{"id":547047,"date":"2026-03-19T15:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/547047\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T15:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:57:13","slug":"32-gets-its-first-stage-win-already-at-cape-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/547047\/","title":{"rendered":"32″ gets its first stage win\u2014already\u2014at Cape Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"

With all the 32\u2033 hype building to a fever pitch by the end of 2025, the countdown was on for when the big new wheel size standard would make its first race start, and then earn its first major win. Well, it\u2019 only took a couple months.<\/p>\n

Felix Stehli and Marc Pritzen won today\u2019s third stage of the ABSA Cape Epic. Stehli is racing in South Africa on Stoll P32<\/a>, a race rig laying claim to the title of first production 32\u2033 mountain bike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now Stoll and Stehli can add \u201cFirst 32\u2033 UCI win\u201d to that resume.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Stehli\u2019s wheels are visibly larger than the rest of the field. Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic
\nAn unexpected escape at Cape Epic<\/p>\n

On one of the longest stages in Cape Epic history, Stehli and Pritzen (Team Honeycomb 226ers) took advantage in a lull in the leader\u2019s pace to launch a long-range solo attack. Not quite Pogacar distances, but 40km of single track \u00a0is a pretty big effort nonetheless.<\/p>\n

The Honeycomb 226ers, on their 32-er and 29-ers (Pritzen is racing a 29\u2033 bike) established a one-minute advantage over a powerful group of chasers. With current race leaders Matthew Beers and Tristan Nortje (Toyota Specialized) further back and fighting to catch their GC competition, and the Wilier-Vittoria team looking to take advantage and move up from second place, that 60-second lead was no guarantee. The mixed-wheel team persevered, crossing the stage three finish line solo. It\u2019s the first Cape Epic win for both riders.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Marc Pritzen and Felix Stehli at 40km to figure out if it\u2019s more aerodynamic for the 29\u2033 bike to lead, or the 32\u2033. Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic
\nFirst Cape Epic wins for Pritzen, Stehli and the 32\u2033<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible feeling to get a result here. It\u2019s all we could have asked for,\u201d said Pritzen. \u201cWe didn\u2019t plan anything and were just racing instinctively. When we noticed hesitation in the group, with a split behind, we thought it would give us a chance to open up a quick 10 seconds. And it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Stehli (15-2) almost makes Pritzen look like he\u2019s riding a 26\u2033 bike again.\u00a0Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic<\/p>\n

Stehli said the stage, with a mix of gravel and singletrack and only around 1,700m of climbing (a sum which only counts as \u201cflat\u201d at the Cape Epic), suited his big wheels perfectly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ideal for these types of conditions. It just rolls well and helped me a lot today,\u201d said the Swiss racer.<\/p>\n

Stehli\u2019s race rig is running a 100mm Intend Samurai fork<\/a>, also one of the first official 32\u2033 compatible components, but outfitted with RockShox Flight Attendant. The Stoll P32 frame matches that with another 100mm of travel out back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Andrew L\u2019Esperance, third wheel in pink EF kit of his teammate Lachlan Morton. Photo by Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic
\nA calm day turns hectic for the Cape Epic men<\/p>\n

Stage 3 had already turned on its head before the Honeycomb team\u2019s mixed-wheel attack threw the field into mayhem. After riding steady all week, Toyota Specialized Matthew Beers and Tristian Nortje found themselves fighting back from a mechanical at a crucial juncture in the race. With 70km to go, they were behind the lead group when Honeycomb went on a flyer, making the GC leader\u2019s chase back that much harder.<\/p>\n

Beers and Nortje would run out of road, reaching the finish line 2:26 behind the stage winners and, more importantly, 1:16 behind Wilier-Vittoria\u2019s team of Luca Braidot and Simone Avondetto. that sees Specialized drop out of the leader\u2019s jersey and into second place overall. Braidot and Avondetto take over at the front of the race with a 1:14 advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t really have a plan, but we are happy the way it turned out,\u201d said Avondetto. \u201cWe always want to just stay with the front group and not have any mechanicals. It feels good to be in yellow now.\u201d<\/p>\n

A little further back, Canada\u2019s Andrew L\u2019Esperance and his teammate Lachlan Morton (both racing in EF Education First colours this week) continue their steady march up the standings. After moving up to 18th on stage two, another solid day in the saddle saw the Canadian\/Australian duo move up again to sit 17th. Steady being relative to the effort of Cape Epic racing, of course. The EF pair averaged 31 km\/h for 4:30 to finish 10 minutes back of the stage winners. A huge effort in muddy conditions.<\/p>\n

2026 ABSA Cape Epic: Stage 3
\nElite Men Stage Results<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Honeycomb 226ers: Marc Pritzen & Felix Stehli (4:19.53)
2.\u00a0Buff-BH Wout Allemann Martin Stosek (4:21.03 | 1:10)
3. Wilier-Vittoria: Luca Braidot, Simone Avondetto (4:21.03 | +1:10)
4. Canyon: Luca Schwarzbauer, Sam Gaze (4:21.21 | +1:29)
5. Toyota Specialized Imbuko: Matthew Beers, Tristan Nortje (4:22.19 | 2:26)<\/p>\n

Elite Men GC after Stage 3<\/p>\n

1.Wilier-Vittoria: Luca Braidot, Simone Avondetto (12:39.28)
2. Toyota Specialized Imbuko: Matthew Beers, Tristan Nortje (12:40.41 | +1:14)
3. Klimatiza Orbea: David Valero Serrano, Marc Stutzmann (12:41.57 | +2:29)
4. Buff-BH Wout Allemann Martin Stosek (12:44.21 | +4:53)
5. Canyon: Luca Schwarzbauer, Sam Gaze (12:44.38 | +5:10)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With all the 32\u2033 hype building to a fever pitch by the end of 2025, the countdown was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[180886,84975,84976,113108,49,48,113110,635,1700,213102,82,134848],"class_list":["post-547047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2026-cape-epic","tag-84975","tag-32-inch","tag-andrew-lesperance","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cape-epic","tag-cycling","tag-mtb-features","tag-p32","tag-sports","tag-stoll-bikes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}