THE SHOW GOES ON AT CAPE EPIC FOR WILIER-VITTORIA: AVONDETTO & BRAIDOT WIN STAGE 3!

Unstoppable! Simone Avondetto and Luca Braidot continue to shine at the 2025 Cape Epic. After winning the prologue and briefly wearing the yellow jersey, the Wilier-Vittoria MTB Factory Team duo claimed victory in Stage 3—shortened slightly due to Paarl’s scorching heat. The riders covered 78 km instead of the planned 90, with a total of 2,450 meters of climbing.

It was an intense battle between Avondetto and Braidot, overall leaders Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo, and South African duo Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortje. The stage came down to a thrilling sprint finish, where the Italians edged out the Swiss, though Schurter and Colombo retained the yellow jersey.

“The finale was quite tactical," Avondetto explained. “We had managed to drop the South Africans, but then we hesitated a bit, and they caught back up. I knew Luca was a bit faster than me in a sprint, so I launched early to give him a clean run to the line. We went one-two, so it worked out perfectly.”

“That was brutal! From mid-race on, the heat was just unbearable," Braidot added. “Filippo Colombo attacked on the climb, but we reacted well and didn’t let him get away. The last 5 km were flat, so we all played a bit of cat and mouse before taking it to the sprint. We’re really happy—it’s amazing to take another stage win.”

Their gap to Schurter and Colombo remains at 43 seconds, but the good news is that their advantage over third place has grown significantly. South Africans Joubert and Nortje now sit 9’06” behind. Up next is another challenging stage, once again starting and finishing in Paarl: 80 km with 1,950 meters of climbing.