← All eventsAbsa Cape Epic
The world's most iconic MTB stage race: 8 days, ~707km and ~15,900m of climbing across South Africa's Western Cape, ridden in pairs (both riders finish together). Next-edition date is approximate (est. mid-March 2027).
The world's most prestigious mountain bike stage race, and you cannot ride it alone. Eight back-to-back days, ~707km and ~15,900m of climbing across South Africa's Western Cape, ridden as a two-person team.
Prologue plus seven stages. Technical Cape singletrack, rocky jeep track and long mountain passes, from the Cape Town region out to a grand finale in Stellenbosch.
It is a partnership as much as a race. You stay within about two minutes of each other and share the towing on the climbs, and if one rider abandons the pair is out. Matched teams finish, mismatched ones suffer.
Who finishes, and how
Patterns like these, drawn straight from 2025 race data, are baked into how Beina coaches you for this event.
Is Absa Cape Epic for you?
- Pairs who genuinely train together. The team is only as fast as its weaker rider on the day, so evenly-matched partners who ride, feed and tow together have a real edge.
- Durable riders over one-day specialists. Eight hard stages reward the engine that can back up a big effort tomorrow, not a huge one-hour number.
- Confident technical handlers. Cape singletrack punishes poor skills, and by the later stages clean handling saves the energy you no longer have.
- Riders who manage heat and their own recovery. Late-summer Cape days run hot and dry, and eating, sleeping and skin care between stages decide as many finishes as fitness does.
Training plan for Absa Cape Epic
A training plan for Absa Cape Epic isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- Eight hard stages back-to-back, so the fatigue that decides your race arrives on day six, not day one
- Technical singletrack, rocky jeep track and sandy farm sections that reward clean lines and punish poor handling
- Long fireroad and mountain-pass climbs of 30 to 60+ minutes, repeated day after day
- Late-summer heat of 25 to 35C, with dust and strong UV driving dehydration and DNFs
- Weekend doubles: a long Saturday off-road ride, then a second ride Sunday on tired legs
- Big climbing days of 2,000m+ off-road, plus tempo climb repeats of 3 to 4 x 15 min
- 3 to 5 day consecutive MTB blocks in the specialise phase to rehearse the race's day-on-day fatigue
- Pairs rides with your partner: matched pacing, drafting, feeding and tow-strap practice
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
