German/Swiss duo Andreas Seewald and Marc Stutzmann ride to 2nd place in the 5th stage of the Cape Epic

Today's 5th stage of the Absa Cape Epic was a 70km circuit around Wellington. A shorter stage for the Cape Epic with less elevation gain means it will be fast. The lower temperatures in the Western Cape also contributed to this. After just 2h46min, the current overall leaders Matthew Beers (RSA) & Howard Grotts (USA) secured their first stage win. This allowed them to extend their overall lead to 2:57min. The German/Swiss duo consisting of the two national MTB marathon champions Andreas Seewald (GER) & Marc Stutzmann (SUI) finished in second place and thus once again on the podium. Yesterday's stage winners Nino Schurter & Sebastian Fini (DEN) complete the podium in third place. The German duo around Lukas Baum & Georg Egger had a bad day on the mountain bike and finished the stage in 12th place. In the women's race, the overall leaders Anne Terpstra (NED) & Nicole Koller (SUI) were able to pull away on the final descent and secured their sixth stage win in a row. Second place went to Mona Mitterwallner (AUT) & Candice Lill (RSA) and third place went to Sofia Gomez Villafane (ARG) & Samara Sheppard (NZL).