{"id":71281,"date":"2025-02-07T18:02:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T16:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/?p=71281"},"modified":"2025-02-09T15:36:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T13:36:58","slug":"imbuko-chemchamp-seize-tankwa-trek-yellow-as-honeycomb-226ers-win-the-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/imbuko-chemchamp-seize-tankwa-trek-yellow-as-honeycomb-226ers-win-the-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Imbuko ChemChamp Seize Tankwa Trek Yellow as Honeycomb 226ers Win the Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Marc Pritzen (left) and Wessel Botha (right) won Stage 2 of the Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, on Friday, 7 February, but Imbuko ChemChamp\u2019s second place was enough to earn Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortje yellow. Photo by Oakpics.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stage 2 of the 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen \u2013 on Friday, 7 February \u2013 produced a dramatic day of racing. There were punctures and broken wheels, as well as a major mechanical, all of which affected the general classification standings. She Sends reigned supreme though as Candice Lill and Kate Courtney enjoyed a problem free day in the Witzenberg Valley en route to a second stage win. In the UCI Men\u2019s race Honeycomb 226ers were first across the line to claim stage honours, but Imbuko ChemChamp\u2019s Marco Joubert and Tristan Nortje were the day\u2019s big winners as they seized the yellow First Ascent leaders\u2019 jerseys after finishing second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 88 kilometre long stage featured 1 850 metres of climbing presenting a stern test of man, woman, and machine. From Kaleo Guest Farm in the Koue Bokkeveld the teams made their way across rocky and sandy dual tracks towards the Witzenberg Valley where the Hanekom Brothers\u2019 singletracks awaited. Once in the valley the riding was relentless and the technical nature of the course contributed to the mechanical issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Candice Lill and Kate Courtney (not pictured) secured their second stage win of the 2025 race. Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Greta Seiwald and Martina Berta were the first to struggle. Having finished the previous day in second place the Spaghetti M&G team were well placed in the front group until they suffered a serious mechanical. Though they recovered well late in the stage the issue put them out of the running for stage victory before the leaders had reached the first water point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we turned onto the tar road, heading towards Water Point 1, I took a look back to see who was with us and it was only Tyler [Jacobs] and Sara [Cortinovis],\u201d Lill said. \u201cHistorically teams have started the main climb of the day together and it has been a bit more tactical, but because we were on our own coming out of the second section of singletracks Kate [Courtney] and I had to just push on. We climbed pretty quickly and although it was tough \u2013 because it\u2019s always tough riding in the Witzenberg \u2013 it was a good stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sarah Hill had a good day on the bike, riding to second alongside Vera Looser, on the stage. Photo by Oakpics.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the Merino Monster tomorrow,\u201d the race leader smiled. \u201cI took the Strava Queen of the Mountain last year, so maybe we\u2019ll have to see if Kate and I can go up there faster this year\u2026\u201d
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Candice Lill (left) and Kate Courtney (right) won the stage in a time of 4 hours, 8 minutes and 5 seconds. Photo by Oakpics.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Behind the She Sends team Ghost-LIV Racing held second for much of the stage. Then in the final 15 kilometres Sarah Hill and Vera Looser started to reel Jacobs and Cortinovis in. \u201cI was looking back from the summit of the last climb to see if we were being caught from behind, but then we saw that Tyler [Jacobs] and Sara [Cortinovis] were just ahead of us,\u201d Hill noted. \u201cWe chased them, with Vera [Looser] pulling the whole time for 5 kilometres and we caught them with about 10 kilometres to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the Efficient Infiniti team had moved up into second, they held on to the line, finishing 59 seconds ahead of the Ghost-LIV Racing. That effort helped Looser and Hill move up to third overall too, joining Lill and Courtney, as well as Jacobs and Cortinovis on the UCI Women\u2019s general classification podium. Seiwald and Berta slip to fourth, with Safari Essence Titan Racing\u2019s Bianca Haw and Danielle Strydom rounding out the top five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Herman Fourie carries his bike after cracking his rear rim and rendering it unrideable. Photo by Max Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Punctures and illness, rather than mechanicals, had a say in the UCI Men\u2019s race. Matt Beers, who had started the day in fifth overall alongside Johan van Zyl, suffered a puncture which took him over ten minutes to plug. The Toyota Specialized man\u2019s woes were less severe than Herman Fourie\u2019s though. The Valley Electrical Titan Racing rider cracked a rim in two places and ended up running his bike nearly 5 kilometres before withdrawing from the race. Georg Egger had come into the race recovering from a stomach bug, and after limiting his losses on Stage 1 the German was unable to do the same on Stage 2. Though he and Lukas Baum finished the stage they are well down on the general classification standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marco Joubert was among the strongest riders throughout the stage. Photo by Oakpics.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the sharp end Joubert and Nortje had another strong day, controlling the pace for the majority of the stage. Marc Pritzen and Wessel Botha also had a great ride and aided the Imbuko ChemChamp men to keep the tempo high. \u201cMarc [Pritzen] was the MVP today,\u201d Botha praised. \u201cI got caught behind a crash in a singletrack and Marc had to help pace me back to the group. On the main climb Imbuko [ChemChamp] pushed the pace, and distanced PYGA Euro Steel, Singer KTM Racing, and Insect Science but we could stay with them. Once we went over the last climb together, we decided to rather work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTomorrow is a big day and it wouldn\u2019t make sense to try to kill each other and blow ourselves up today,\u201d Nortje added to the explanation. \u201cWe worked well with Honeycomb [226ers] in the last 10 kilometres or so and gained time on the rest of the field. Tomorrow it\u2019s the Merino Monster though and as we know that will probably decide the race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marc Pritzen (leading) and Wessel Botha en route to winning the second stage. Photo by Oakpics.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Honeycomb 226ers and Imbuko ChemChamp went to the line together with the former claiming the stage win while the latter moved into yellow. Pritzen and Botha\u2019s winning margin for the day was just 2 seconds over Joubert and Nortje, Michael Foster and Jaedon Terlouw fought to reduce the damage and crossed the line third. The PYGA Euro Steel team ceded 3 minutes and 34 seconds, dropping from first to third overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael Foster (leading) and Jaedon Terlouw lost their yellow jerseys after ceding time on the climbs. Photo by Oakpics.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Heading into the Queen Stage, Imbuko ChemChamp lead Honeycomb 226ers by 60 seconds. PYGA Euro Steel are third, at 3 minutes and 27 seconds. Singer KTM Racing\u2019s Martin Frey and Simon Stiebjahn are fourth, 4 minutes and 26 seconds, down; ahead of Arno du Tout and Keagan Bontekoning, of Insect Science, in fifth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage 3, is a mammoth 98 kilometre day with 2 200 metres of climbing. The summit of the Merino Monster reaches 1 750 metres into the sky and the climb gains 1 000 metres in elevation from the Ceres Valley to the peak of the mountain. Currently Matt Beers and Candice Lill hold the Strava KOM and QOM titles<\/a> on the water point to water point segment. Beers\u2019 time is 36 minutes and 26 seconds, while Lill\u2019s time is 44:47. The racing action gets underway at 06:30 and mountain biking fans can follow it live on the @tankwatrek<\/a> Instagram and Tankwa Trek<\/a> Facebook stories. Longer-form highlights and photos from the race can also be found on Instagram and Facebook. For more information on the 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, visit www.tankwatrek.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UCI Men | Stage 2:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Honeycomb 226ers: Marc Pritzen & Wessel Botha (3:28:54)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Imbuko ChemChamp: Marco Joubert & Tristan Nortje (3:28:56 | +2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Pyga Euro Steel 2: Michael Foster & Jaedon Terlouw (3:32:28 | +3:34)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Insect Science: Arno du Tout & Keagan Bontekoning (3:32:54 | +4:00)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Singer KTM Racing: Martin Frey & Simon Stiebjahn (3:33:17 | +4:23)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, Stage 2 UCI Men\u2019s Podium (from left to right): Tristan Nortje, Marco Joubert, Marc Pritzen, Wessel Botha, Michael Foster and Jaedon Terlouw. Photo by Oakpics.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

UCI Women | Stage 2:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. She Sends: Candice Lill & Kate Courtney (4:08:05)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Efficient Infiniti: Sarah Hill & Vera Looser (4:21:55 | +13:50)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Ghost-LIV Racing: Tyler Jacobs & Sara Cortinovis (4:22:54 | +14:49)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Spaghetti M&G: Greta Seiwald & Martina Berta (4:28:12 | +20:07)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Safari Essence Titan Racing: Bianca Haw & Danielle Strydom (4:40:50 | +32:45)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, Stage 2 UCI Women\u2019s Podium (from left to right): Vera Looser, Sarah Hill, Kate Courtney, Candice Lill, Sara Cortinovis and Tyler Jacobs. Photo by Oakpics.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

UCI Men’s General Classification after Stage 2:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Imbuko ChemChamp: Marco Joubert & Tristan Nortje (4:33:31)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Honeycomb 226ers: Marc Pritzen & Wessel Botha (3:34:31 | +1:00)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Pyga Euro Steel 2: Michael Foster & Jaedon Terlouw (4:36:59 | +3:27)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Singer KTM Racing: Martin Frey & Simon Stiebjahn (4:37:57 | +4:26)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Insect Science: Arno du Tout & Keagan Bontekoning (4:38:46 | +5:15)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UCI Women’s General Classification after Stage 2:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. She Sends: Candice Lill & Kate Courtney (5:21:00)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Ghost-LIV Racing: Tyler Jacobs & Sara Cortinovis (5:39:33 | +18:33)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Efficient Infiniti: Sarah Hill & Vera Looser (5:42:02 | +21:02)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Spaghetti M&G: Greta Seiwald & Martina Berta (5:43:00 | +23:00)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Safari Essence Titan Racing: Bianca Haw & Danielle Strydom (6:02:42 | +41:42)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

For the full results from the 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stage 2 of the 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen \u2013 on Friday, 7 February \u2013 produced a dramatic day of racing. There were punctures and broken wheels, as well as a major mechanical, all of which affected the general classification standings. She Sends reigned supreme though as Candice Lill and Kate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":71288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[94],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-71281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-tankwa-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71281","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=71281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71292,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71281\/revisions\/71292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71281"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=71281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}