Riders during the 2021 FNB Wine2Whales 3 day mountain bike event, Shiraz. Stage 1 from Hermanus to Oak Valley. Image by Sam Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe race will now proceed with Stage 1 both starting and finishing at Lourensford Wine Estate. Teams will then be shuttled to Oak Valley to race Stage 2 and 3 as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking ahead of the 2023 FNB Wines2Whales, Race Director, Hendrico Burger said: \u201cWe have been looking forward to hosting a spectacular edition of FNB Wines2Whales and treating teams to a special Switchback route. The safety of our riders is our foremost priority, and we cannot proceed with the originally planned Stage 1 course due to safety concerns. This is especially disheartening, considering the dedicated efforts of our route team and the Hemel en Aarde trail builders, who have worked tirelessly to clear debris from the trails in the wake of recent floods to create new links in time for the 2023 edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe rider experience for Stage 1 \u2013 though different \u2013 will still be excellent in Lourensford,\u201d Burger promised. \u201cThere are enough trails to comfortably host an entire FNB Wines2Whales stage within the vast borders of the farm and the riding, as everyone who has been down the Lourensford Ultimate for example, knows it is exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are extremely disappointed that the annual event will not have a presence in Hermanus this year due to logistical reasons. We look forward to welcoming the event back again next year,\u201d says Councillor Clinton Lerm, Overstrand Mayco Member for Investment, Infrastructure and Tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stage 1<\/strong> will thus start and finish at Lourensford. The 59 kilometre stage will take in 1 800 metres of climbing and showcase the best singletracks on the estate in a way which has never been possible during the FNB Wines2Whales before. Thereafter teams will transfer to Oak Valley in busses, while their bicycles will be shuttled to the race village.<\/p>\n\n\n\nStage 2<\/strong> will then continue as planned, with the route taking in trails on Oak Valley, Paul Cluver and onto Tierkop. Stage 3<\/strong> will also follow the originally planned route, starting at Oak Valley and looping above the Eikenhof Dam before climbing the A to Z Trails and descending Gantouw Pass into the Helderberg basin. After crossing through the Idiom and Vergelegen Game Reserves the race will enter Lourensford once more and follow the new Canal Trail to the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe flood-affected 2023 FNB Wines2Whales was already shaping up to be an event to remember. Further changes to the route will undoubtedly ensure that it stands out, even for the riders who have completed ten or more editions. It will however not change the #SeriousGees which reigns supreme in the race village. Riders taking part in the Chardonnay race are reminded to pack their Springbok supporters\u2019 jerseys, or something green at the very least, in order to cheer on the team when they play England in the Rugby World Cup semifinal on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since the devastating floods in the Western Cape, the event organisers and local authorities have been working closely to ensure the event can go ahead safely and be filled with #SeriousGees as always. The recent reopening of the Hemel en Aarde as well as Karwyderskraal roads has meant a dramatic increase in vehicle traffic on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-65408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-wines2whales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65408","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=65408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65413,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65408\/revisions\/65413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65408"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=65408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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