{"id":18662,"date":"2016-02-25T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T09:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2016\/02\/25\/a-sterling-sabie-for-heyns-r4213\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T08:38:59","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T08:38:59","slug":"a-sterling-sabie-for-heyns-r4213","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/a-sterling-sabie-for-heyns-r4213\/","title":{"rendered":"A sterling Sabie for Heyns"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was \u201ca hard day out\u201d for 22 year old Gert Heyns, but one of the most important rides for him this year. On a hot day with a star studded field it was truly a \u201csterling ride\u201d, as described by race photographer Zoon Cronje.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-90572000-1456391512.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As always, the Sabie was a gruelling battle, revealing characters as rigid as old 26er hardtails. Held on the 21st of February, this ultra-marathon classic set the stage for a long and tough day in the saddle. The conditions were exceptionally hot and as always slippery as only Sabie can be. This year however, provided more drama than usual with just days before the race, Fritz Pienaar and the organisers of Ashburton Investments National Marathon Series\u2019 second race, had to make a gutsy call whether the race should continue amidst violent local protests.<\/p>\n

\nThe Sabie was my first ultra-marathon race of the year. Last year I finished 5th overall. So I am very happy to have improved my position and do so well on the day.
\nGert Heyns<\/cite>\n<\/div>\n

An early breakaway by local rider Max Knox even before the bunch reached the legendary \u2018Mamba\u2019 switchback, left the field in tatters, except for Urs Huber of Team Bulls fresh off a win at the Tankwa Trek. Both of them set the pace up the main climb, with Huber taking the King of the Mountain.<\/p>\n

Team Scott LCB Factory Racing\u2019s main man for the day, Gert Heyns, rode steady up the first climb, but pushed harder on the fast, yet slippery downhills. He and Karl Platt caught up with the leading men.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-17148400-1456391513.jpeg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\nThe turning point for me in the race was the moment I realise that I am able to hook onto Karl\u2019s wheel. It happened after the first long climbs were finished. I knew then that I would be able compete with the leading group and hold my position.
\nGert Heyns<\/cite>\n<\/div>\n

Huber however was in a similar mood as the protesters in town. Eventually Heyns opted out of the front pace and stuck to his own rhythm. He rode the final 40kms defensively. finishing fourth overall, 13 minutes off the pace. As a team, we can take a lot of confidence out of this race. The Sabie, being one of the benchmark marathon mountain bike races, forms part of Heyns and Beukes\u2019 road to the 2016 Absa Cape Epic. Gert\u2019s performance in this year\u2019s race is sure to play a vital part for our team come 13th of March.<\/p>\n

Click to view the digital presentation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was \u201ca hard day out\u201d for 22 year old Gert Heyns, but one of the most important rides for him this year. On a hot day with a star studded field it was truly a \u201csterling ride\u201d, as described by race photographer Zoon Cronje. As always, the Sabie was a gruelling battle, revealing characters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[463,904,69],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-gert-heyns","tag-national-mtb-series","tag-sabie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18662","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=18662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18662"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}