Haley Smith, along with teammate Hayley Preen, are steadily moving up the standings at the 2026 Cape Epic. After stage two, the South African-Canadian duo moved up one spot to sit fourth and closing in on a podium position.
Stage two was a day of upheaval, with technical challenges impacting some riders, and being avenged by others. After struggling to keep air in tires on the first full stage, star-team Sam Gaze and Luca Schwarzbauer were keen on redemption, forcing a break and claiming a stage win.
Women’s Race: Haley and Hayley move up, Courtney pushes leaders
Marathon world champion Kate Courtney and teammate Gret Seiwald started stage two intent on putting pressure on race leaders Candice Lill and Alessandra Keller of Thomus Maxon Sabi Sabi. It was Rosa van Doorn and Vera Looser (Buff-BH Efficient Infiniti) that ended up in trouble. Van Doorn punctured after the first climb and struggled to fix the puncture. The duo pushed on only to find out the Buff men’s team had taken the spare wheel van Doorn had at the first tech zone. Should be an interesting dinner in the Buff-BH team lodging tonight.
Buff-BH’s bad luck benefited Haley Smith and Hayley Preen (ChemChamp Huncomb), who move up to fourth overall. The Hayley’s are now less than a minute behind a podium position, Symbtech.net’s Margot Moschetti and Claudia Peretti.
Courtney and Seiwald’s efforts to unseat Keller and Lill ended up with the opposite effect. The duo were dropped with less than 10km to go and forced to settle for second.
“Once we had established a gap, we pushed pretty hard to the finish,’ Keller said. “We wanted to put in as much time as we could.”
Men’s Race: Gaze and Schwarzbauer avenge stage one mechanicals
After struggling with flat tires on the first full day of racing, Sam Gaze and Luca Schwarzbauer were intent on avenging their bad luck. The two started attacking in the latter stages of the day’s racing, repeatedly putting in big digs to whittle down the front group.
“The fun level was high but the suffer level was even higher,” a delighted Schwarzbauer said. “When you go on an all-out attack and it doesn’t work it is the most terrible thing. We attacked like that two times, and luckily the second one worked. The finish today was like a short track race because it was all about positioning and we could use our abilities.”
By the time the Kiwi/German group entered the finish chute, only race leader’s Toyota Specialized and the Wilier-Vittoria duo were still in contact. Gaze and Schwarzbauer take the win. A stage win is a start but, with such serious firepower between them, the Canyon team is clearly intent on more.
“There are still five days left and this is the Cape Epic,” said Gaze. “We had some bad luck yesterday but maybe we will benefit somewhere else.”
Toyota Specialized’s Matt Beers and Tristan Nortje, a last-minute replacement for Beers’ original partner, marathon world champion Chirstopher Blevins, retain their narrow lead in the GC standings. They’re now just two seconds ahead of Wilier-Vittoria’s Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto.
“Today was a weird day. It was quite boring but still rough and rocky,” said Nortje. “Matt and I just rode at the front just to keep safe because there were rocks flying all around. But the XCO guys did some big kicks in the final 5km, so I was quite surprised that we still managed to follow them.”
Canada’s Andrew L’Esperance and Lachlan Morton finish 21st on stage two. They’re now sitting 19th overall after two stages and a prologue, up one spot from Monday’s finish.
2026 ABSA Cape Epic: Stage 2
Elite Men Stage
1. CANYON: Luca SCHWARZBAUER, Sam GAZE (3:54.55)
2. WILIER-VITTORIA: Luca BRAIDOT, Simone AVONDETTO (3:54.56 | +2)
3. TOYOTA SPECIALIZED IMBUKO: Matthew BEERS, Tristan NORTJE (3:54.59 | +4)
4. TORPADO KENDA FSA Fabian RABENSTEINER, Casey SOUTH (3:55.06 | +11)
5. ORIGINE-WILIER: Mathis AZZARO, Juri ZANOTTI (3:55.07 | +12)
Elite Men GC
1. TOYOTA SPECIALIZED IMBUKO: Matthew BEERS, Tristan NORTJE (8:18.22)
2. WILIER-VITTORIA: Luca BRAIDOT, Simone AVONDETTO (8:18.24 | +2)
3. KLIMATIZA ORBEA: David VALERO SERRANO, Marc STUTZMANN (8:18.51 | +29)
4. ORIGINE-WILIER: Mathis AZZARO, Juri ZANOTTI (8:18.56 | +34)
5. TORPADO KENDA FSA: Fabian Rabensteiner, Casey South (8:20.07 | +1:45)
Elite Women Stage
1. THÖMUS MAXON SABI SABI: Candice LILL, Alessandra KELLER (3:30.00)
2. SHE SENDS FOUNDATION: Kate COURTNEY, Greta SEIWALD (3:03.48 | +1:57)
3. TORPADO FSA KENDA Katazina SOSNA-PINELE, Giorgia MARCHET (3:40.43 | +10:43)
4. CHEMCHAMP HONEYCOMB Hayley PREEN, Hayley SMITH (3:40.44 | +10:43)
5. SANI2C EFFICIENT INFINITI Samantha SANDERS, Bianca HAW (3:42.49 | +12.49)
Elite Women GC
1. THÖMUS MAXON SABI SABI: Candice LILL, Alessandra KELLER (7:23.17)
2. SHE SENDS FOUNDATION: Kate COURTNEY, Greta SEIWALD (7:26.48 | +3:31)
3. SYMBTECH.NET: Margot MOSCHETTI, Claudia PERETTI (7:48.21 | +25:04)
4. CHEMCHAMP HONEYCOMB: Hayley PREEN, Haley SMITH (7:49.18 | +26:00)
5. BUFF-BH | EFFICIENT INFINITI Rosa VAN DOORN, Vera LOOSER (7:50.11 | +26:54)