{"id":70987,"date":"2025-01-18T17:32:34","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T15:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/?p=70987"},"modified":"2025-01-20T08:33:51","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T06:33:51","slug":"hatherly-opens-2025-season-with-a-victory-at-the-hell-of-the-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/hatherly-opens-2025-season-with-a-victory-at-the-hell-of-the-south\/","title":{"rendered":"Hatherly Opens 2025 Season with a Victory at the Hell of the South"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The pre-race favourite Alan Hatherly surged away from Tristan Nortje, with 40 kilometres to race in the Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen, to win the 2025 Hell of the South title; on Saturday, 18 January. The cross-country World Champion\u2019s first outing for Giant Factory Off Road Racing was a resounding success, as was the defence of Samantha Sanders\u2019 2024 crown. The Efficient Infiniti Insure rider recovered from a lost SRAM AXS battery, in the first 30 kilometres, to win the Queen of the Mountain hotspot prize as well as the women\u2019s race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alan Hatherly won the 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen. Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On a day which was hot, but never oppressively sweltering, the elite men started at a conservative pace. \u201cI think a lot of people are scarred from previous years,\u201d Hatherly laughed when asked about the early kilometres. \u201cIt definitely wasn\u2019t as fast, initially, as it has been other times I\u2019ve raced it,\u201d Micheal Foster confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Samatha Sanders (centre) defended her Hell of the South title in fine style She was joined on the podium by Hayley Preen (left) and Sarah Hill (right). Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tristan Nortje was the first to push the tempo, but his early move was not followed. \u201cI know the rocky descents in Chandelier Game Reserve quite well and wanted to get out in front to ride them safely,\u201d he explained. \u201cAfter one descent I saw I had a 5-10 second gap and decided to do a 1 minute effort to see if anyone would chase. But when nobody did, I just rode my own pace for 10 kilometres or so until they caught me just before the first water point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tristan Nortje made an early break and claimed the King of the Mountain prize but was unable to hang onto Alan Hatherly\u2019s coattails when the World Champion attacked. Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter Water Point 1 Alan [Hatherly] upped the pace,\u201d Arno du Toit then noted. \u201cThen I felt something wasn\u2019t quite right with my cleat\/pedal and on that rocky climb I had to unclip and couldn\u2019t. I realised I\u2019d lost a cleat bolt and had to ride conservatively to Water Point 2 where Nicol [Carstens, the Insect Science team manager] was able to fix it for me. But I lost quite a lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Du Toit was undergoing running repairs the race raged on. \u201cOn the climb into the Attakwaskloof and to the King of the Mountain the pace increased dramatically,\u201d Foster noted. \u201cDaniel [van der Walt] set a good pace on the climb, then near the summit I put in a dig to claim the King of the Mountain prize,\u201d Nortje stated. \u201cI sat up and a good group descended through the kloof together. By Bonniedale there were five of us together, with Wessel [Botha], Marco [Joubert], and Michael [Foster] with Alan [Hatherly] and myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alan Hatherly leading the elite men\u2019s field into the Attakwaskloof Nature Reserve. Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTristan [Nortje] and I had been trying to distance Wessel when Tristan attacked on the climb out of Bonniedale,\u201d Hatherly continued. \u201cI was a bit surprised when the others couldn\u2019t go with his move and when Marco and Michael were just about to regain contact I went over the top and only Tristan could follow. We then worked together for about 10 kilometres.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the biggest climb of that section of the route Alan attacked again and I could just about hold him to 30 seconds for a while, but then he began to edge away,\u201d Nortje confessed. Once Hatherly had the lead solo he put his time trialling skills to great use and powered through the remaining 40 kilometres to win the 2025 edition in fine style. \u201cHaving not finished in 2022 it\u2019s particularly sweet to win this year,\u201d the victor smiled. \u201cI\u2019ll be starting my road season at the AlUla Tour in 10 days, so this was a great endurance effort for me. It was a hard 5 hours in the saddle! The course is tough, the heat played a role, and the level is really high in South Africa at this time of the year. So while it\u2019s my only mountain bike race until May I\u2019m really happy with how it went.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hatherly\u2019s winning time was 4 hours, 50 minutes and 16 seconds. Nortje crossed the finish line in second, 3 minutes and 25 seconds down. Du Toit was third, having recovered from well down after his mechanical. The PYGA Euro Steel duo, of Foster and Jaedon Terlouw rounded out the top five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new Giant Factory Off Road Team rider charged, solo, through the final 40 kilometres to win the 2025 title. Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the women\u2019s race a steady start helped Sanders when she suffered her mechanical. \u201cAfter that rocky climb I must have clipped a rock up and it knocked my AXS battery out,\u201d Sanders sighed. \u201cFortunately, my friend Elrika Harmzen-Pretorius, gave me her spare and I was able to chase back and catch the lead group by Water Point 2. Then on the climb to the QOM Hayley [Preen] pushed on and I followed her until she eased off slightly, then I carried on to claim the hotspot prize. At the summit I made the decision to just keep going and if Hayley caught me, she caught me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arno du Toit (right) put in a storming ride, after a mechanical at Water Point 2, to finish third \u2013 ahead of Michael Foster (left). Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Behind the leading duo Sarah Hill was happy to ride her own race. \u201cI consciously made an effort to stick to my game plan and not go over my limit chasing Hayley and Sam [Sanders]. I just rode the climbs at a bit above threshold and the flats at a bit below tempo. Still, I finished 18 minutes faster than I did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Samantha Sanders (leading) had to overcome a lost SRAM AXS battery to claim the Queen of the Mountain crown and the race victory. Photo by Oakpics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the front there was no catching Sanders. For the second year in a row she crossed the finish line, in Pine Creek Resort, first. Her winning time was 6 hours, 8 minutes and 23 seconds; which was 14 minutes quicker than Preen\u2019s and 19 ahead of Hill. Yolande de Villiers and Kelsey van Schoor completed the women\u2019s top five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on her Hell of the South experience Preen stated: \u201cIt was tough, but I enjoyed it. It\u2019s a great way to start the season, but I can see why everyone speaks about the race in the reverent tones they do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sarah Hill knocked 18 minutes off her 2024 time with a more consistent and even conservative approach to the race. Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen, Results:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men’s Results:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Alan Hatherley, Giant Factory Off Road (4:50:16)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Tristan Nortje, Imbuko ChemChamp (4:53:41 | +3:25)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Arno du Toit, Insect Science (4:56:40 | +6:24)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Michael Foster, PYGA Euro Steel (4:58:14 | +7:58)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Jaedon Terlouw, PYGA Euro Steel (5:02:38 | +12:22)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women’s Results:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Samantha Sanders, Efficient Infiniti Insure (6:08:23)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hayley Preen finished second in her Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen, debut. Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2. Hayley Preen, Honeycomb 226ers (6:22:48 | +14:25)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Sarah Hill, Efficient Infiniti Insure (6:27:55 | +19:32)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Yolande de Villiers, Enduroplanet (6:33:37 | +25:14)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Kelsey van Schoor, Pirtek (6:33:57 | +25:34)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen, elite men\u2019s podium (from left to right): Michael Foster, Tristan Nortje, Alan Hatherly, Arno du Toit, and Jaedon Terlouw. Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the full results click here<\/a> more information and to enter online visit www.atta.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The pre-race favourite Alan Hatherly surged away from Tristan Nortje, with 40 kilometres to race in the Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen, to win the 2025 Hell of the South title; on Saturday, 18 January. The cross-country World Champion\u2019s first outing for Giant Factory Off Road Racing was a resounding success, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":70988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,918],"featured_location":[338],"class_list":["post-70987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-attakwas","tag-dryland-events","featured_location-bottom-row"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70987","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=70987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70998,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70987\/revisions\/70998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70987"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=70987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}