INTERNATIONAL: The Bulls team of Urs Huber and Simon Schneller have won the men's opening stage of the Cape Epic on Monday in the town of Ceres in South Africa’s Western Cape province. This is the 17th edition of the event, and the biggest of its kind on the African continent.

In a tight finish, Huber and Schneller held on to beat the Bulls 2 team of Martin Frey and Simon Stiebjahn into second place, with the Canyon Northwave MTB team of Andreas Seewald and Martin Stosek finishing in third. Prologue winners Matt Beers and Jordan Sarrou of NinetyOne-Songo-Specialized finished in fourth, but retain their overall lead with a healthy gap of just under two minutes.

Cape Epic debutantes Sina Frei and Laura Stigger of NinetyOne-Songo-Specialized, topped the podium in the women's race. The pair came in nearly five minutes ahead of second-placed finishers Ariane Luthi and Robyn De Groot of Salusmed.

The Cape Epic takes mountain bike riders through some of South Africa’s most stunning scenery before it wraps up on Sunday.