WILIER-VITTORIA, AVONDETTO AND BRAIDOT SHINE AGAIN AT CAPE EPIC! SECOND PLACE IN STAGE 1

Simone Avondetto and Luca Braidot’s strong run at the 2025 Cape Epic continues. After a brilliant victory in the prologue, the Wilier-Vittoria MTB Factory Team duo delivered another impressive performance in the first full-length stage, finishing second—just 31 seconds behind the Swiss pair of Nino Schurter and Filippo Colombo.

Over the grueling 92 km route with 2,750 meters of elevation gain, starting and finishing at the Meerendal Wine Estate, Avondetto and Braidot honored the yellow jersey in style. They stayed in control throughout the race before launching a decisive attack in the final quarter. Only Schurter and Colombo managed to respond, ultimately proving just a bit stronger and snatching both the stage win and the leader’s jersey from the Italians by a mere 11 seconds.

"There was a lot of headwind today, so it turned into quite a tactical race," explained Braidot. "Wearing the yellow jersey, we didn’t hold back when it was time to push the pace. We gave it a real go in the last 15 km, but the Swiss had the upper hand in the final stretch, when I was running on empty. Still, I think we can be really happy with our performance."

"It was a great battle—we just lacked a little at the end, but that’s okay," added Avondetto. "This Cape Epic start has been incredible, better than we could have imagined. But everyone says the real race begins on Thursday, when fatigue starts kicking in, so we’ll see how our bodies handle the strain. Tomorrow’s time trial? We’ll go with a bigger chainring and stay as aero as possible, since there are a lot of flat sections."

Tomorrow’s stage will be a fast-paced time trial from Meerendal Wine Estate to Fairview, Paarl—66 km with 950 meters of climbing. Avondetto and Braidot now sit second in the overall standings, just 11 seconds behind the Swiss duo. The German pair of Lukas Baum and Georg Egger are third, trailing by 3’14”.