Diverge

Tune in for daily insights from inside the media team at the2025 Absa Cape Epic with the Diverge Podcast's vlogs. In the Stage 3 episode Seamus Allardice looks back at the Stage 2 time trial and looks ahead at a shortened route for the first day on the Paarl Trails. With the mercury set to rise into the high 30s in Paarl the temperatures on the mountain could hit 45 degrees centigrade. As such the race organisation shortened the route from 90 to 78 kilometres and reduced the climbing from 2 600 metres to 2450.

Going into Stage 3 Scott SRAM lead the generalclassification by 44 seconds over WILIER-VITTORIA. This is a result of Nino Schurter and Filipo Colombo finishing 2nd on Stage 2, 33 seconds ahead of Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto. ORBEA Leatt Speed Company are at 4:32, with Outride Toyota songo in 5th at 9:17. The Stage 2 stage winners, Buff Megamo are the men with the momentum going into the days in Paarl, but find themselves in 8th 10 minutes down.

In the UCI Women’s race Annika Langvad Sofia and GomezVillafane, of Toyota Specialized, won their third successive stage. After their great performance on Stage 1 Buff Megamo had a difficult day and lost three general classification positions. Cannondale ISB Sport rode to 2nd on the day and into the overall podium places, with Bianca Haw and Hayley Preen of Titan Racing SE Honeycomb also moving up a place to 4th. Vera Looser and Alexis Skarda remain 2nd, at 9:22.

Read the daily stories from the race on www.diverge.info.

Tune in for daily insights from inside the media team at the2025 Absa Cape Epic with the Diverge Podcast's vlogs. In the Stage 2 episode Seamus Allardice looks back at Stage 1 and reflects on what may unfold on the longest time trial in the race’s 21 edition history. On Stage 1 we were somewhat surprised to see how Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto took the fight to Nino Schurter and Filipo Colombo right to the line, but Scott SRAM emerged victorious and seized the yellow jerseys with a stage win by 31 seconds. It will not be the last we see of WILIER-VITTORIA as a force in the race.

For South African fans the performances of Marco Joubert, Tristan Nortje, Matt Beers and Keegan Swenson will all be a concern, but there is no reason for concern just yet…

In the women’s race Annika Langvad Sofia and Gomez Villafane, of Toyota Specialized, dominated Stage 1 and that is ominous for the other teams and the competitiveness of the rest of the race. Though further back there is a nice battle building for 3rd, 4th, and 5th between the Buff Megamo, Cannondale ISB Sport, Titan Racing SE Honeycomb, and e-FORT ChemChamp teams.

Read the daily stories from the race on www.diverge.info.

Tune in for daily insights from inside the media team at the2025 Absa Cape Epic with daily the Diverge Podcast's daily vlogs. In the Stage 1 episode Seamus Allardice looks back on a dramatic Prologue with saw WILIER-VITTORIA’s Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto win the first yellow jerseys of the race. Annika Langvad Sofia and Gomez Villafane, of Toyota Specialized, won the opening stage by just 3 seconds in the UCI Women’s race; which bodes well for a competitive edition, after fears of a Langvad domination dominated the pre-race speculation.

Read the daily stories from the race on www.diverge.info.

Candice Lill might not be riding the Absa Cape Epic this year but she popped in to commentate on the Prologue, sharing her insights with the fans around the world. After her commentary session we has a chat about her plans for 2025, her thoughts on the stellar performance of Margot Moschetti and Samara Sheppard, and manifesting goals by speaking them out loud.

Read all about the 2025 Absa Cape Epic on www.diverge.info.

Tune in for daily insights from inside the media team at the 2025 Absa Cape Epic with daily the Diverge Podcast's daily vlogs. This is the pre-race preview as the Prologue, on 16 March, gets underway in Meerendal.

Read the daily stories from the race on www.diverge.info.

In Episode 6 of Season 2 the Diverge Podcast we look backat trilling editions of Cape Town Cycle Tour and the songo.info Champions Race, presented by fibertime. The world’s largest timed bicycle race played out in near perfect weather conditions on Sunday, 9 March, and this helped both the elite men and women to new course records. Pia Grünewald went on a 53 kilometre solo break to win the 78 kilometre women’s race in an entirely new way. In so doing she knocked over 2 minutes off Cherise Willeit’s 2020 previous best time. Tyler Lange followed in his father, Malcolm’s, footsteps in the men’s race sprinting to a historic victory. The elder Lange is a three-time CTCT winner, and at 22 Tyler Lange put in a mature performance to power to victory from a chase group which made contact with the leaders within the final kilometre.  

The songo.info Champions Race, presented by fibertime, then brought the mountain biking world’s attention to Kayamandi, just outside Stellenbosch. The charity’s annual invitational event saw Samara Sheppard add her name to the illustrious list of women’s winners, as she held of Alexis Skarda and Vera Looser. South Africa’s Luke Moir, who had been fifth in the CTCT on Sunday, raced to the win aboard his brand-new Mondraker F-Podium on just his third ride on the machine. Moir held off the New Zealand brothers, Craig and Ben Oliver, as well as Matt Beers and Arno du Toit.

Read the news reports featured in the Diverge Podcast, on www.diverge.info:

• Grünewald Stuns with a Successful Long-Range Attack at the Cape Town Cycle Tour

• Lange Follows in his Father’s Footsteps at the Cape Town Cycle Tour

• Moir and Sheppard Win the 2025 songo.info Champions Race, presented by fibertime™️

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In Episode 5 of Season 2 the Diverge Podcast we look ahead at the 2025 Absa Cape Epic and Cape Town Cycle Tour. March is silly season in South African cycling with the country’s biggest mountain bike and road events taking place within 7 days of each other. The CTCT might kick the racing off on Sunday, 9 March, but we start with the Untamed African Mountain Bike Race and its UCI fields. In the men’s race Matt Beers, starts alongside Keegen Swenson and takes on Scott SRAM, ORBEA Leatt Speed Company, and 46 other UCI teams, which include the big all-South African hopes Tristan Nortje and Marco Joubert. For the women the only name which truly matters is Annika Langvad. The great Dane is back after a 6-year hiatus and will race alongside Sofia Gomez Villafane, will any of their rivals be able to take the challenge to the Toyota Specialized combination?

Later in the episode we pre-view the 47th Cape Town Cycle Tour. For the men the race is a blank slate from which one of nearly ten riders could win. While for the women it is shaping up to be a rematch of the Tiffany Keep/ S'annara Grove showdown, with Vera Looser, Hayley Preen and potentially Emma Pallant on hand to exploit any moments of lapsed concentration.

Read the news reports featured in the Diverge Podcast, onwww.diverge.info:

• ⁠Can Anyone Trump Langvad at the 2025 Absa Cape Epic?⁠
• The Hard Men and Tough Battles of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic
• Will Sunday’s Cape Town Cycle Tour See a Double Champ or a New Winner?  

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In Episode 4 of Season 2 the Diverge Podcast we rope in Jason Boulle and Jess Menier to reflect a dramatic day of racing at the Big 5 by Imbuko Wines and Canetsfontein. The men’s and women’s races were won by the defendingchampions, Filipo Colombo and Candice Lill, but those facts tell so little of the story. Tristan Nortje claimed the R20 000 King of the Mountain prize before leading Colombo and Nino Schurter astray, Matt Beers destroyed a rear wheel and did not finish the race after leading in the finale, and in the women’s race there were position changes aplenty behind the dominant leader. The Big 5 also revealed that Hans Becking is not going to be in Absa Cape Epic winning shape come March, so the Buff Megamo man has decided to withdraw from the race. Becking’s withdrawal is the first big piece of news from the teams contesting the twenty first edition, but all the details will be revealed soon – we’re told – as the Ride Guide hits the newsstands on 28 February 2025.

Read the daily news reports featured in the Diverge Podcast, on www.diverge.info:

• Big 5 MTB Challenge Produces Dramatic Racing and Worthy Winners in 2025
• Becking's Turmoil: Out of the Epic Before it Begins

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In Episode 3 of Season 2 the Diverge Podcast we feature apreview of the Big 5 by Imbuko Wines and Canetsfontein, as well as the Groot Swem from Robben Island to Big Bay. The Big 5 MTB Challenge has grown into one of the country’s premier one-day mountain bike events, and this year it boasts not only a stellar elite field by R25 000 for the winning man and woman, plus R20 000 for the King and Queen of the Mountain winners. The race to the summit of the Cliffhanger will thus be as exciting as the race to the finish line on Imbuko Wine Estate. Then, looking a bit further ahead, I’ve signed up for the Groot Swem – or Big Swim. It is a 7.5 kilometre open ocean swim, across Table Bay, to raise money for the Start Well Foundation’s battle against childhood stunting.

Read the daily news reports featured in the Diverge Podcast, on www.diverge.info:

• Big 5 MTB Challenge: Deep Field Of International and Locals Locked In

• The Groot Swem

• Start Well Foundation
• Support my Fundraiser on GivenGain

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In Episode 2 of Season 2 the Diverge Podcast dives deepinto the 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen. The twelfth edition proved a dramatic one with punctures, crashes and illness all taking their toll. While there was plenty misfortune to go around, it did notaffect the victors at all as Imbuko ChemChamp and She Sends stormed to commanding wins in the UCI Men’s and Women’s categories respectively. Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortje controlled from the front and avoided any issues ontheir way to the yellow jerseys, while Candice Lill and Kate Courtney won all four stages and the Queen of the Mountain hotspot prize for a perfect clean sweep of the available honours. This interview heavy episode dives deep intothe riders’ thoughts on the race, so tune in for the full 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Apologies for the squawking of Paul Valstar in the background. Our interview location needs to be further from the finish line in future.

Read the daily news reports from the Tankwa Trek, asfeatured in the Diverge Podcast, onwww.diverge.info:

• Stage 1: First Blood to PYGA Euro Steel 2 and She Sends
• Stage2: Imbuko ChemChamp Seize Yellow as Honeycomb 226ers Win the Stage
• Stage 3: She Sends and Imbuko ChemChamp Queens and Kings of the Merino Monster
• Stage 4: Imbuko ChemChamp and She Sends Crowned Kings and Queens of the Tankwa Trek

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