In 2014 the top Masters category team of former Olympic gold medallist Bart Brentjens and Abraao Azevedo finished an incredible 14th overall.
Both partners in this category have to be over 40 and the Dutch/Brazilian pairing saw off many top riders nearly half their ages.
Perhaps even more astonishing was the performance of the top Grand Masters – each partner being over 50. South Africa’s Andrew Mclean and Austria’s Heinz Zoerweg finished under three minutes behind Brentjens and Azevedo in 15th overall.
The standard of racing outside the main men’s and women’s elite categories has risen to such an extent that the competition is often just as fierce. 2015 is shaping up to be as tough as ever in these categories.
Brentjens, overall winner of the second Cape Epic in 2005, will be back with Azevedo (Team BETCH.nl-Superior) and will start as favourites in the Masters.
Photo by: Greg Beadle | ABSA Cape Epic | Sportzpics
Perhaps their greatest challenge will come from Azevedo’s 2013 Absa Cape Epic partner Nico Pfitzenmeier, who has teamed up with fellow South African Robert Sim (Dorma/Robert Daniel).
Also in the mix should be South Africans Warren Squires and Nic White (Absa Corporate Masters), who finished third in the category last year.
The Grand Masters, only introduced in 2013, has rapidly become a hotly contested category. This year local star Mclean will be riding with fellow South African Greg Andersen (Ascendis Health), but his 2014 partner Zoerweg has teamed up with the apparently ageless Swiss rider Barti Bucher (Meerendal BIXS KTM), and the Europeans will probably start as favourites.
The mixed category is hard to call this year, with few tested combinations in the field.
Former Tour de France rider and now committed mountain biker Rene Haselbacher will be riding with fellow Austrian Sabine Sommer, a strong marathon rider in Team ENS RH77.
Other competitive pairings include South Africa’s Nizaam Essa and England’s Catherine Williamson (Asrin Cycling), Germany’s Ivonne Kraft and Slovenian Peter Vesel (ETIS) and South Africans Hanele Steyn and Fourie Kotze (Zurreal).
Keep an eye out too for the combination of former South African rugby World Cup winner Joel Stransky and Anriette Schoeman (Liquifruit), for years South Africa’s top road rider and now a committed mountain biker.
Then there’s Justice Makhale and Rozalia Kubwana (Exxaro/PWC2), who are hoping to step up on to the podium after eight days.
*This year’s race takes place from 15 to 22 March and will once again take 1 200 riders through some of the Western Cape’s most unspoilt territory. The race kicks off with the Prologue in Table Mountain National Park, starting from the University of Cape Town, and finishes eight days later at Meerendal Wine Estate in Durbanville.
Meerendal will host the finish of the race and the Grand Finale celebrations for the first time. The Grand Finale will kick off with live entertainment, a farmer’s market, great food and wine and unmatched scenery. Vantage points will be accessible to the general public. Entrance is free.
