For its 22nd edition this year, 725 teams started the Absa Cape Epic in South Africa from March 15 to 22. The event is considered one of the most demanding mountain bike races in the world and one of the most coveted due to its unique feature: a stage race (700 km and 15,000 m of elevation gain spread over 8 stages) in pairs in a unique setting where competition and camaraderie blend.
This year, we had the honor of sharing this adventure with 2 pairs who trusted us for the design of their personalized outfits. Here is the first of them: Pierre and Florian!
A rivalry that turned into a team adventure.
The story between Pierre and Florian began in 2009, during a cyclocross race held in the snow. A first confrontation that ended with a 1st and a 2nd place!
After 12 years of competing against each other and since 2021, they have been starting together, this time in Ultra Distance events.
And why this race? Florian, a road cyclist and cyclocross rider, had been dreaming of taking part in this event for a few years, so naturally, he turned to Pierre who had already participated in the Cape Epic in 2017.
A simple goal: to finish.
The primary goal for this duo was to be a finisher after these 8 days! Beyond a sporting objective, it's above all a personal, financial, and material investment when you want to embark on this event. Knowing them as competitors, as they have always been, their objective was obviously to give their best, but they had no performance goals. The strategy was to take the race stage by stage, adapting to conditions, feelings, and unforeseen events, a strategy that would prove successful!
A race that pushed them to their limits.
The Cape Epic left them no respite on all fronts. Although they know each other inside out, unforeseen events severely tested their race! Between technical and health issues during the first two stages, our two companions gradually regained their form stage after stage. A great comeback that allowed them to achieve their best result: 18th in their category and 45th overall out of approximately 650 finishing teams. Despite these adventures, their duo did not falter, taking a step back from the situation and managing their relays quite well according to their skills and physical condition as the day progressed.
It can be said that these adventures, which did not spare them, still brought them some great anecdotes to remember from this race! Between Pierre's digestive problems, which forced him - sorry in advance for those who get the reference - to perform several "Tom Dumoulins", and Florian with his five punctures on his rear wheel during the first stage alone, which forced him to ask another participant for an inner tube!
However, what bothered them the most was the weather conditions. Over 45°C during the first stage and a peak of 48°C during the prologue. And these high temperatures had consequences for our duo due to heatstroke. After this heat, rain invited itself to the rest of the race, especially on the longest stage of the week (141km), and thus caused temperatures to drop. The duo then found conditions they described as "perfect", especially during the Queen Stage (stage 5) with two-thirds of the race in the rain!
A few figures that summarize the scale of this race!
8 days of racing (from 20 to 140 km per day),
39h23 of racing for a total of 707 km and 15,900 m of elevation gain,
Max temperature: 48°C and minimum: 14°C,
Maximum speed: 65 km/h,
Nearly 17,000 calories burned.
Not to mention that in terms of competition, many professional XCO and XCM mountain bikers meet to kick off their season: national, international, and Olympic champions were expected at the start! A high but very heterogeneous level!
The days were also very busy as riders woke up quite early before 6 am to have breakfast before collecting their bikes, which had been placed in the closed park the day before, and then lining up at the start in batches of 50 teams. From midday, the duo would arrive to settle down with a snack before dropping off their bikes to be cleaned by the organization and managed in the closed park, and then going for a massage. Very long days indeed.
One thing is certain: this Cape Epic 2026 only strengthened their duo, and it's highly likely that this adventure will not be their last.
Photo credits: Pierre & Florian, Cape Epic.
