In a characteristic KAP sani2c sprint finish at Mackenzie Club, four teams battled all the way to the line in the men’s race, but it was Felix Stehli and Marc Pritzen (Team Honeycomb 226ers) who took the win in 02:43:27. Stage 1 of sani2c tests rider endurance across 89 kilometres and 1,027 metres of climbing.
Stehli crossed the line first with Travis Stedman (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 2) on his wheel, and a final push from Marc Pritzen saw the decision go in Team Honeycomb 226ers’ favour against Stedman’s teammate Jaedon Terlouw. Arno du Toit (Insect Science Safari Essence) and Marco Joubert (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 1) crossed the line next, ahead of their respective teammates, and it was Wessel Botha who finished just ahead of Tristan Nortje to give Insect Science Safari Essence third place for the stage (02:43:29). Keagan Bontekoning and Johan van Zyl (InsectScience) followed just under two minutes later (02:45:11).
Marco Joubert had crashed and dropped a chain a few kilometres from the finish, which meant he and Tristan Nortje had to work hard to rejoin the lead group for the final sprint. The Toyota Specialized Imbuko 1 retains their GC lead, but with less than a minute between the top four teams in the General Classification.
Nortje says the racing was incredibly fast, in part due to changes on the first 25 kms of the route route that excluded some of the usual singletrack sections: “We got away a few times, but it was just a little bit too fast to make it stick. The climbs are too short and there were quite a few sections taken out, so getting away was really difficult.
“I think we’re still in the lead, so that’s the only thing that matters.”
Felix Stehli was pleased with his team performance after a disappointing Prologue result: “I already felt better today than yesterday. The altitude hit me quite hard, so we just managed our effort. There are still two days to go.”
Marc Pritzen says: “I’ve got the experience here, I know this route, so I just needed to guide Felix to make sure he’s in position and ready for what’s to come.”
Stehli laughs: “It’s like having Google Maps with me, I had the best guidance from Marc. I knew if it was going to be a sprint, I had a good chance, because if it comes down to the end of the stage, I knew I could get one or two percent more out of myself. I also had to suffer during the stage, so I’m very happy to finish it off.”
Jaedon Terlouw said of the last dice: “Up on the district road near the top, Marc and Felix came through from the back with quite a lot of speed. Luckily I noticed they were coming from far back, so we were able to get up to speed and minimise that move. Then we came into the last 180-degree corner and it was super chaotic. Travis and I both took the wider line and it paid off quite well. The only issue was that we ended up sprinting on the grass. There was one singletrack line to the finish and unfortunately we weren’t on it, so we just got pipped by Marc on the finish line. Well done to them.”
He says it was not easy to split the group, and the top five teams regrouped after any attempts to break away on the hard climbs.
“Winning is what we come here for. Hopefully we can do that tomorrow,” says Terlouw.
Arno du Toit echoed Terlouw’s sentiments about the challenge of trying to split the group. He says the trails were perfect and the racing was nice and fast: “It was muddy here and there, but nothing too bad. Mostly compact and grippy. Where it was wet, it was just a little bit of sliding, which keeps it fun and interesting.”
Women’s Race
Samantha Sanders and Vera Looser (Efficient Infiniti Insure) delivered a controlled effort to secure the stage win in 03:16:36, nearly ten minutes ahead of second and third place, which was decided by a sprint between Safari Essence Titan Racing and Fortress Toyota. Danielle du Toit and Roxanne Kemp of team Safari Essence Titan Racing took second place (03:25:06). Cherise Willeit crossed the line first but Ila Stow could not push past the Safari Essence Titan Racing team and Fortress Toyota’s time for the stage was 03:25:09.
Looser says: “We knew they would just sit on our wheel, so making it hard and trying to get away would at least make them work a little. But we decided to work the whole day. We kept it safe, but also pushed hard on the climbs.”
Before they hit the first major climb of the day (View Climb at around the 30km mark), the Efficient Infiniti Insure pair took a small gap, and as Sanders says: “I think we just opened it up from there.”
Danielle du Toit had a good day on the bike: “About 10 minutes in, the legs started clicking and it felt good. We were third and then fourth at stages, and then we managed to get a bit of a gap on Cycle Nation Enza Construction.”
The Cycle Nation Enza Construction team of Frances Swanepoel and Rachel Seaman were just under a minute behind third place, finishing fourth in 03:26:02, and are feeling very positive. Seaman says the next two days will suit them a lot better: “I don’t want to blame the altitude too much, but I was struggling a little, especially yesterday. Today I already felt better.”
Swanepoel says: “We dropped off on the district road in the beginning, probably around 25 kilometres in. Then we started catching Danielle and Roxy and eventually caught them between Water Point 1 and Water Point 2, but they got away from us again. We just tried to limit our losses and get to the finish. We made up time again on the dirt roads, which suits our roadie legs quite well, so we are not too far behind.”
Ila Stow says she just didn’t quite have the legs to match the tactics today: “I think from the middle section onwards I started struggling a bit. In the beginning we had quite a good rhythm going. Cherise was an absolute powerhouse for me and just kept motivating me.
“Then Danielle and Roxanne caught us on ‘Confusing Climb’ (at around 58km), and I managed to stick with them. The last part became a bit tactical and we tried to go for the sprint. Cherise has so much road racing experience and it’s such a privilege riding with her because she paces things so well and knows exactly what to do tactically. I could see what was happening, but by the final corner I was completely tapped out. I tried my best, so well done to Danielle and Roxy.”
She acknowledges the opposing team’s tenacity: “They also never gave up. They fought all the way to the finish. I’m really interested to see what the GC gap is now between second and third because it must only be a few seconds. It’s really close. That’s the exciting part of racing and exactly what we’ll see over the next two days.”
The General Classification gap between second and third is a mere five seconds, with less than a minute to fourth place, suggesting a very competitive race to come between these three women’s teams.
Tomorrow’s Queen Stage to Jolivet Farm covers 96km, featuring 1 896m of climbing and 2 336m of descending. Riders will take on the Umkomaas Drop, a spectacular descent into the Umkomaas Valley. After criss-crossing the Umkomaas River over a host of bridges, the Unitrans Iconic Climb out of the Valley pushes riders to the limit.
Stage 1 Results
Men
Felix Stehli, Marc Pritzen (Team Honeycomb 226ers) – 02:43:27
Travis Stedman, Jaedon Terlouw (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 2) – 02:43:27
Arno du Toit, Wessel Botha (InsectScience Safari Essence) – 02:43:29
Marco Joubert, Tristan Nortje (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 1) – 02:43:29
Keagan Bontekoning, Johan van Zyl (InsectScience) – 02:45:11
Women
Samantha Sanders, Vera Looser (Efficient Infiniti Insure) – 03:16:36
Danielle du Toit, Roxanne Kemp (Safari Essence Titan Racing) – 03:25:06
Cherise Willeit, Ila Stow (Fortress Toyota) – 03:25:09
Frances Swanepoel, Rachel Seaman (Cycle Nation Enza Construction) – 03:26:02
Erin Shillaw, Lianke Fourie (Old Mutual Womans Team) – 03:43:05
General Classification Results
Men
Marco Joubert, Tristan Nortje (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 1) – 03:25:45
Jaedon Terlouw, Travis Stedman (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 2) – 03:26:04
Wessel Botha, Arno du Toit (InsectScience Safari Essence) – 03:26:16
Marc Pritzen, Felix Stehli (Team Honeycomb 226ers) – 03:26:35
Keagan Bontekoning, Johan van Zyl (InsectScience) – 03:27:47
Women
Samantha Sanders, Vera Looser (Efficient Infiniti Insure) – 04:09:04
Cherise Willeit, Ila Stow (Fortress Toyota) – 04:20:33
Danielle du Toit, Roxanne Kemp (Safari Essence Titan Racing) – 04:20:38
Frances Swanepoel, Rachel Seaman (Cycle Nation Enza Construction) – 04:23:36
Erin Shillaw, Lianke Fourie (Old Mutual Womans Team) – 04:43:04
Watch live updates on the KAP sani2c “OG” racing on Instagram: _sani2c For more information visit www.sani2c.co.za
