{"id":12991,"date":"2022-10-17T07:58:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T06:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2022\/10\/17\/nortje-proves-gravel-pedigree-at-the-inaugural-prince-george-monumental-100-miler-r8479\/"},"modified":"2023-03-20T08:51:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T06:51:14","slug":"nortje-proves-gravel-pedigree-at-the-inaugural-prince-george-monumental-100-miler-r8479","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/nortje-proves-gravel-pedigree-at-the-inaugural-prince-george-monumental-100-miler-r8479\/","title":{"rendered":"Nortje Proves Gravel Pedigree at the Inaugural Prince George Monumental 100 Miler"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe inaugural Prince George Monumental 100 Miler took place on Saturday, 15 October 2022. Tristan Nortje and Yolande de Villiers were crowned the first king and queen of Klein Karoo gravel racing; having raced to victory across the 165 kilometre long course, which started in Prince Albert and finished in George. Nortje was joined on the men\u2019s podium by HB Kruger and Keagan Bontekoning. While the women\u2019s top three was completed by Catherine Colyn and Juanita Mackenzie.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"image.jpeg\"Tristan Nortje (front) and HB Kruger raced to first and second at the inaugural Prince George Monumental 100 Miler; on Saturday 15 October. Photo by Shift Media Co.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tStarting in Prince Albert ensured that the race was always going to be tough, as the course took in the Swartberg Pass\u2019s northern ascent right from the off. With the climb to 1 500 meters above sea level dominating the route profile the rest of the race, appeared on paper, to be a downhill drag to the finish at Blanco School in George. Cycling is never quite that easy however and a rising south easterly ensured that the iconic pass was in fact one of the easier sections of the day. As the morning wore on to afternoon the wind gradually strengthened, tugging relentlessly at the slower riders as they ground their way towards the Montagu Pass.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"3.jpg\"Tristan\u00a0 Nortje set a new Strava KOM time, of 41 minutes and 23 seconds, on the northern ascent of the Swartberg Pass. Photo by Shift Media Co.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"4.jpg\"Catherine Colyn claimed the Queen of the Mountain hotspot prize before being caught by Yolande de Villiers on the descent to the Klein Karoo. Photo by Shift Media Co.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHead wind aside, the route was beautiful. Rolling Klein Karoo gravel roads, with surprisingly smooth surfaces, linked the southern foot of the Swartberg Pass with the northern portal to the Montagu Pass. It was perfectly designed for gravel bikes with a few technical, off-piste, sections thrown in to toughen it up.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the elite men\u2019s race, the majority of the field were on gravel bikes; including Kruger and Rossouw Bekker who had just returned from the gravel world championships. Only Bontekoning and Marco Joubert started on mountain bikes. Though the Insect Science rider equipped his with a set of gravel wheel and tyres, while the Imbuko {type}DEV man rode his Giant Anthem in its standard marathon\/stage race set up.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"5.jpg\"Yolande de Villiers (second from front) conserved energy on the Swartberg Pass before racing to a commanding victory in the 2022 Prince George Monumental 100 Miler. Photo by Shift Media Co.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI just couldn\u2019t keep up with the gravel bikes,\u201d Bontekoning confessed. \u201cI was spinning out and they just rode away from me, even though I had a 38 tooth chainring.\u201d He was not the only one to find matching Nortje difficult however. The Toyota Specialized rider targeted Matthys Beukes\u2019 Strava KOM<\/a> up the northern side of the Swartberg Pass and went out hard from the end of the neutral zone. Setting a time of 51 minutes and 8 seconds from the T-junction off the Prince Albert tarmac road to Die Top, Nortje claimed the King of the Mountain prize.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tValley Electrical Titan Racing\u2019s Rossouw Bekker leading the field to the foot of the Swartberg Pass. Photo by Shift Media Co.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tKruger was second over the summit, followed by his Valley Electrical Titan Racing teammate, Keyser, and Bontekoning. The top two riders bettered Beukes\u2019 old record. Over the summit Nortje sat up, allowing Kruger to regain contact and the pair then worked together for a significant portion of the route, before Nortje upped the tempo once more and rode to a commanding victory.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was 165 kilometres of headwind and the last hour was in the rain, so it was lekker\u201d he grinned, clearly having taken a masochistic pleasure from the tough day on the bike. \u201cThe last descent was a lot rougher than I expected too, I\u2019m sure there were people cramping on the Montagu Pass descent rather than on the climbs because the washed-out surface made it nearly impossible to ride it fast on a gravel bike.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNortje\u2019s winning time was 5 hours, 49 minutes and 45 seconds. He was the only rider to dip below the 6 hour mark. Kruger was second, 12 minutes and 17 seconds down, with Bontekoning a further 2 minutes and 29 seconds back. Joubert and Keyser rounded out the top five.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"image.jpeg\"Insect Science Pro\u2019s CP van Wyk in action on the Swartberg Pass. Photo by Shift Media Co<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the women\u2019s race Colyn was the fastest to the summit of the Swartberg Pass. The Rocacorba Collective rider claimed the Queen of the Mountain hotspot prize but was caught on the descent towards the Klein Karoo by De Villiers. With thick mist limiting visibility and overnight drizzle making the surface treacherously slippery the gravel bikers could simply not match the mountain bikers on the descent. De Villiers knows the pass like the back of her hand and even managed to beat her own personal best from the summit to Kobus se Gat, despite the difficult conditions.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAfter catching Cath [Colyn] on the descent we stayed together until just before we turned onto the Lategansvlei road,\u201d De Villiers explained. \u00a0\u201cThat section was quite fun, but once we turned east it became very tough. From Highgate, at 95 kilometres, to Herold, at 145 kilometres we rode into a terrible headwind. I must confess, I really struggled there. The last climb above Blanco, on what they call the contour road, nearly broke me too. But I believe this race has great potential. It\u2019s challenging, includes two iconic mountain passes and takes you from the Great Karoo to the Garden Route. It\u2019s a winner.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"image.jpeg\"Juanita Mackenzie raced to third in the elite women\u2019s competition and first in the women\u2019s sub-veteran\u2019s category. Photo by Shift Media Co.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDe Villiers\u2019 winning time was 6 hours, 36 minutes and 51 seconds, 18 minutes and 46 seconds faster than Colyn. Mackenzie put in a stellar, largely solo, ride to claim third, in 7 hours and 13 minutes. Her Action Cycles teammate, Nicola Freitas, was fourth with George\u2019s local legend Ischen Stopforth completing the top five.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re very happy with how the inaugural Prince George Monumental 100 Miler played out,\u201d Carel Herholdt, of Dryland Event Management, smiled. \u201cConditions were certainly challenging and everyone of the 254 finishers had to dig deep to earn their medals. It\u2019s a great start though and we can\u2019t wait to build on the success of the 2022 race.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"image.jpeg\"2022 Prince George Monumental 100 Miler men\u2019s podium (from left to right): Keagan Bontekoning, Tristan Nortje and HB Kruger. Photo by Shift Media Co.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"image.jpeg\"2022 Prince George Monumental 100 Miler women\u2019s podium (from left to right): Juanita Mackenzie, Yolande de Villiers and Catherine Colyn. Photo by Shift Media Co.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t2022 Prince George Monumental 100 Miler\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\tMen\u2019s Results:<\/strong>
\n\t1. Tristan Nortje: Toyota Specialized (5:49:45)
\n\t2. HB Kruger: Valley Electrical Titan Racing (6:02:02 | +12:17)
\n\t3. Keagan Bontekoning: Insect Science Pro (6:04:31 | +14:46)\u00a0
\n\t4. Marco Joubert: Imbuko {type}DEV (6:12:18 | +22:33)
\n\t5. Matthew Keyser: Valley Electrical Titan Racing (6:13:12 | +23:27)\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWomen\u2019s Results:<\/strong>
\n\t1. Yolande de Villiers: Altes Landhaus (6:36:51)
\n\t2. Catherine Colyn: Rocacorba Collective (6:55:37 | +18:46)
\n\t3. Juanita Mackenzie: Action Cycles (7:13:04 | +25:13)
\n\t4. Nicola Frietas: Action Cycles (7:44:34 | +1:07:43)
\n\t5. Ischen Stopforth: Privateer (7:56:08 | +1:19:17)\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTo view the full results from the 2022 Prince George Monumental 100 Miler please click here<\/a>.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"image.jpeg\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The inaugural Prince George Monumental 100 Miler took place on Saturday, 15 October 2022. Tristan Nortje and Yolande de Villiers were crowned the first king and queen of Klein Karoo gravel racing; having raced to victory across the 165 kilometre long course, which started in Prince Albert and finished in George. Nortje was joined on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":58986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5305],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-12991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-null"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12991"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62076,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12991\/revisions\/62076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12991"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=12991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}