All three Maltese Teams conquer the Andorra Epic

Brandon Sultana earns Epic Legend status

The gruelling Andorra Epic – a four-stage mountain bike race through the rugged terrain of the Pyrenean principality – drew to a close earlier today, with all three Maltese teams successfully completing the event.

The final stage ended in spectacular fashion, with over 1,000 metres of continuous descent on the Commençal trail.

Team Gebel u Blat, made up of Andrew Caruana and Brandon Sultana, completed the four stages in 13:45:04.8 to finish 21st in the Open Men’s category and 66th overall.

The pair went into the final stage with one clear objective – to see Sultana across the finish line and secure his Epic Legend status, a recognition awarded to riders who complete three different Epic races.

With that in mind, they nonetheless pushed hard, positioning themselves well after the opening climb of around 1,000 metres before pushing on to protect their overall standing. A fast 10-kilometre descent brought them home in 3 hours 2 minutes, finishing the stage in 20th place. 

Sultana becomes only the second Maltese rider to earn the Epic Legend title, joining Stephen Grima of Team Gaudos, who received the honour in 2025 at the Absa Cape Epic in South Africa.

“Crossing that final finish line meant a lot,” said Sultana.

“The aim today was simply to complete the race and earn the Epic Legend medal, but we still wanted to do it in a good time. Andrew and I worked hard for this over the four days, so it was satisfying to finish it together”

The Maltese Riders – Jeffrey Borg and Antoine Sultana — finished 25th in the Men’s Masters category in the final stage.

Overall, they completed the race in 16:37:36.6, placing 29th in their category and 119th in the general classification.  

The pair rode a steady, consistent race, climbing progressively up the leaderboard before emptying every last reserve of energy on the closing stage: a 45km route from La Massana with 1,600m of climbing, opening with an 18km ascent along scenic singletrack, dropping into a valley for a further 12km climb to the UCI Cross-Country Bike Park, and finishing with a fast descent back into the village.

“There’s great satisfaction in completing a race of this level,” said Borg. “For now it’s time to rest and recover – then we’ll see what comes next.”

Team Gaudos (Stephen Grima and Diana Muscat) completed the race in 16:45:09.2, finishing fifth in the final stage and sixth in the general classification of the Mixed Category.

The pair endured a difficult penultimate day, with a crash leaving Muscat injured and Grima’s bike damaged, but recovered to close out the race strongly.

Their approach to the last stage was straightforward: reach the finish safely and secure the result they had come for.

Muscat was strong on the climbs but rode through pain on the descents, which the duo managed carefully – with the greatest satisfaction coming from finishing Saturday’s stage when things did not go according to plan.

“This was my first multi-stage race, and whilst the crash on the penultimate day was a setback, the support shown and the experience shared with Stephen were immeasurable,” remarked Muscat at the finish.

“It certainly made it easier for me to complete the race, particularly at a point when finishing was in doubt.”

The Epic story does not end in Andorra for Grima, who lines up alongside Patrick Scicluna at the Swiss Epic from  July 19 to 23.

Team Gaudos is supported by Extra Karte, Visit Malta, SG Woodworks Ltd, Raico, National Gypsum Limited Malta, Wurth Malta, Pitre Hardware, Lourdes Opticians, JV Pharma, A. Caruana Enterprises Ltd and Xlendi Supermarket.

Team Maltese Riders is supported by 3CMalta, Medical Care Malta, and Visit Malta.

Team Gebel u Blat is supported by Visit Malta and Wheel Wizard.

Official results can be found on https://www.epic-series.com/races/andorra/results