On a day that many described as the ‘play day,’ it was the Toyota Specialized team of Matt Beers and Christopher Blevins who executed a tactical masterclass to win stage 4 of the Cape Epic. The relatively short 82km route included 1650m of ascent and traversed technical dual track, rocky singletrack, and even some smooth gravel roads en route to the finish in Elandskloof.

After an uneventful start, the rain came down, and an opportunistic move by the race leaders stuck as they rode away from the field just before the first feed zone. Beers and Blevins took up the chase and inspired the general classification (GC) leaders to follow.

What ensued next was something that had not been seen at the Cape Epic and paid off handsomely for the Toyota Specialized duo.

Since the Cape Epic is a team stage race, the winner of the stage is determined by the second rider of a team crossing the finish line. On a 5% gradient, Beers and one other rider (Canyon) managed to distance themselves from the rest of the group and gained more than 30 seconds to the chasers, splitting 2 teams and leaving the third team complete. It was up to Blevins, the 2021 XCC World Champion, to ensure he crossed the line ahead of the other team’s second riders to win the stage.

The last 5km of the race played out in what many had described a tactical masterclass when Beers managed to measure his effort in the front and crossed the line in first, leaving Blevins to outsmart the remaining 4 riders to win the stage.

“Matt and Seewald just slowly edged away from everyone with 5km to go and I was like, c’mon guys, just go. The Speed Company guys sat up and it was up to me to sprint for the line and I just had to sprint against those guys. I was excited, because it is my strength, I might have got over-excited and started to sprint a little early, but it worked out perfectly in the end and we are stoked with the 2nd stage win,” said Blevins.

The win did not impact the GC results, and team Toyota Specialized remained in 3rd place overall with three more stages to race. Stage 5 is another transfer stage of 115km where riders will move from Greyton to Stellenbosch and Beers is excited to take on some of the local trails and hope they can use the local knowledge to their advantage.

“I think all the teams know each other a little better now, and I feel that the top 3 teams are pretty evenly matched. I am looking forward to stage 5 and the start is going to be very important. It will be a swift day and there are opportunities to gain or lose time. We will give everything to reduce our deficit to the leaders,” said Beers.

After a tough start to their campaign, team Toyota Specialized 2 of Tristan Nortje and Cameron Mason pulled off an excellent performance on stage 4 to finish the stage in 6th position. They managed to ride in support of Beers and Blevins for the stage duration.

According to Mason: “The race started with a lot of unknown. I thought I knew what to expect, but it was very different. It has been a steep learning curve, and today, I had better legs and realized that the bad day I experienced earlier was just a blip. I have never done a mountain bike marathon stage race of this significance, and I have a newfound respect for the marathon riders. I am excited to get going tomorrow, and things are starting to change for the better”.

Video from Stage 3 - https://youtu.be/VJ6HJOZA-4w