The 2022 Cape Epic introduced an enormous shock to the world of endurance racing when Georg Egger and Lukas Baum of Pace Firm Racing took the general. Having gained two of the seven levels, their consistency paid off and so they rolled into the end forward of the likes of Nino Schurter, Lars Forster, Matthew Beers and Christopher Blevins. For 2023, the pair had been again in South Africa to defend their title, beneath the banner of Orbea x Leatt x Pace Firm Racing.
Certainly, these guys usually are not on a Manufacturing unit Staff. Whereas a lot of their opponents would have been recuperating in accommodations and flats, Georg and Lukas made a Camper Van their dwelling for the week, with their assist staff pitched up close by in tents, battling it out with probably the most rainfall the area has seen in 20 years.
Georg and Lukas had an unbelievable race; regardless of mechanical points and a number of other “flooring kissing” occasions, the pair positioned 2nd within the General and bagged two Stage Wins alongside the way in which – together with the ultimate stage which noticed them dash into the end enviornment 10 seconds forward of General Winners, Christopher Blevins and Mathew Beers. Whereas they had been within the lead after Stage 5, a expensive mechanical on Stage 6 put them again in third Place. The sequence of mishaps – lacking bottles at feed zones, crashing, unlucky line alternative and a bust derailleur that price them a whopping 11 minutes, Georg and Lukas had been contemplating re-naming the staff “Pace Firm Chaos Racing”. In the long run, they determined in opposition to.
After the mud settled, and pizza was consumed, we hopped on a name with Georg and Lukas to listen to precisely what went down. In addition they shared with us the small print of their 2023 Orbea Oiz Race Bikes, in addition to some teasers on some new Endurance Package from Leatt, the event of which they had been closely concerned in.
Thanks to Moritz Sauer for offering the pictures for this story
Georg Egger and Lukas Baum’s 2023 Cape Epic | A Picture Story
Earlier than we dig into the ups and downs of Orbea x Leatt x Pace Firm Racing’s assault on the 2023 Cape Epic, let’s simply remind ourselves what the riders went by means of final week.
The 2023 Route took in 648km of racing, with no fewer than 15,475 meters of elevation gained alongside the way in which. That was break up throughout seven grueling levels (plus a Prologue), throughout which groups aren’t permitted any outdoors assist outwith particular feed and tech zones. They’re additionally not permitted any radio assist, so except they will see the opposite groups within the distance, they don’t have any means of understanding what the time distinction is at any given level. The Phases comprised the next:
- Prologue: 27 km, 750 meters climbed
- Stage 1: 98 km, 2,550 meters climbed
- Stage 2: 116 km, 1,850 meters climbed
- Stage 3: 100 km, 2,300 meters climbed
- Stage 4: 47 km, 875 meters climbed
- Stage 5: 102 km, 2,450 meters climbed
- Stage 6: 79 km, 2,300 meters climbed
- Stage 7: 80 km, 2,400 meters climbed
A former Grande Finale venue, Meerendal Wine Property, performed host to this 12 months’s Prologue. It’s run as a time-trial over 27km, with 750 meters of elevation achieve. Right here, Lukas and Georg acquired off to a comparatively good begin, ending up in third place, 45 seconds off the tempo of the Prologue winners, Matt Beers and Christopher Blevins.
After the brief and sharp Prologue, the racers went straight into two marathon days. Orbea x Leatt x Pace Firm Racing once more positioned third on the 98 km Stage 1. Extremely tight racing put them simply 21 seconds off the tempo of winners, Wilier Pirelli Manufacturing unit. One other constant effort noticed them once more place third on Stage 2, two and a half minutes again from Toyota-Specialised-NinetyOne.
We requested Lukas and Georg how they gasoline for these huge days within the saddle.
Lukas says, “Breakfast is oatmeal for me, with some smashed banana, nuts and different fruit. For Georg it’s white bread and toast, butter, honey, cheese and eggs. We get up at 5 AM, eat at 5 AM, after which begin at 7 AM. For me, it’s nearly unattainable to eat a full meal with three hours between breakfast and the beginning.
“In the course of the stage we attempt to eat 80 grams of carbohydrate per hour, between electrolytes within the bottle and gels, however Georg likes to eat bars”.
Georg provides, “Someway my abdomen will get clogged up if I solely eat gels and fluid vitamin for eight days using”. Lukas chimes in, “However look, each abdomen will get tousled after eight days of racing, or consuming 5 gels a day”.
“It’s key to take vitamin in the course of the levels as a result of in any other case you run out of vitality. Should you come to the end completely empty, you can’t make your storage full once more prepared for the following day of racing. It’s fairly vital to feed properly in the course of the levels. Off the bike, we ate nearly every part we might get, kind of.”
“For the levels, it was 4,500 or 5,000 energy we burned, just for the using. So, you may think about that the quantity of vitality it’s a must to get again into your system”
Lukas Baum
Georg mentioned, “We ate chips, nut butter… it was nearly placing the vitality again in. And we nonetheless misplaced weight. We tried to maintain it clear with rice to start with, however ultimately we had some pasta and pizza earlier than the final stage”. Lukas tells us he misplaced about 2 kg over the 8 days of racing.
Stage 3 noticed a number of the tightest racing but, with Lukas and Georg ending 2nd, with just one second separating them from winners Matt Beers and Chris Blevins. Wilier Pirelli Manufacturing unit completed simply two seconds again. Unimaginable, particularly when you think about this stage comprised 100 kilometers and a pair of,300 meters of elevation achieve.
Georg and Lukas took one other 2nd place to Beers and Blevins on Stage 4, ending 22 seconds behind the Toyota-Specialised-NinetyOne staff after 47km and 875 meters of climbing.
Orbea x Leatt x Pace Firm Racing Win Stage 5
Stage 5 comprising 102 km and a pair of,450 meters of climbing noticed Georg and Lukas win their first stage of the 2023 Cape Epic. Right here, they put themselves in a very good place for the ultimate two levels, placing 2 minutes and 32 seconds into Singer Racing who completed 2nd, and a pair of minutes 40 seconds into SCOTT-SRAM who completed third.
Now in Yellow, Orbea x Leatt x Pace Firm Racing had 1 minute and 29 seconds on Schurter and Frischknecht, and a whopping 7 minutes on Beers and Blevins.
Catastrophe Struck on Stage 6
Darkish, gloomy situations had settled over Lourensford Wine Property for the penultimate stage of the race. As race leaders, Orbea x Leatt x Pace Firm Racing set off within the Yellow Jersey, nevertheless it wasn’t to be theirs for lengthy. A steel wire acquired pulled into Lukas’ derailleur, ripping the information pulley out solely and twisting the chain within the course of.
“At that time, the luck for us, it was only one.5 km after the tech zone… and there was no different tech zone developing. Both I stroll 30 km to the end, or we go 1.5 km again to the tech zone to switch the rear derailleur. We might have created a single-speed bike, however I don’t know if it could have labored with the twisted chain. There was a lot using to return, not solely flat using but in addition climbing – the velocity variation was fairly excessive on that day, so it could have been tremendous shitty” – Lukas.
“We weren’t positive if we might go within the flawed path in the course of the race. I all the time thought it was not allowed however I assumed, OK we’re in yellow, and what else can we do? In any other case we’d have misplaced hours, a minimal half an hour, if we’d have completed with that drawback. There have been loads of spectators within the tech zone watching us restore the bike with a mini-tool, however that was fairly quick.
“It was 1.5 km again to the tech zone – I needed to push him [Lukas] after which we modified the derailleur and likewise the chain. It took us 11 minutes to return to the place the place it occurred. For the using, forwards and backwards, we had been possibly 5 minutes, after which 6 minutes for the mechanical”.
Georg Egger
No outdoors help is permitted at Cape Epic, not even in these Tech Zones, so the fellows needed to repair the difficulty themselves. Georg mentioned, “possibly it was to our benefit that we’ve to spanner the bikes on our personal usually, so we had been fairly skilled in doing mechanical stuff”.
There’s little doubt about it, Lukas and Georg actually appear to thrive within the face of adversity.
An Spectacular Comeback
Reflecting upon the final 648km of racing, Lukas mentioned, “the extent of competitors is so excessive… issues like lacking a bottle on one stage, or going off onto slightly sand part, it will possibly price you important seconds or minutes. I imply, ultimately we had been forward of SCOTT-SRAM [Nino Schurter and Andri Frischknecht] by only some seconds, and Toyota-Specialised-NinetyOne [Christopher Blevins and Mathew Beers] by a couple of minutes. It’s not like there are hour gaps between us. Each little element counts”.
That’s in distinction to the 2022 Version of the Cape Epic, the place Lukas and Georg gained with a comparatively snug hole of simply over 3 minutes. “Final 12 months, someway we stopped extra usually for refueling at feed factors, even on the final two days once we had been catching up the time, we stopped a while for some Coke and water, however this time it was not attainable. It was so shut, and it was way more tight racing” – Georg Egger.
Reflecting additional on the 2023 race, Georg mentioned, “Guys like Nino Schurter – they know precisely win a race and when it’s a must to maintain pushing, even if you happen to can’t… once we tried to open up a niche within the flat sections, they [Nino and Andri] would chase us again each time. It was nearly unattainable. And likewise, within the climbs… the one time we opened a niche on a climb was on the longest climb of the entire race – which was about 700 meters of climbing in a single piece – then, they had been on the very high when it actually counted and who had the strongest legs, however over the little climbs which had been solely like 400 meters of elevation… it didn’t matter if you happen to felt a bit weak or what, it was nearly unattainable to open a niche as a result of the fellows which might be racing on the entrance are additionally mentally very sturdy – they destroyed themselves to the top. OK, Andri Frischknecht exploded close to the top, or he couldn’t maintain the tempo over the climbs on the final two days, however till then it was so arduous to make a distinction, nearly unattainable”.
We requested the pair what their favourite stage was:
Georg mentioned, “It’s form of arduous to say, simply because the circumstances on some levels had been depressing with the heavy rain, so possibly a kind of levels would have had some good trails you recognize however, to be sincere at one level it was like rising in opposition to water – there was a river coming down in direction of us. The query was not discovering one of the best line, it was the place is the least water. It wasn’t even seen what was beneath the water”.
“However for me, personally, if I needed to choose one stage, round Lourensford, with the great hand-built downhills… that was an excellent enjoyable stage. Phases 5 and 6, yeah. Stage 5, the Queen Stage, the Stage we gained, it was fairly good, and the ultimate stage I additionally preferred loads. The ultimate stage was like actual, regular climate. It was the primary day the place the situations had been what we’re used to using right here” – Lukas.
He went on to say, “This time, we had solely these cross-country guys, the entire cyclists – Chris Blevins additionally does street biking, and Nino additionally tremendous skilled… yeah, and Matt Beers is aware of all the paths properly – you noticed that, he was fairly snug. It was fairly arduous to search out the potential for attacking these guys”.
In the long run, I by no means thought we might shut the hole of 4 or 5 minutes of SCOTT-SRAM on sooner or later – which we did on the final day – that was fairly insane”.
Lukas Baum
I hoped Specialised would have worse legs on the final day, as a result of I believe we had good legs, however the Specialised guys, in addition they acquired stronger and stronger over the race. The day earlier than the ultimate, we knew it could be tremendous arduous to shut that hole”.
Professional Bike Test: Pace Firm Racing 2023 Orbea Oiz
Apparently, on the 2022 Cape Epic, each Lukas and Georg arrange their Oiz Race Bikes with 120mm of rear wheel journey by operating an extended stroke size rear shock. Regardless of the predecessor having been designed round 100mm journey, the fellows most well-liked having the additional consolation and traction that got here with the additional 20mm. In 2023, they didn’t need to make any such modification, on condition that the 2023 Orbea Oiz that was launched on the again finish of final 12 months was up to date to a devoted 120mm journey flex-stay single-pivot platform.
At 187cm tall, Georg Egger rides the Measurement Giant with 472mm attain, including a 120mm stem. At 183cm tall, Lukas Baum rides the Measurement Medium with a 450mm attain, including a 100mm stem. Each sizes have a chainstay size of 432mm.
The 2023 Oiz is bought with a -10° stem, however for Lukas they made a customized stem with an elevated destructive offset of 25/30°. Orbea truly provided the staff with a number of completely different customized stems, permitting them to dial of their setup completely.
The Oiz has a Squid-Lock distant suspension lock-out for the Fox fork and shock, with three attainable positions; open, path and closed. The Squid-Lock adjusts the shock and fork settings concurrently. Lukas and Georg each made use of that on-the-fly adjustment closely all through the levels.
On this, Georg mentioned, “It’s so tough right here, so bumpy on a regular basis that we nearly by no means run it utterly locked. We use the center [trail] place loads within the trails uphill. Generally if it will get tremendous steep uphill, I wish to lock it utterly, however yeah we use it loads, we differ it loads in the course of the climbs. It’s nearly like shifting, you employ it as usually because the set off kind of”.
Lukas added, “I believe it’s tremendous vital, particularly with the tough situations switching it forwards and backwards. When it’s tremendous tough uphill, I go away the suspension absolutely open simply to have fixed contact with the bottom. I solely lock it on the paths absolutely if the bottom is even and once I don’t need to danger placing energy by means of the suspension and dropping ahead momentum. Aside from that, when I’m sitting, I’m nearly all the time open”.
The stem was not the one customized element on Lukas’ race bike; Bike Forward Composites additionally went out of their option to produce a 35mm set again carbon seat put up in order that he could possibly be extra snug in an aero place; he says it weighs solely 18g greater than the usual offset model.
Lukas actually values the extra aero place, particularly on the flat sections and smoother descents; as such, he wraps his handlebar in bar tape to make it extra snug for his arms over lengthy distances.
For the tires, Lukas and Georg determined to play it secure with Schwalbe’s Tremendous Floor Casing Racing Ralph – 2.35″. It’s a little heavier than different the Tremendous Race, nevertheless it presents extra puncture safety with three carcass plies beneath the tread and SnakeSkin cloth operating from bead-to-bead.
Will Orbea x Leatt x Pace Firm Racing be again for Cape Epic in 2024?
“For positive. It’s in all probability the occasion that gave us the largest increase with our new staff and every part. I believe with out the Cape Epic we’d not be the place we’re in the mean time. Someway that race matches us nearly completely. We’re working so good collectively as a staff. And likewise, the race profile and likewise the truth that the race lasts for over one week… all of it performs into our playing cards, and we will positively carry out so good in that race” – Georg.
What’s subsequent for Orbea x Leatt x Pace Firm Racing?
“We’re going to do one other stage race in Croatia – The 4 Islands, after which we’re going to swap again to Cross-Nation Racing. We’ll attempt to do the Cross-Nation races pretty much as good as attainable for the World Cup and the Nationwide Champs, after which we are going to race towards the World Championships in Glasgow. We’re tremendous enthusiastic about that entire occasion, you recognize with all of the disciplines. I believe it’s tremendous good for the game. After which, in direction of the top of the season, we swap again to marathon once more and end off with the Epic Israel Stage Race” – Georg.
What are Lukas and Georg’s Aspirations for the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow?
Lukas mentioned, “The aspirations for the Marathon Race is increased than for the Cross-Nation Race proper now. I imply, final 12 months, I actually needed to win the World Championships in Denmark as a result of the monitor was suiting us so properly. I’m not positive how a lot climbing there will likely be in Glasgow, and the way the monitor goes to be…”
“I believe we confirmed right here that we will compete on the best degree of Marathon. We each will shoot for the title I believe”.
Lukas Baum
That’s all, people. You may sustain with Orbea x Leatt x Pace Firm Racing on Instagram @speedcompanyracing or comply with their podcast Pace Firm Radio.
