Cape Town — The victorious riders from Speed Company Racing, Georg Egger and Lukas Baum, made history at the 2022 Absa Cape Epic which finished at the Val de Vie Estate outside Paarl on Sunday,
They became the first team in the history of the event to chase down the overall leaders on the grand finale stage and claim the crown for themselves.
Never before in the Absa Cape Epic has the race lead changed shoulders on the final stage. The closest finish to date was in 2007, where Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm just about hung on for the win, a three-and-a-half-minute victory over future Tour de France star Jakob Fuglsang and Roel Paulissen (Cannondale-Vredestein).
The winners of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic men's race. Speed Company Racing's Georg Egger and Lukas Baum. Ride of a lifetime on this final stage to overturn a 2:45 deficit and claim the win ahead of Canyon Northwave MTB. #capeepic pic.twitter.com/I3rk3BB7nF
— capeepic (@CapeEpic) March 27, 2022
After eight days of a yellow-jersey yo-yo, the German pair won their first of three titles together, but only after a brutal final stage into Lourensford Wine Estate.
A dejected Canyon Northwave MTB rolled in nearly six minutes after the new Absa Cape Epic champions, now second overall with Beers and Blevins retaining their third place after one of the most entertaining, exciting, and unpredictable weeks in the history of the Untamed African MTB Race.
‘I’m so emotional right now,” said Lukas Baum. “This is just riding my bike with my best friend and it has paid off in a great way.”
Egger added: “We had no time checks out there, we had no way of knowing what was happening, we didn’t know we were in the overall lead. We knew nothing. It was actually better that way because if we knew we had the lead we probably would have made a mistake.”
Stage 7 Results:
1) Speed Company Racing: 02:46:34.3
2) Scott-Sram MTB-Racing: 02: 48:19
3) Santa Cruz: 02:48:19.8
General Classification:
1) Speed Company Racing: 27:44:06.5
2) Canyon Northwave MTB: 27:47:09
3) Toyota-NinetyOne-Specialized: 27:54:45
IOL Sport