![\"ccs-62657-0-63630300-1429779155.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-63630300-1429779155.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nRECM’s Nico Bell hopes he and team mate Erik Kleinhans can combine successfully at this year’s Nedbank sani2c. \/\/ Photo credit: Craig Kolesky\/ Gameplan Media.<\/span><\/p>\n A year on though and Kleinhans\u2019 injury is a thing of the past however the RECM duo are eager to return to the popular race and challenge for the overall spoils once more.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is definitely a bit of unfinished business for us \u2013 me in particular \u2013 after last year!\u201d confirms Kleinhans. \u201cThe motivation levels are always high for a race like sani and you don\u2019t really need extra motivation at all but we\u2019re definitely coming back looking for a win this year!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cErik\u2019s crash last year not only ended our race but it put him out of another six races so it will be great to get back out there and hopefully we can get a good result this year,\u201d adds Bell. \u201cI\u2019ve also been struggling a bit to get results recently so it would be great to do well at sani from that point of view as well!\u201d<\/p>\n Since riding as eventual winners Jaroslav Kulhavy and Christoph Sauser\u2019s support crew in this year\u2019s Absa Cape Epic, Bell and Kleinhans have enjoyed some time off the bike in recent months.<\/p>\n Last weekend\u2019s Clarens leg of the Ashburton National MTB Series however sent them hurtling back into full swing as this year\u2019s sani2c and the South African Marathon Championships loom on the horizon.<\/p>\n \u201cI struggled a bit at Clarens but that was the start of a big three week block for me ahead of sani and then I\u2019ve got another three week block of training before SA Marathon Champs which is the next big assignment after sani,\u201d says Kleinhans.<\/p>\n RECM’s Erik Kleinhans returns to this year’s Nedbank sani2c with a little added incentive to succeed after a second stage crach during last year’s race saw him tear all the ligaments in his shoulder. \/\/ Photo credit: Craig Kolesky\/ Gameplan Media.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to this year\u2019s sani2c; I\u2019ve won the mixed doubles title but never the men\u2019s so I\u2019d love to do that!\u201d<\/p>\n While Knox and Evans (Biogen\/Volcan) return as defending champions, some are questioning their build-up to this year\u2019s race which has seen a few label Kleinhans and Bell as the pre-race favourites.<\/p>\n The Western Cape pair are however paying little attention to the pre-race chatter and feel their nearest rivals will in fact come from other sources.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure Max (Knox) will be strong but I think Kevin will be the weak link in the team,\u201d explains Bell.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Darren (Lill) and Waylon (Woolcock) are there this year then I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be right up there,\u201d adds Kleinhans. \u201cGawie (Combrinck) and Johann (Rabie) are also going really well at the moment and I\u2019m sure will be strong contenders again while Andrew Hill is also always a challenger on home turf!\u201d<\/p>\n While Kleinhans and Bell go in search of the men\u2019s title, RECM ladies pair Ariane Kleinhans and Cherise Stander will also being doing battle for the women\u2019s crown.<\/p>\n \u201cThe girls are really motivated to do well!\u201d says Kleinhans. \u201cAriane is in great shape and Cherise proved in Clarens that she is able to do really well at this level!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully it can be a really good three days on the bike for both our teams!\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n The 11th edition of the Nedbank sani2c’s gets underway when the Trail event takes place from 12-14 May 2015. The Adventure then unfolds from 13-15 May before the cream of the the country’s top mountain bikers do battle during the Race from 14-16 May. More information can be found at www.sani2c.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Double mixed title winner Erik Kleinhans and 2013 men\u2019s race winner Nico Bell are looking forward to returning to the trails of the Nedbank sani2c come 14-16 May 2015 as they look to right the \u2018wrongs\u2019 of last year\u2019s contest. Towards the back end of last year\u2019s race\u2019s second stage Kleinhans and Bell were just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[516,4018,774,3600,53],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-erik-kleinhans","tag-nedbank-sani2c","tag-nico-bell","tag-recm","tag-sani2c"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20111","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=20111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20111"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n