Haley Smith and Hayley Preen battled through brutal conditions on Friday to land a second-straight stage podium at the Cape Epic. As if the competition and course weren’t hard enough already, Friday’s Queen stage served up over 2,000m of elevation gain, the Cape Epic rode into serious weather. While the day started and ended in the sun, racers arrived in the finish corral barely recognisable through a thick layer of mud and grit.
Team Ha(y)ley double up on podium time at Cape Epic
Smith and Preen, the Canadian/South African duo racing as Cheemcamp Honeycomb at the 2026 Cape Epic, thrived in the trying conditions. Team Ha(y)ley finished the stage third, for a second day in a row, tightening their grip on a third place overall finish at the iconic South African stage race.
Up the road, or trail, Thomus Maxon’s duo of Alessandra Keller and Candice Lill looked intent at getting retribution. After being served their first loss of the 2025 Cape Epic by She Sends Foundation’s Kate Courtney and Greta Seiwald on Thursday, this year’s leaders attacked the Queen stage with ferocity.
Aided by an early mechanical from Seiwald which created a gap to the leaders, Keller and Lill continued to build their lead all the way to the finish line. At the end of Stage 5, the Swiss/South African duo add a whopping 9:28 to their lead in what has been one of the more closely contested Cape Epics.
“It was a tough stage but we didn’t want to get involved in racing the She Sends Foundation team the whole way,” said Lill. “My favourite way of racing is to race from the front, where we can set our own pace and rhythm.”
She Sends salvage dangerous stage
Courtney and Seiwald were joined in their chase by Smith and Preen for much of Stage 5. Despite having numbers on their side, the quartet couldn’t reel in the flying Thomus Maxon Sabi Sabi squad. Courtney and Seiwald created some room to the Cheemcamp Honeycomb team, earning second just two minutes ahead of their fellow chasers.
“Kate was my hero today. She literally pushed me up every hill,” Seiwald admitted after the stage. “I just didn’t have the legs today.
The Ha(y)ley’s roll into Saturday’s…
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