Renaissance men Matthys Beukes and Philip Buys shrugged off a disastrous first five days to win The Queen Stage of the Absa Cape Epic from Oak Valley Estate to Stellenbosch University. The PYGA Euro Steel pair is the first South African team to stand on the top step of an Absa Cape Epic stage podium since they performed the same feat way back in 2015.Quite poetically they were racing for Scott Factory Racing back then. On Friday, Buys and Beukes finished just ahead of Nino Schurter and Lars Forster, who rode their way back into the Yellow Jerseys and a 5:13 buffer on overnight GC leaders Cannondale Factory Racing. South African Candice Lill and her German partner Adelheid Morath became the Queens of the Queen Stage when they won the 100km Stage 5 from Oak Valley Estate to Stellenbosch University on Friday. The Summit Fin pair were able to temporarily halt the victory march of the Investec-songo-Specialized team of World Champions Annika Langvad and Anna van der Breggen who had convincingly won every other day of racing. Lill and Morath finished the stage in a time of 5:20:42, just over four minutes ahead of Langvad and Van der Breggen, with Silverback-Fairtree’s Jennie Stenerhag and Mariske Strauss finishing third, seven minutes further back – despite a big crash for Strauss when a rider went down in front of her near the finish.

2019 Stage 5 Results

Men
1. PYGA Euro Steel 7-1 Philip Buys (RSA) 7-2 Matthys Beukes (RSA) 04:19.29,5
2. Scott-SRAM MTB-Racing 4-1 Nino Schurter (SUI) 4-2 Lars Forster (SUI) 04:19.30,2 +0,7
3. Trek Selle San Marco 10-1 Damiano Ferraro (ITA) 10-2 Samuele Porro (ITA) 04:25.44,0 +6.14,5

Women:
1. Summit Fin 54-1 Candice Lill (RSA) 54-2 Adelheid Morath (GER) 05:20.42,1
2. Investec-songo-Specialized 50-1 Annika Langvad (DEN) 50-2 Anna van der Breggen (NED) 05:24.48,0 +4.05,9
3. Silverback - Fairtree 52-1 Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) 52-2 Mariske Strauss (RSA Africa) 05:32.12,2 +11.30,1