 | |
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Date | March–December |
| Region | |
| Discipline | Mountain bike racing |
| Type | Stage race |
| Organiser | Various |
| Web site | [[http://www.epic-series.com/%20www.epic-series.com] www<wbr/>.epic-series<wbr/>.com<wbr/>/%20www<wbr/>.epic-series<wbr/>.com]] |
| History | |
| First edition | 2018 |
The Epic Series is a series of mountain bike stage races held around the world. The most prestigious race is the Cape Epic. The other five functions as qualifier for it.
In 2018 the parliament of the Canton of Grisons signed a four-year contract with the Swiss Epic that they spend 300.000 CHF each year. [1] They will become a good pendant to the Cape Epic. [2]
| Name | Est. | Month | Region | Country | Stages | Legend | Qualifier | Triple Crown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Epic | 2004 | March - April | Western Cape |  South Africa | 8 |  |  | |
| Port to Port | 2014 | late May | Newcastle |  Australia | 4 | | | |
| Reef to Reef | 2018 | mid August | North Queensland | Australia | 4 | | | |
| Swiss Epic | 2014 | late August - early September |  Grisons |  Switzerland | 5 | | | |
| Cape to Cape | 2008 | mid October | Western Australia | Australia | 4 | | | |
| The Pioneer | 2016 | late November - early December | Southern Alps |  New Zealand | 6 | | | |
Source: [3]
The winners of the men's, women's, mixed, Masters and Grand Masters receive a spot at the following Cape Epic. The second placed teams of the Swiss Epic receive also a spot. [4]
One spot per category will be drawn at the final days. Only finisher of the event and no winner's are able to win the spot. [5]
The three big races Cape Epic, Swiss Epic and The Pioneer are so called Legend Races. [6]
Bikers who finished all three Legend races receive the Epic Legend Medal.
| Accomplish at | Name | Country | Cape | Swiss | Pioneer | Duration | In one Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Swiss Epic | Minter Barnard | Australia | 2011 | 2018 | 2016 | 7 years, 5 months and 12 days | | [7] |
| 2018 Swiss Epic | Haley van Leeuwen | New Zealand | 2018 | 2018 | 2017 | 1 year, 7 months and 4 days | 2018 | |
| 2018 The Pioneer | Timothy Hammond | South Africa | 2016 | 2018 | 2018 | 2 years, 8 months and 10 days | 2018 | [8] |
| 2018 The Pioneer | Peter Felber | Switzerland | 2018 | 2016 | 2018 | 2 years, 2 months and 13 days | | |
| 2018 The Pioneer | David Wright | South Africa | 2013 | 2018 | 2018 | 5 years, 8 months and 6 days | | |
| 2018 The Pioneer | Enrico Theuns |  Netherlands | 2012 | 2014 | 2018 | 6 years, 7 months and 29 days | | |
| 2018 The Pioneer | Chak Shing Cheng |  Hong Kong | 2014 | 2018 | 2018 | 4 years, 8 months and 10 days | 2018 | |
| 2018 The Pioneer | Alan Gordon | South Africa | 2016 | 2018 | 2018 | 2 years, 8 months and 10 days | | |
| 2019 Cape Epic | Alexander Donaldson | New Zealand | 2019 | 2018 | 2018 | 6 months and 9 days | | [9] |
| 2019 Cape Epic | Kylie Burrows | New Zealand | 2019 | 2016 | 2016 | 2 years, 6 months and 7 days | |
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The Cape Epic, full name Absa Cape Epic, is an annual mountain bike stage race held in the Western Cape, South Africa. It has been accredited as hors categorie by the Union Cycliste Internationale. First staged in 2004, the race typically covers more than 700 kilometres, and lasts eight days - a prologue and seven stages. The Absa Cape Epic attracts elite professional mountain bikers from around the world, who compete in teams of two. To qualify for a finish, teams have to stay together for the duration of the race. The race is also open to amateurs, who enter a lottery in order to gain a slot. A total of 650 teams take part. The times taken to finish each stage are aggregated to determine the overall winning team in each category at the end of the race. The course changes every year, but the race has always taken place in the Western Cape. The Absa Cape Epic was described by Bart Brentjens, 1996 Olympic gold medallist in mountain biking and a former Absa Cape Epic winner, as the "Tour de France of mountain biking".
Sharon Laws was a British professional cyclist and environmental consultant.
Nino Schurter is a Swiss cross-country cyclist who races for the SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing Team.
Burry Willie Stander was a South African mountain biker, the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup under-23 men's cross-country 2009 world champion.
Annie Last, is an English professional cyclist, representing Great Britain and England, who specialises in mountain biking and cyclo-cross. She was chosen as a female competitor in the cross country mountain bike event for the Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, going on to take 8th place.
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Jaroslav Kulhavý, is a Czech mountain biker
Esther Süss is a Swiss cross-country mountain biker. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's cross-country at Hadleigh Farm, finishing in 5th place.
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Roel Paulissen is a Belgian former professional mountain biker. Throughout his sporting career since 1993, he has won more than ten Belgian national championship titles, mounted top-five finishes at both the European and World Cup series, and claimed a total of four medals, including two golds, in men's cross-country race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Paulissen also represented his nation Belgium in four editions of the Olympic Games, where he competed in men's mountain biking since it officially became an Olympic sport in 1996. By the start of the 2010 season, Paulissen had been overshadowed by a doping issue after he tested positive for clomiphene that sidelined and effectively ended his mountain biking career. Having lifted a two-year suspension from doping in early 2013, Paulissen came out from his short retirement to join and race professionally for the Italian team Torpado.
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The African Men's classification is a men's classification, the one by which the best African men's team of the Cape Epic is determined. Since 2018, the leader of the African Men's classification wears the Absa African Men's Special Jersey. Matthys Beukes won the jersey 5 times. Three out of this fives with his partner Philip Buys.
The Swiss Epic is an annual mountain bike stage race held in the Canton of Grisons, Switzerland. It has been accredited as hors catégorie by the Union Cycliste Internationale. It is part of the global Epic Series and was once inspired by the pinnacle event of it, the Cape Epic.