{"id":20750,"date":"2014-11-07T13:50:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T13:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2014\/11\/07\/sauser-and-looser-claim-stage-one-victory-at-fnb-wines2whales-mtb-race-r1794\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T11:27:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T11:27:47","slug":"sauser-and-looser-claim-stage-one-victory-at-fnb-wines2whales-mtb-race-r1794","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/sauser-and-looser-claim-stage-one-victory-at-fnb-wines2whales-mtb-race-r1794\/","title":{"rendered":"Sauser and Looser claim Stage One victory at FNB Wines2Whales MTB Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The best of the best gathered at Lourensford Wine Estate (Somerset West) on Friday, 07 November 2014 to take on the much anticipated FNB Wines2Whales (W2W) Mountain Bike (MTB) Race. Stage One saw riders having to complete a 72km route that included having to trek over the historic Gantouw Pass, the only piece of trail to feature a compulsory portage, before crossing the finish line at Oak Valley Wine Estate (Elgin-Grabouw).<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-14275600-1415367932.jpg\" data-fileid=\"441427\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"441427\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-14275600-1415367932.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-14275600-1415367932.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Christoph Sauser and Konny Looser of Team Meerendal-SONGO-Specialized\/Wheeler claimed the Stage One victory at the FNB Wines2Whales (W2W) Mountain Bike (MTB) Race on Friday, 07 November 2014 crossing the finish line first in an awe-inspiring time of 03 hours 09 minutes 34 seconds. \/\/ Credit: Volume Photography.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Christoph Sauser and Konny Looser of Team Meerendal-SONGO-Specialized\/Wheeler took no prisoners, crossing the finish line first in an awe-inspiring time of 03 hours 09 minutes 34 seconds, just over 7 minutes ahead of their closest rivals. According to Sauser, it\u2019s great to claim his first Wines2Whales stage win. \u201cToday was very good and we are very happy to have won by a big margin. I\u2019ve been in Italy on holiday for a month and have done very little training. Luckily I like to stay fit for fun. I\u2019ve been looking forward to riding with Konny and am very happy to have won the stage for songo.info. Now we will work hard to defend it. This is definitely one of my favorite events\u201d. Rourke Croeser and Travis Walker of Team Kargo Pro Team came in second, while Johann Rabie and Gawie Combrink of Team EAI Cycling finished third.<\/p>\n<p>The mixed team race was dominated by Ashleigh Moolman and Darren Lill of Team Cannondale Blend powered by RED-E, who crossed the finish line in 03 hours 46 minutes 55 seconds. \u201cIt was awesome out there,\u201d said Moolman. \u201cThe hardest part for me was the portage section. My fitness was definitely lacking. Darren is a great partner and I am really enjoying the race so far\u201d. Fienie and Kobus Barnard of Team Kromco1 came in second, while Mariske Strauss and Hannes Hanekom of Team Giant\/Orange Monkey finished third.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-74192500-1415367925.jpg\" data-fileid=\"441426\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"441426\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-74192500-1415367925.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-74192500-1415367925.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Jennie Stenerhag and Candice Neethling of Team Team Cape Brewing Company\/Time Freight Velolife claimed victory in the women\u2019s category at Stage One of the FNB Wines2Whales Mountain Bike Race on Friday, 07 November 2014 crossing the finish line first in an awe-inspiring time of 03 hours 48 minutes 03 seconds. Candice Neethline in action on the day. \/\/ Credit: Volume Photography.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Jennie Stenerhag and Candice Neethling of Team Team Cape Brewing Company\/Time Freight Velolife claimed victory in the women\u2019s race in a well-deserved time of 03 hours 48 minutes 03 seconds. \u201cThe stage was beautiful,\u201d said Neethling. \u201cIt was really tough, but beautiful. The portage section was really hard, while the trails were really enjoyable. Our strengths are nicely matched. All in all it was a beautiful day\u201d. Robyn De Groot and Catherine Williamson of Team Biogen Toyota Asrin Cycling came in second, while Theresa Ralph and Jeannie Dreyer of Team Tribe Suunto USN finished third.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-90118500-1415367937.jpg\" data-fileid=\"441428\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"441428\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-90118500-1415367937.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-90118500-1415367937.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Riders in action during Stage One of the FNB Wines2Whales Mountain Bike Race on Friday, 07 November 2014. \/\/ Credit: Cherie Vale \/ Newsport Media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cStage Two will be a Play Day for riders,\u201d said Johan Kriegler, FNB W2W MTB Director. \u201cThey will get to experience the best bridges and structures built for the sport of mountain biking. Spectacular bridges to look out for will include Witklippies, Raka, Swing, Ark, Mamba, Boomslang and Pofadder. I don\u2019t need to tell these riders to keep off of the breaks. They know how to enjoy these sections to the utmost. They will also get their first taste of the Peri Kromco Play Park\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>FNB Wines2Whales MTB Race Stage One results available <a href=\"http:\/\/wines2whales.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/W2W-RACE-Results-Team-FINAL-day1.pdf\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"w-full aspect-video\">\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"113\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a4nS_Cn6rUs?feature=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bg-slate-100 p-5\">\nSTAGE TWO: Saturday, 08 November 2014<\/p>\n<p>Start: Oak Valley Wine Estate (Elgin-Grabouw)<\/p>\n<p>Finish: Oak Valley Wine Estate (Elgin-Grabouw)<\/p>\n<p>Start Time: 07:00<\/p>\n<p>Distance: 67km<\/p>\n<p>STAGE THREE: Sunday, 09 November 2014<\/p>\n<p>Start: Oak Valley Wine Estate (Elgin-Grabouw)<\/p>\n<p>Finish: Onrus Caravan Park (just outside Hermanus)<\/p>\n<p>Start Time: 07:00<\/p>\n<p>Distance: 73km<\/p>\n<p>Like our Facebook page: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Wines2Whales\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wines2Whales<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/w2wmtb\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@w2wmtb<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The best of the best gathered at Lourensford Wine Estate (Somerset West) on Friday, 07 November 2014 to take on the much anticipated FNB Wines2Whales (W2W) Mountain Bike (MTB) Race. Stage One saw riders having to complete a 72km route that included having to trek over the historic Gantouw Pass, the only piece of trail [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1515,891,885,1821,404,15,2076],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-christoph-sauser","tag-fnb-w2w","tag-fnb-wines2whales","tag-konny-looser","tag-w2w","tag-wines2whales","tag-wines2whales-ride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20750","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=20750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20750"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}