The last chapter of the 2024 Cape Epic saw a strong finish for the Wilier-Vittoria MTB Factory Team, with Fabian Rabensteiner and Samuele Porro repeating their second-place performance from yesterday in the last stage, which started and ended in Stellenbosch.
The Italian duo completed the 67 km course with 2000 meters of elevation gain in 2 hours, 54 minutes, and 24 seconds, only being outpaced by the BULLS Mavericks by 2 minutes and 16 seconds. Porro and Rabensteiner finished the renowned South African stage race in 5th place overall, confirming themselves as among the world's best in the discipline.
"We're satisfied," said team manager Massimo De Bertolis. "After Porro's tough day the other day, if someone had told us that we would finish in 2nd place in the last two stages, I would have signed for it. Yesterday, for long stretches, we dreamed of winning the stage, but it slipped away from us right at the end, while today we found the BULLS team who had gone all-in on this stage, saving themselves a bit yesterday, while we still had a good Top 5 overall to defend. Overall, though, we're going home with smiles on our faces.”
"We finished in recovery mode, which is always a positive thing," said Rabensteiner. "It's been a good week, a pity for a couple of days when things didn't go perfectly, but ultimately, stepping onto the podium twice in a stage is a great satisfaction. I think it's a good lesson for the future, if things go well we can aim for even better results.”
"I was afraid we wouldn't recover after yesterday's effort, but we went strong again today," added Porro. "I'm sure that without the setbacks we faced a few days ago, we could have fought for the final podium. I'm pleased with the reliability shown by the equipment and all the new components, and I want to thank the entire staff who supported us: masseuse Luisiana, mechanic Fabio, and team manager Massimo. It wasn't easy to successfully complete a week like this.”
A similar path was taken by Daniel Geismayr, who, paired with Jakob Dorigoni, held steady in the top 10 in the last few stages. The final stage in Stellenbosch, finishing in 8th place, secured him 10th place overall.
"I felt really good this week, the condition was excellent," said the Austrian biker. "In the last two days, we managed to push hard with Jakob, while in the preceding days, he struggled a bit with the distances. It's a shame, we could have aimed for something better overall, but with the form I've felt in these days, I believe I can achieve more satisfaction soon.”
In a different setting and race type, Ginia Lara Caluori finished 2nd in the U23 women's XCO race at the Swiss Bike Cup, only being beaten by Valentina Corvi. Another sign, however, that her form is gradually improving.
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