German last year's winners Georg Egger and Lukas Baum with podium finish in time trial

The Cape Epic 2023 is considered the Tour de France of mountain biking and started with its 19th edition. The eight-day mountain bike race takes the two-person teams over a total of 648 kilometers and 15,475 meters of altitude. Today's time trial (prologue // 27km // 750 meters of altitude) was all about who will wear the leader's jersey in the first stage for 724 teams from 55 countries. The venue was Meerendal Wine Estate. The 2022 ABSA Cape Epic winners Georg Egger (GER) and Luka Baum (GER) made a good start in today's time trial. The two Germans from Team ORBEA x Leatt x Speed Company secured third place with a time of 01:03:47.1 just 45.2 seconds behind the winners from Toyota-Specialized-NinetyOne. 2021 Mountain Bike Marathon World Champion and reigning German Marathon Champion Andreas Seewald (GER) and his partner Martin Stosek (CZE) just missed the podium, finishing in fourth place.Abs