Wilier-Vittoria, Avondetto and Braidot storm into yellow at the Cape Epic

The move is complete. After three days spent at the front, fully in the mix and without losing a second, Simone Avondetto and Luca Braidot made their move on Stage 3 of the 2026 Cape Epic, from Montagu to Greyton (140 km, 1,750 metres of elevation gain), taking over the overall lead and pulling on the yellow jersey — a jersey they had already worn for a day last year.

The stage proved far more selective than expected, also because former leaders Matthew Beers and Tristan Nortje were caught out early on, allowing their rivals to gain valuable time. The stage win went to Marc Pritzen (RSA) and Felix Stehli (SUI), out of GC contention, after attacking early, while the Wilier-Vittoria duo finished third, putting 1’16” into Beers and Nortje.

Avondetto and Braidot now lead the general classification by 1’14” over the South African pair, with David Valero (ESP) and Marc Stutzmann (SUI) in third at 2’29”. It was instead a difficult day for Juri Zanotti, who paid for yesterday’s efforts and dropped out of the general classification. The focus now shifts to targeting a stage win in the coming days.

“We definitely didn’t expect today to be the day to take the yellow jersey,” admitted Braidot. “At most, we thought we might gain a few seconds at the finish and maybe sneak into the lead, but a stage like this was hard to imagine. I had never raced a 140 km stage before. We found ourselves at the front, and I have to thank Simone — he believed in it much more than I did. At first I didn’t even want to work, but then we found a good rhythm together and ended up with a great result. Congrats as well to the stage winners, they were incredibly strong.”

“It was a very tough stage, and not really suited to our characteristics,” added Avondetto. “The South Africans must have had a mechanical, then Schwarzbauer and Gaze attacked and we followed. From there we worked together, and by the finish I was completely exhausted. Being in the yellow jersey is amazing, but the race is still very long.”

The race continues tomorrow around Greyton, with a stage of 87 km and 1,750 metres of elevation gain.