting. The ladies field is is filled with so much talent but unfortunately we do not get to see at the Cape Epic.

Agreed with all of this. The ladied XCO field is lit and more often more entertaining/close than the mens races.

Would love to see them all pitch but as mentioned previously, the event turning from an XCO classified event to an XCM (probably rightly so) event, the XCO teams obvsiously dont prioritise blowing the bank on it. 

 

[Shebeen]

18 minutes ago, babse said:

Agreed with all of this. The ladied XCO field is lit and more often more entertaining/close than the mens races.

Would love to see them all pitch but as mentioned previously, the event turning from an XCO classified event to an XCM (probably rightly so) event, the XCO teams obvsiously dont prioritise blowing the bank on it. 

 

Then you can't really call it the Tour de France of mtb anymore.

If wout and MVDP can ride TdF then the top XCO should be here too.

thing is, take Nino out and there's no one from XCO rankings there.

 

Long gone are the days of Coolharvey, Marotte, Avancini, Hermida plus many others riding epic. Even local boy AHatherley has just the one epic (5th place)

 

it just shows so much more of a void in the ladies field. 

 

 

[babse]

As long as my 120kg CEO can enter this race without any qualification... This is not even close to the tour de France 

[Shebeen]

seems like the casualty rate is lower this year, hard to see exactly as the search is too complicated for me!

 

stage 4, 588 teams finished the TT

dunno how many individuals

prologue 723 finished it.

 

dropout rate of 19% seems like lower than normal for 3 stages left

[Shebeen]

8 minutes ago, babse said:

As long as my 120kg CEO can enter this race without any qualification... This is not even close to the tour de France 

I was referring to the UCI portion. the rest is a gran fondo on the same course, which pays for the former.

is he still in it?

[Ozzie NL]

On 3/22/2023 at 12:29 PM, Lexx said:

If I ever got a chance to do the epic, I would rather book airbnb places in the towns where we start. Because paying over R100k for racing 1 day and then quiting because of a stomach bug sucks.

 

AirBnB no guarantee to escape spuitpoep.....Did that last year and both partner, support oke and me got it ....... most used AirBnB loo ever

Hierdie goggas are airborne