{"id":50021,"date":"2023-03-07T15:47:52","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T13:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/?p=50021"},"modified":"2023-03-07T15:47:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T13:47:52","slug":"the-shark-lies-in-wait-at-2023-absa-cape-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/cycling\/the-shark-lies-in-wait-at-2023-absa-cape-epic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shark lies in wait at 2023 Absa Cape Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vincenzo Nibali, one of only seven people on the planet to have won all three of cycling\u2019s Grand Tour\u2019s, is swopping the road for the beautiful terrain of the Cape Winelands <\/em><\/p>\n

CAPE TOWN, \u2013 \u00a0The Shark is circling and ready to strike at the 2023 Absa Cape Epic.<\/p>\n

In what is one of the event\u2019s biggest-ever coups, road cycling legend Vincenzo Nibali will be hitting the magnificent trails of Meerendal Wine Estate, Hermanus, Val de Vie and others in this year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

Italian Nibali, known as the \u201cThe Shark of the Strait\u201d, \u201cThe Shark of Messina\u201d or simply \u201cThe Shark\u201d, only retired from professional road racing last year. Needing little introduction to cycling enthusiasts, he is one of only seven riders to have ever won the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a,\u00a0 Giro d\u2019Italia (twice) and the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

He joins a host of international road cycling greats tackling Africa\u2019s ultimate untamed MTB race, including European and Australian riders who lit up the international circuit in their heyday.<\/p>\n

Nibali has joined the newly-formed Q36.5 ProCycling, and teamed up with fellow cyclist Ivan Santaromita for his first Cape Epic.<\/p>\n

\u201cMountain biking is a passion that I\u2019ve always had since I was a child, but unfortunately I had to abandon this discipline. Now I can spend much more time on it,\u201d he says. <\/em><\/p>\n

He enjoys that MTB allows riders to be much closer to the fans, as well as nature. <\/em><\/p>\n

This week they will make their debut at the <\/em>Andaluc\u00eda Bike Race in Spain as part of his preparations for the Absa Cape Epic, having been advised to do so by a good friend.<\/p>\n

Spain has of course been a happy hunting ground for Nibali, since it was where he won the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a in 2010 and also ended his professional road cycling career in 2022.<\/p>\n

Nibali\u2019s 2014 Tour de France win is one of the greatest of modern times. <\/em><\/p>\n

Having showed little form prior to the race, not even placing among the top finishers at several events leading up to cycling\u2019s showpiece, he stunned all and sundry by grabbing the Yellow Jersey from stage two to eight.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

After losing the lead in the next stage, he powered back in the tenth to win. This was one of four stages he won that year, allowing him to win the general classification by seven minutes and 52 seconds \u2013 the biggest victory margin in the Tour de France in 17 years. <\/em><\/p>\n

Nibali recently joined SCOTT Sports, where he is a brand ambassador and involved in the development of new products. <\/em><\/p>\n

“Having someone like Vincenzo join the team is just a joy. Talk about having the highest level of product tester for our road team! We look forward to working with Vincenzo on various projects over the next few years, and to the impact he will have on our new road team and beyond.” Julian Wagner, Bike Marketing Lead for SCOTT Sports, said on the brand\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Nibali is just one of cycling\u2019s superstars who will be lining up alongside aspirant amateurs to tackle the trek across 658km of wondrous untamed terrain and almost 16\u00a0000m of climbing,<\/em><\/p>\n

cementing the hors cat\u00e9gorie-classified race as one of the major highlights on the<\/em><\/p>\n

international calendar.<\/em><\/p>\n

The eight-day event takes place from 19-26 March, and promises to be one of the most exciting to date. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Vincenzo Nibali, one of only seven people on the planet to have won all three of cycling\u2019s Grand Tour\u2019s, is swopping the road for the beautiful terrain of the Cape Winelands CAPE TOWN, \u2013 \u00a0The Shark is circling and ready to strike at the 2023 Absa Cape Epic. In what is one of the event\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3260],"tags":[9209,9403],"class_list":["post-50021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-vincenzo-nibali"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}