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Stage 3: Race Report
Huber victorious while Team Bulls falter and RE:CM Ladies dominate
Stage three of the Du Toit Tankwa Trek saw the riders revisit the iconic super-sized rock gardens of the Morester single-track as the route wove its way amongst the scattered outcrops of the Kouebokkeveld Mountains. The final stage began with a 26km neutral zone which took riders from Kaleo to Morester for the race start proper, after which they had to navigate 63km back to Kaleo with only 860m of climbing.
With the field stating in three batches the order of the day was to put the hammer down on the farm roads leading into the famed single-track. For race leaders and social riders alike the order of the day was getting clear trail to enjoy the best of bokkeveld mountain biking.
There had been drama at the start of the day with Simon Stiebjahn of Team Bulls unable to take the start line having picked up the stage racer’s curse: gastroenteritis the night before. With his team disqualified Tim Bohme took the start to continue his Cape Epic training, but with the Bulls duo out the Trek Racing team of Brendan Davids and James Reid inherited the leaders’ jerseys.
With the leaders’s jerseys also came the Wilde King of the Mountain prize, which required the first team over the Merino Monster summit to also make it back to Kaleo in one piece on Sunday afternoon. The Bulls misfortune meant that Reid and Davids had only to finish for Reid to add his share of R30 000 to the R113 000 he won with Jen Schuermans at the Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek in October.
The single-tracks of Morester provided great riding but did not upset the apple cart with the Bulls solo riders, Karl Platt and Urs Huber once again setting the early pace, followed closely by Trek Racing’s Reid and Davids, Cannondale Blend’s Darren Lill and Charles Key, and for the first time in the Tankwa Trek a competitive RE:CM Specialized team of Frantisek Rabon and Erik Kleinhans. In the ladies race it was business as usual for Ariane Kleinhans and Cherise Stander, as they once again established a comfortable lead over their rivals by the second water-point.
It was the final piece of single-tack leading through the boulder fields above Kaleo that shook up the race, with no opportunities for overtaking the leaders were forced into planning for a bunch sprint. And with the RE:CM Specialized and Trek Racing men making the final descent onto the fields of Kaleo in tight formation it would be a bunch sprint for the stage victory. James Reid crossed the line first and looking nervously over his shoulder had to watch as Frantisek Rabon and Erik Kleinhans both outsprinted his teammate Brendan Davids. The stage victory, in a time of 2 hours 8 minutes and 42 seconds, went to the RE:CM team with Rabon buoyed by his single-track showing, but only time will tell if he’s adapting to the South African mountain biking conditions quickly enough.
RE:CM made it a stage three double when Ariane Kleinhans and Cherise Stander won their third stage of the Du Toit Tankwa Trek, in a time of 2hours 39 minutes and 4 seconds, producing a clean sweep of stage wins. They were followed home by Ischen Stopforth and Yolande De Villiers of Sasol Racing and the Pragma's Orange Monkeys duo of Mariske Strauss and Hanlie Booyens. In the solo men’s race Karl Platt and Urs Hurber crossed the finish line together granting the Hurber the overall victory. Waylon Woolcock meanwhile came in fifth in the solo men’s category on the day, but despite Christopher Wolhuter and Nic Lamond beating him to the finish line on the day, he’d done enough to retain his third place overall.
In the solo ladies race Leona Kadir claimed the overall victory after topping the time sheets every day, as did the John O’Connor Cycles mixed team of Andrew Payne and Bianca Cartoulis.
The Bulls team withdrawal caused a shakeup of the elite men’s teams’ race however. With Trek Racing confirming their status as Du Toit Tankwa Trek champions with their second place on the day the attention turned to the time sheets to see who’d fill the other podium positions. For their steady showing throughout the Fairview Elite team of Adriaan Louw and Konny Looser claimed second position overall a mere two minutes ahead of the Cannondale Blend pair of Darren Lill and Charles Key.