Factor riders take 2nd at Cape Epic

Celebrating its 22nd anniversary edition, the 2026 Absa Cape Epic multi-stage mountain bike race always promises to be one of the toughest and most dramatic events of the off-road calendar. As the unofficial “Tour de France for mountain bike racing”, the Cape Epic takes place in South Africa with seven stages and a prologue, which challenge all participants to a huge amount of climbing, technical singletrack, complicated weather conditions, and accumulated fatigue.

For the women’s event, the average altitude gain is the equivalent of 24.3 meters climbed for every kilometre raced over the eight days. As the largest fully supported multi-stage mountain bike race in the world, the Cape Epic draws the elite of off-road racing, with everyone from Olympic mountain bike champions to Tour de France champions over the years trying their legs in the beautiful wilds of South Africa. Even if the race is supported, the riders must still tackle huge obstacles and overcome their own demons if they want to finish, let alone win.

As Factor-sponsored athletes, Canadian Haley Hunter and South African Hayley Preen joined forces to compete as a team. And even though they didn’t really know each other very well before the event, they succeeded in taking an impressive 2nd place and became very close teammates in the course of the eight stages.

How long is the Cape Epic?

For 2026, the women’s 8-day race covered approximately 545 km and 13,250 m of climbing. The route changes every year and is a closely guarded secret until announced, but regardless of the exact route, it is always an extremely challenging event with terrain varying from sublimely beautiful to desolate and rugged. The climbs are strenuous and the descents technical. The host towns range among the most picturesque and historically significant of all towns on the Western Cape.

Raced in teams of two in a variety of age categories, including a UCI Elite category, the Cape Epic kicks off with a prologue and then continues with seven stages. Haley and Hayley started off well with 5th place in the prologue and then paced themselves till they had moved up to 4th, then 3rd, until they finally finished in 2nd place. It was a masterclass in pacing as well as skill, determination, and control.

“The best way to achieve your best in any task with repeated executions is to be reliable and consistent. Being a one-day hero isn’t really helpful in an 8-day event. Instead, you need to trust that your sustainable best is enough. Have the courage to go your pace, and to do the daily things with intention and calm commitment. In terms of Epic, we say things like “you can’t win it in the prologue” and “crashing/flatting is more costly than going 5% slower on the single track”. Hayley and I rode with safety and consistency in mind, and it paid off for us.” – Haley Hunter

LANDO rules

We’re only three months into the year, and the Factor LANDO has already proved to be among the best-performing mountain bikes in some of the hairiest races in the world. First, Cynthia Carson and Victor Bosoni won the women’s and men’s categories at the Atlas Mountain Race in February, and now Haley Hunter and Hayley Preen have taken a podium at Cape Epic.

In each event, the athletes have been able to choose between the full suspension LANDO XC and the hardtail LANDO HT. For instance, at the AMR, Bosoni opted for a specially modified full suspension LANDO while Carson went for the hardtail LANDO.

For Cape Epic, both Haley and Hayley opted for the LANDO XC to make maximum use of the bike’s capability. With their efforts to move up the leaderboard, staying smooth, consistent and safe was essential. And super effective.

“I had the privilege of racing with Hayley Preen, a South African all-terrain racer. Hayley has now completed 5 Epics, is a Cape Town local, and is an unflappable bike racer. I don’t think there are many better partners anyone could race with. She found ways to make sure that our strengths were maximised and weaknesses covered. In the end, we finished 2nd on GC. Our stretch goal going in was top 3, and our realistic goal was top 5. It’s not every day that you exceed your performance goals in sport, so we are both pretty damn thrilled with the outcome. Someday, I think we can win this race.” - Haley Hunter

At Factor, we are thrilled to see our athletes excelling and the LANDO performing everywhere and anywhere. It’s a mountain bike that has proved itself already this season in two completely different environments at opposite ends of Africa.

LANDO XC

The LANDO XC is the full suspension elite MTB that offers 100-115mm rear travel working in conjunction with a 120mm fork. With an incredibly lightweight frame, this rig is not only crazy fast, but super flickable. Ideal for endurance-oriented technical courses and events since it’s as capable as it is lightweight.

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