{"id":65414,"date":"2023-10-19T15:16:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T13:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/?p=65414"},"modified":"2023-10-20T18:45:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T16:45:01","slug":"wines2whales-chardonnay-women-to-watch-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wines2whales-chardonnay-women-to-watch-in-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Wines2Whales Chardonnay: Women to Watch in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The racing women get the FNB Wines2Whales racing action underway on Friday, 20 October. The story of the event there is that the Queens of the Epic Series in 2023, Vera Looser and Kim le Court, will not be racing together and will as such not be lining up to defend their 2022 title. This throws the race wide open and will almost certainly see at least one first time winner, from a team of two riders, crowned as champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kim Le Court’s absence in 2023 throws the field wide open. Image by Simon Pocock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The big news ahead of the Chardonnay race is that Le Court will miss out with injury. The Mauritian has won the Absa Cape Epic, and SPAR Swiss Epic alongside Looser since her 2022 FNB Wines2Whales triumph. \u201cI\u2019ve been nursing my knee since the crash at the SPAR Swiss Epic,\u201d she explained. \u201cEventually I couldn\u2019t complete training sessions properly and last week had to be picked-up mid ride. An MRI then revealed damage and my doctor recommended that I end my season now and start with rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously very emotional,\u201d Le Court continued. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m letting Vera [Looser] down, letting my sponsors, and the race down.\u201d Looser, who is in South Africa for her usual end of season southern hemisphere racing block will now be racing alongside Mariske Strauss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Riders during the 2022 FNB Wine2Whales 3 day mountain bike event, Chardonnay. Stage 2 – 29 October. from Oak Valley to Oak Valley. Western Cape, South Africa. \n\nImage by Simon Pocock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The South African has been out of racing since the 2022 FNB Wines2Whales with myocarditis. Strauss was cleared by her cardiologist to resume racing in August, but has been using the time to build-up effectively. \u201cI told Vera [Looser] I don\u2019t know where my form is and to have no expectations going into the race,\u201d Strauss confessed. \u201cShe was still eager to ride with me, despite that. We\u2019ll be taking it day by day and seeing how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without the Efficient Infiniti Insure team headlining the women\u2019s field the race could well be a more open and unpredictable affair. Candice Lill lines up with 19-year-old, Tyler Jacobs. \u201cRacing with Tyler [Jacobs] the aim is for us to have a good time and for her to learn from the experience,\u201d Lill noted. \u201cHopefully through my experience and knowledge of how to race a stage race I can mentor her in some way. I think she\u2019s an exciting talent for the future. Young athletes need to be nurtured and I feel it\u2019s up to us, older more experienced athletes, to step up and provide support and guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m putting zero pressure on Tyler for FNB Wines2Whales though,\u201d the Computer Mania Seattle Coffee Co rider said. \u201cIt will be her first stage race. I think she may have done one for fun with her dad, so this will be the first time she\u2019s really racing. Obviously, we\u2019re not going to overdo it and put pressure on results. But she could still really surprise herself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Riders during the 2022 FNB Wine2Whales 3 day mountain bike event, Chardonnay. Stage 1 from Lourensford to Oak Valley. Image by Sam Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also set to capitalise on Le Court\u2019s absence are Sarah Hill and Claudia Krenn, as well as Hayley Preen and Frances Janse van Rensburg. Hill pairs up with the Austrian BMC Sales Manager as Hilly & Edgy, while the two riders who have dominated the South African road nationals since 2021 team up for Freewheel Cycology. Sandton City-Efficient Infiniti\u2019s Cherise Willeit and Samantha Sanders are also a combination to watch, as are K2\u2019s Karla Stumpf and Kelsey van Schoor, as well as Safari Essence Imbuko Giant Racing\u2019s Tiffany Keep and Danielle Strydom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara Benko and Lora Oravecz are the darkest of the dark horse outsiders. Benko officially retired from elite racing at FNB Wines2Whales in 2021 but the Hungarian has remained committed to cycling and one can never discount the rider with 20 senior national titles \u2013 across road, mountain biking and cyclocross \u2013 to her name. Oravecz, much like Jacobs, is a promising 19-year-old and will undoubtedly learn a tremendous amount racing alongside her countrywoman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Riders during the 2022 FNB Wine2Whales 3 day mountain bike event, Chardonnay. Stage 2 from Oak Valley to Oak Valley. Image by Sam Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Seven competitive teams, made up by women who hold down full-time jobs, make up the rest of the field. Of those Ila Stow and Andrea Schoefmann are the most likely pairing to trouble the more favoured combinations. Tarryn Povey and Sarita Louw, Robyn Williams and Nicola Freitas, Hayley Smith and Sanchia Malan, Lehane Oosthuizen and Tyla Setzkorn, as well as Kate Slegrova and Nicola Walker will be mixing fun with a fierce battle amongst each other. New comers to the group, Jessica Wilkinson and Rebecca van Huyssteen, will not only be representing FNB Wines2Whales\u2019s official apparel partners, CIOVITA, but they will also be keen to prove that they belong in the racing women start group too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Follow the action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Website: www.epic-series.com\/wines2whales
Facebook: Wines2Whales
Instagram: @wines_2_whales
YouTube: Epic Series<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The racing women get the FNB Wines2Whales racing action underway on Friday, 20 October. The story of the event there is that the Queens of the Epic Series in 2023, Vera Looser and Kim le Court, will not be racing together and will as such not be lining up to defend their 2022 title. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[528,404,15],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-65414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-epic-series","tag-w2w","tag-wines2whales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65414","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=65414"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65431,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65414\/revisions\/65431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65414"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=65414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}