The countdown is on: the 2011 Absa Cape Epic will kick-off on Sunday March 27, with a prologue in Tokai Forest, Cape Town, before finishing eight days later at the Lourensford Wine Estate, Somerset West. 

The 100 per cent off-road route will see 600 two-person teams – Bikemagic editor David Arthur rode last year’s event – tackle 707km and climb 14,550m – just shy of riding up Mount Everest twice.

The 2011 race is one of only two mountain bike stage races to be classified HC (hors categorie) by the UCI.

Defending champions Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm will set out to win their fourth Cape Epic title but will face stiff opposition from reigning world cross-country champion José Antonio Hemida, 2008 world cross-country champion Christoph Sauser, 2006 world marathon champion Ralph Näf and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Bart Brentjens. 

The Cape Epic is also a massive logistics project, with organisers ready to pitch more than 1400 tents per day and transport 280 tons of equipment from stage town to stage town. Twenty-seven heavy-duty trucks and transporters and over 790 crew, volunteers and supplier representatives are involved in implementing the largest mountain bike stage race in the world.

Head to www.cape-epic.com for live rider tracking once the race gets underway.