Stage 1 of the 2026 Absa Cape Epic saw Matt Beers and Tristan Nortje, of Toyota Specialized Imbuko, fight back from nearly 4 minutes down, after a puncture in the opening 20 kilometres, to sprint for stage victory and avoid any time losses to the day's protagonists, Buff-BH, Willier Vitoria, and Klimatiza Orbea. In the Elite Women's battle for the orange jerseys, Candice Lill and Alessandra Keller capitalised on a feeding error from Kate Courtney and Greta Seiwald to add 1 minute and 56 seconds to their general classification lead. BUFF BH-Efficient Infiniti's Rosa van Doorn and Vera Looser were second on the day, but could not take enough time on the She Sends Foundation team to leapfrog into second overall.