The queen stage goes to Wilier-Vittoria, with Avondetto and Braidot taking victory in the Yellow Jersey at the Cape Epic

They had come close day after day — and today it finally happened. Simone Avondetto and Luca Braidot seized the perfect moment to break through, claiming victory in the queen stage of the 2026 Cape Epic while wearing the yellow jersey. After 134 km and 2,750 metres of elevation gain, the Wilier-Vittoria duo crossed the line with arms raised, dropping all their rivals in the finale.

It wasn’t a straightforward day, though. A difficult start forced them into an early chase, and later on Avondetto was involved in a crash in the closing stages. But nothing could stop them. With two stages remaining, they now lead the general classification by 1’49” over home favourites Matthew Beers and Tristan Nortje, and by 5’59” over David Valero and Marc Stutzmann.

“We’re really happy — we’d been chasing this win and finally we got it,” said Avondetto. “But it wasn’t easy. At the start we lost ground and had to chase, and then near the end I had a really silly crash and almost didn’t make it back. Luckily I managed to return, and we still had the strength to attack. Now we have two more demanding stages ahead.”

“The day started really badly — I was struggling and got dropped,” explained Braidot. “Fortunately, I first found Juri Zanotti, who helped me, and then Simone waited for me and we made it back to the front together. As the kilometres went by I started to feel better, and in the end we finally got the win we had been waiting for. There’s still a lot of suffering ahead, but we keep fighting.”

Tomorrow brings a short but intense stage, with 76 km and 2,450 metres of elevation gain, entirely around Stellenbosch.