![\"ccs-2-0-49374000-1398848299.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-2-0-49374000-1398848299.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDarren Lill (left) and Waylon Woolcock of Cannondale-Blend claim their second stage victory on day five of the Old Mutual joBerg2c in the Kamberg region of KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday. Photo: Jason von Berg<\/span><\/p>\n Woolcock and Lill, riding in the colours of Cannondale-Blend, attacked three-quarters into the 98km stage between Winterton and Kamberg in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands to leave their opponents in their dusty wake.<\/p>\n They stormed into the finish at Glengarry Resort to win in 3:44:22, with EAI Cycling\u2019s Rabie and Combrinck following two minutes and 27 seconds later.<\/p>\n Also boasting two stage wins, Rabie and Combrinck (20:33:42) saw their overall lead of more than six minutes slashed to a more containable three minutes and 48 seconds over Woolcock and Lill (20:37:30).<\/p>\n FedGroup-Itec\u2019s Kevin Evans and Max Knox finished third in 3:48:54 and remain in the same position in the general classification (20:53:37).<\/p>\n Woolcock, who won in 2012 alongside Neil MacDonald, said he was very pleased with his team\u2019s result after his struggle the previous day.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt a bit better today but I\u2019m not where I\u2019d like to be yet. Going into the stage, we knew that a six-minute deficit was quite a big gap for a fast race like joBerg2c.\u201d<\/p>\n With the major climbs of the day only looming after the 50km mark, he said the elite field had stayed together most of the way.<\/p>\n Woolcock and Lill, a former national road champion, decided to test their rivals on the climb out of Zulu Waters Game Reserve, which led up to waterpoint two at 70km.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I set quite a steady tempo up the climb. Darren let me go for a bit and then he jumped across and from there we just drove it to the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the move had successfully splintered the lead bunch and that it had been a hard day\u2019s riding all round as they headed out of the thornveld towards the Drakensberg.<\/p>\n It was an especially tough day for Karan Beef riders Hanco Kachelhoffer and Chris Wolhuter, who had to chase back after slicing a sidewall early on \u2013 and in turn they found themselves being chased by a rhino in the reserve.<\/p>\n Despite this excitement, Kachelhoffer and Wolhuter managed a top-five finish.<\/p>\n Woolcock said he was glad that Rabie and Combrinck had also ridden the last part of the stage alone.<\/p>\n \u201cThat means they put in just as big an effort as we did. We\u2019ve now closed the gap to a more manageable one but we\u2019ll see what happens tomorrow; hopefully my legs are slowly returning.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Wednesday\u2019s 91km sixth stage to Hazeldean farm near Underberg would be another challenging one.<\/p>\n \u201cStage six always produces quite big time gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n In the mixed category, it was a two-horse race between the Sasol Racing pairs of Yolande de Villiers and Franso Steyn, and Leana de Jager and Johan Labuschagne.<\/p>\n With Biogen Toyota\u2019s David Cooke \u2013 one half of the overnight leaders \u2013 withdrawing with a broken collarbone, the teammates were left to duke it out among themselves.<\/p>\n Steyn said he and De Villiers had attacked early on and built up an early advantage.<\/p>\n \u201cWe then had a mechanical and they closed the gap, but we attacked again. It worked for us; we went ahead of them after the second waterpoint and just kept on pedalling.\u201d<\/p>\n De Villiers and Steyn took the stage win in 4:03:16 and with it the top spot in the overall standings (22:01:20).<\/p>\n De Jager and Labuschagne followed in 4:07:00 (22:12:18), with Bikefreak Magazine\u2019s Katja Cauwenbergh and Ken van den Bulke third in 4:22:15.<\/p>\n The Belgians\u2019 strong performance on the day was not enough to topple Avis Van Rental\u2019s Alison Richardson and Rob Dormehl from third place overall (24:02:51).<\/p>\n Janine King and Amy McDougall of Valencia Girls continued their total dominance of the women\u2019s race.<\/p>\n The duo claimed the stage in 4:26:37 (23:31:52), ahead of Sarah van Heerden and Brenda Potts of Old Mutual, who finished in 4:45:48 (24:51:22).<\/p>\n The Reevax Ladies team of Heidi Buttiens and Siegrid van Bever rounded out the daily and overall podium in 5:18:40 (26:58:17).<\/p>\n The 880km stage race finishes on the beach at Scottburgh on Saturday.<\/p>\n