For those looking for Keegan and Lachlan, they are wearing black kit, or were for the Prologue. Keegan is on a Santa Cruz, and Lachlan on a Cannondale. Ride what you know 
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They didn’t do too well in the prologue. Anyone know if they had issues?
It’s seems Cape Epic is becoming a gravel primer, & too much stress/cost for dedicated XC racers & teams. Disappointing but evolution of all things.
Long race. I didn’t see anything about issues, but no need to win it on day one. In fact last year’s winners didn’t win a single stage, they just had very good times on all the stages.
Trying to make up time in a short stage is asking for trouble. Under that heat, with a rested body you can dig a big hole for a mere 1 minute lead.
Which you may lose back in a single hill.
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I think you have the years mixed up - last year, the men’s winners won 2 stages, the women’s winners won 3.
Probably right, I was multi tasking when they were talking about it, but still, you don’t have to win every day to win it all.
Very exciting! Looking forward to watching the stages. Stage 1 going through the Hemel en Aarde valley is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
Hope N1no’s tires hold up…
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What tires is Nino using this year? Last year was a disaster with him running some prototypes.
Oof, tough day in the office for some of the crowd favorites.
- Sofia and Katerina lost ~6 minutes
- Keegan and Lachlan lost another ~16
- Blevins and Beers lost ~8
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On instagram Lachlan Morton posted he had a very rough day out there.
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I don’t think they were prototype tyres as much as special team only ones. At least that was the discussion last year.
The trails so far are a bit more friendly. Scott-SRAM weren’t the only ones last year with punctures. They seemed rife.
Oof, 16min. That’s rough indeed!
I’m not sure if that’s it. It hasn’t changed much, and is more technical than ever (from the outside looking in).
There’s a definite reduction in interest from a couple of key brands though. I don’t know if it’s just priorisation of UCI points as some regions have access to a dearth of points about now.
In one regard, I’d love to see XCM points carry some weight in XCO and vice versa. That would appeal to me a lot more than C1 XCO points being so valuable as some regions have a lot more opportunity as it is anyway.
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working my way down the thread you inital prediction is spot after Stage 2
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Regarding SCR and catching people unaware in 2022. Yep your are correct but looking in from the internet it felt like all the veterans didn’t give them any respect during the race until they realized they (the vets) only had a knife in a gunfight… I don’t know how the race will turn out it’s only Stage 2 and they are down 3min and change but it’s refreshing in our sport to have some brashness Keegan at Unbound something to the effect of “…high pressure and let it rip…” When asked about sharp rocks or Sofia in the Unbound documentary… when asked about the spirt of gravel she replied “…F%#& the spirt of gravel…” It’s nice to see someone going at the system so to speak… Moreover, what makes SCRs win so impressive and Nino et. al. most likely will NEVER equal that accomplish because SCR was a team of 3 the two riders and the father so they were working on thier bikes post race. So essentially they were age groupers who destroyed the field in 2023. I’m down with SCR forever… 
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OKay so I know this is jonny come lately as we are in at the eve of stage 3. AND I very well may end up EATING this post. Sofia and Nash why is that good or a strong winning pairing Sofia got it…it is clear. Nash yesterdays heroine. I heard today that she is 46yrs old. Flirting with father time. At 46 in your best fitness can one beat the best in the world in their best fitness and 15 years plus/minus one’s junior??
Hard to bet on age in an high intensity endurance race. On the other hand, nobody gave Speed Company Racing a chance in 2022.
Wow, great stage.
I was urging Andri to get ahead and make a move on the final singletrack when Nino could have controlled the line and Spesh chase.
Great tactics from Beers and Blevins. Blevins jumped with an incredible turn of speed, but you could clearly see the effect of the effort from Nino to tow them the final 10km-ish.
Great racing.
It’s going to be super interesting to follow how the dynamics on the women’s side develop. The field is not deep and there was a lot of conservation of energies today.
I wonder if Katarina Nash will be able to recover enough to ride with Sofia on the next big racing day. It is so brutal when you or your teammate isn’t up to the same level. I can only imagine how it goes when you’re actually racing for the marbles.
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So today, Stage 3 post race interview The shorter member of Speed Company was upset at Team Specialized. He said they did no work and then slowed the race down on the single track so that one member of the team could get a good lead going in the finish. I think this is similar to Nino’s and Avancini’s beef a few years back. When team Cannodale refused to work. Nino was similarly pissed off well. NO, he was UBER pissed and actually had words with Avancini. Is this some unwritten rule amongst XCM spartans?
On the other hand Speed Company should have been aware of the single tracking leading into the finish and fought to be first at the turn onto the final single track.
Personally, I don’t like the roadie tactics in MTB marathons let it be mano a mano mtb timetrialing… put some old school trialing anti drafting rules in… roadies have too much free chicken… what is it 30% less effort in the draft. But it’s not illegal and the big Red S got SCR today. More tomorrow.