Cape Epic 2019, Specialized Bikes and or new XC Geometry used by the pros

Equipment
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Focused on Specialized(S) Epic Evo but interested in all industry changes toward XC bikes.
S has introduced into its lineup the Epic Evo which has a slacker head angle 68, 120mm fork, dropper post, and 2.3 tires. Christophe Sauser did a promotional video for S on the Epic Evo. He said that he had been talking about these options for an XC bike for years. My question:
What type of bike did Sauser ride during this years Cape Epic? The only thing I noticed that during one of the later stages 6 or 7 Nino was riding a dropper post. And that Avancini and Fumic used hydration packs during multiple stages.

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Yeah; this has become a trend; bikes like the Yeti SB100 etc are at the forefront of it
Just a point of note; th Evo edition of the Epic is the exact same frame as the “normal Epic”; the HT angle has not changed on the frame; its simply that swapping from a 100 fork to a 120 fork slackens the bike by c.1 degree

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I believe Sauser was running the normal 100mm Epic.
Whilst this wasn’t his bike, all of the team were running these, albeit in different colour schemes

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Thanks. Does 1 degree really make that big noticable of a difference?

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Thanks for the reply, Wow!! I need one of those but with a MUCH smaller chainring:sweat_smile: