{"id":65514,"date":"2023-10-26T10:32:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T08:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/?p=65514"},"modified":"2023-10-27T07:00:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T05:00:58","slug":"world-champion-wins-fnb-wines2whales-pinotage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/world-champion-wins-fnb-wines2whales-pinotage\/","title":{"rendered":"World Champion Wins FNB Wines2Whales Pinotage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

E-Bike racing is a relatively new phenomenon. The inaugural E-MTB World Championships were held during the 2019 Mountain Biking World Championships, in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada. In 2021 FNB Wines2Whales included an E-Bike category for the first time, then in 2022 the Pinotage event hosted an E-Bike race too. In 2023 the reigning E-Bike World Champion Joris Ryf lined up in Lourensford to start the FNB W2W Pinotage. Taking part alongside Benno Willeit, Ryf dominated the competition winning the title by 32 minutes and 4 seconds; as the race finished in Lourensford Wine Estate on Wednesday, 25 October.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joris Ryf and Benno Willeit take the win during stage 3 at the FNB Wines 2 Whales Pinotage event. Photo by Sam Clark \/ Wines2Whales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ryf rode with Specialized Factory Racing team manager Willeit, who is himself no slouch on the bike, were unbelievably fast throughout the three days. The lead motorbike riders as well as the race videographers and photographers were under relentless pressure to stay ahead of the Specialized Factory Racing team. There was as little respite for their rivals too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne van der Walt is no stranger to stage racing and is a highly accomplished ultra-endurance rider. He was however caught completely unawares by the speed at which E-Bike battle in the Pinotage played out. \u201cI thought we\u2019d probably ease into it a bit,\u201d he laughed. \u201cBut we started Stage 1 at the same intensity as the UCI men\u2019s group goes off the line in the Cape Epic! It was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe rode really good together,\u201d Ryf smiled, reflecting on the race alongside Willeit. \u201cWe made a good team and had a lot of fun on the bike too. Today, was probably the best riding. We saw some animals in the game reserves and saw some proteas too. It was a beautiful stage, especially as the sun came out again!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d definitely be telling my fellow E-Cross-Country racers about FNB Wines2Whales,\u201d he added. \u201cIt provides three days of really nice racing and great trails. They should come to South Africa to end their seasons here next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery single stage\u2026 the riding is just incredible,\u201d Willeit, who lives in Somerset West, praised. \u201cSouth Africa really has some of the world\u2019s best trails. I\u2019d like to thank the trail builders who have worked so hard to make this year\u2019s race possible. Even during the event they were working into the night to fix the trails to allow us to rider more of the originally planned parts of Stage 2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joris Ref during stage 3 at the FNB Wines 2 Whales Pinotage event. Photo by Dom Barnardt \/ Wines2Whales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery day we had mint trails to race on. So, the trail builders and everyone who makes the race possible deserves a big cheers!\u201d Willeit concluded. \u201cFNB W2W has been a blast. It\u2019s been so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind the runaway leaders, the Toyota Specialized and FuelX teams were locked in a fierce tussle. Van der Walt and Jovan Jacobs had finished second on Stage 1, but ceded their silver medal spot to Giniel de Villiers and Bobby Behan on Stage 2. On the final stage the quartet sprinted for line honours, with the FuelX team emerging victorious. The single second in it did however not change the general classification standings, De Villiers and Behand thus stood on the seconds step of the podium for the champagne celebrations. Van der Walt and Jacobs had to be content with third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mixed category E-Bike race Mariske Strauss endured a major mechanical on the final stage, which cost her and Max Sullivan nearly an hour to repair. The Giant & Liv RSA pairing had been breathing down the necks of Franz Kunz and Katrin Tschopp heading into the final stage, but their misfortune ensured that the mountainbike-southafrica.com<\/a> team won comfortably. Ilana Cronje and Carolyn Rochat were even more comfortable winners in the women\u2019s E-Bike race. The Roll Refine Studio were the only all-women\u2019s team aboard E-Bikes. Their victory was by no means hollow however, as they got to celebrate with Lourensford Method Cap Classique atop the podium and take-home prizes from the sponsors too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the E-Bike racing wrapped up the attention now shifts to the weekend\u2019s Shiraz event at FNB Wines2Whales. The final race in the series will feature the elite men\u2019s field, significant prize money and the final opportunity to claim bragging rights for the 2023 season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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Photo by Dom Barnardt \/ Wines2Whales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Dom Barnardt \/ Wines2Whales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Results: FNB Wines2Whales Pinotage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Classification after Stage 3 E-Bike Men\u2019s Results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Specialized Factory Racing: Joris Ryf & Benno Willeit (6:19:41)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Toyota Specialized: Giniel de Villiers & Bobby Behan (6:51:45 | +32:04)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. FuelX: Wayne van der Walt & Jovan Jacobs (6:56:11 | +36:30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. GreatSoft Cloud: Robert Briggs & Colin Morgan (7:14:12 | +54:30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. RBC Suspension: Robbie Powell & Dylan Chillcott (7:23:12 | +1:03:31)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Classification after Stage 3 E-Bike Mixed Team Results:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. mountainbike-southafrica.com: Franz Kunz & Katrin Tschopp (7:58:51)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Jannemeister2.0: Edo & Janneke Br\u00e4secke (8:31:06 | +32:14)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. 4Heaven – Fairhaven  Claude & Heike Girardin (8:42:36 | +43:44)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Giant & LIV RSA: Max Sullivan & Mariske Strauss (8:54:53 | +56:02)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Dissa-Stars: Erwin & Liezl Sterne (9:19:01 | +1:20:09)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Classification after Stage 3 E-Bike Women\u2019s Results:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Roll Refine Studio: Ilana Cronje & Carolyn Rochat (12:13:04)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on the FNB Wines2Whales and the other world class mountain bike stage races in the Epic Series visit www.epic-series.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

E-Bike racing is a relatively new phenomenon. The inaugural E-MTB World Championships were held during the 2019 Mountain Biking World Championships, in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada. In 2021 FNB Wines2Whales included an E-Bike category for the first time, then in 2022 the Pinotage event hosted an E-Bike race too. In 2023 the reigning E-Bike World Champion Joris […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[528,404,15],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-65514","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\/65514","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=65514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65565,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65514\/revisions\/65565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65514"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=65514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}