Stage 1: Race Report
Platt and Hurber dominate Stage One
The six Team Bulls riders – Hurber and Epic partner Karl Platt both riding solo, Tim Bӧhe, Simon Stiebjahn (Bulls), Stefan Sahm and Thomas Dietsch (Bulls 1) – opened up an early lead on the chasing bunch by the first water-point. Leading the charge to catch the runaway Bulls was the Trek Racing Team of James Reed and Brendan Davids followed closely by the Cannondale Blend Team of Charles Keey and Darren Lill. Through the singletracks of the Eastern slopes of the Witzenberg Valley the Bulls team riders continued to build on their lead, but on crossing the valley floor and ascending the mountains flanking the Western edge of the valley the Bulls riders begun to fracture. By water point two it was Hurber and Platt out ahead with the first team in the race, Bӧhe and Stiebjahn, being chased hard by Reed and Davids.
There would be no catching Hurber and Platt, who crossed the finish line together, although the victory went to Platt by half a wheel in a finish neither sprinted. The Cannondale Blend and Trek Racing guys continued to erode the leading Bulls teams’ advantage. But Reed and Davids ran out of trail as Bӧhe and Stiebjahn claimed the stage win in the Elite Men’s division, the young South Africans were second and Keey and Lill came in third. Waylon Woolcock meanwhile completed the solo men’s podium.
In the ladies race the RE:CM ladies, Ariane Kleinhans and Cherise Stander lead from start to finish with Ischen Stopforth and Yolande De Villiers, of Sasol Racing claiming second and Pragma’s Orange Monkeys coming home in third. The Pragma’s Orange Monkeys team of Hanlie Booyens and Mariske Strauss looked comfortable in what is Strauss’s South African stage racing début.
Further down in the field there were thrills and spills aplenty, most notably for Lionel Murray of Freewheel Cycology, Murray crashed three times on the day, including a big shunt into a tree within the first 45 minutes of the day.
At the finish line on the lawns of Kaleo the swimming pools filled with cool borehole water awaited the exhausted riders. While under the shade of the great oaks and massive red stretch tent the Wilde fruit juices, Cape Brewing Co. beers, Faircape Chocolate Milk and the Du Toit fruits are all contributing to the refuelling effort.
And they’ll need the refuel because tomorrow the riders take on the Merino Monster, possibly the toughest climb in the Western Cape. rtising Expert