Ghosting to Absa Cape Epic Success 

The opening stage showed both the strength of Ghost Factory Racing and the fact that Lill’s partner Mona Mitterwallner was off her usual level. Terpstra and Koller stormed to a dominant win over the 26 kilometre time trial course, but the most telling moment, in hindsight, was the way in which Mitterwallner ceded seconds on the day’s biggest climb. The Austrian put it down to the heat, though with four more sweltering days ahead that explanation did little to dispel the fears of Cannondale Factory Racing’s fans.

Stage 1 was a more tightly contested affair. Gomez Villafane and Samara Sheppard took the fight to the Factory Racing teams, but slipped out of contention for stage victory on the day’s penultimate climb. Despite gaining a couple of seconds advantage over the summit of Fanties Pass Lill and Mitterwallner were unable to hold Terpstra and Koller at bay. In the run-in to the finish, on Saronsberg Wine Estate, the Ghost Factory Racing pair outmanoeuvred their rivals and sprinted to their second win of the week.

The following day the rugged Witzenberg Valley could not separate the leading teams, despite Lill puncturing and having to chase for the best part of 15 kilometres. It was only back in the Tulbagh Valley that Ghost Factory Racing were able to slip away from Cannondale Factory Racing. Lill was nursing a slow puncture and Koller pounced, accelerating from a lull in the action to pull Terpstra clear. Lill and Mitterwallner team time trialled behind to limit their losses, and only conceded 7 seconds to the women in orange.

The only transition stage of the race took the teams from Saronsberg, in Tulbagh, to Wellington’s CPUT campus. After the event Terpstra confessed to having endured her most difficult day of the race on Stage 3, but despite that she and Koller proved strongest when it mattered most. Having played cat and mouse for much of the day the Ghost Factory Racing pair used their superior singletrack skills to create a small advantage on Cannondale Factory Racing and Toyota Specialized Ninety One. It was once they reached the dual tracks through the wine farms leading into Wellington that they really excelled however. Koller’s formidable power allowed the overall leaders to add a further 76 seconds to their general classification buffer.

Ahead of the Queen Stage Lill and Mitterwallner were bullish about their chances of overturning the 2 minute and 29 second deficit to Terpstra and Koller. The leaders meanwhile were confident of being able to match any attacks which their rivals mustered. Again, Toyota Specialized Ninety One made much of the racing trying to unseat their rivals, but were unable to shake either of the Factory Racing squads. After 73 kilometres of racing and 2 550 metres of climbing the day came down to a three-way sprint finish. Despite the odds being against them Ghost Factory Racing prevailed for the fifth time, with Gomez Villafane and Sheppard claiming their only second place finish of the race, ahead of Lill and Mitterwallner.

Stage 5 saw Ghost Factory Racing add a further 20 seconds to their overall lead. Once again, the top three teams spent the majority of the stage together, inseparable until Sheppard’s accumulated fatigue snapped the elastic for Toyota Specialized Ninety One. Terpstra and Koller led over the summit of the final climb and used the Toyota Tough segment, down the Golden Mile, to create a gap to Lill and Mitterwallner. With a buffer established Koller dragged Terpstra home, while riding just out of reach of the chasing Cannondale Factory Racing combination for an agonising 5 kilometre stretch.

On the penultimate day of the race a similar pattern unfolded, though the difficulty of the final climb and the length of the last descent into Stellenbosch allowed Ghost Factory Racing to treble the gains of the preceding stage. Terpstra and Koller’s dominance may not have been significant on the time sheets but it was nonetheless absolute. The 60 seconds they added to their overall lead on Stage 6 took their advantage to 3 minutes and 31 seconds heading into the grand finale.

On the last day of the 2024 Absa Cape Epic Ghost Factory Racing wrapped up a perfect race. Terpstra and Koller made it eight from eight with a final stage victory and sealed the title in emphatic fashion. Once the women in orange had distanced Cannondale Factory Racing the fight went out of Lill and Mitterwallner for the only time in the race. As a result, they ceded more time on the final stage than they had all week. Still, the twentieth edition produced the closest ever UCI Women’s race in the event’s history. Behind the battle for first Gomez Villafane and Sheppard were a comfortable third. Further back 2023 winner, Vera Looser had struggled in the later part of the race and was unable to hang onto fourth, alongside Alexis Skarda, while Léna Gérault and Hayley Preen finished strongly to move ahead of the Efficient Infiniti SCB SRAM team.