You’ve seen the results and the race-day video interviews and now we show you the shapes, sticks and dust of the recent SA XCO Cup from Stellenbosch. Enjoy.
Johan van Zyl (blue gear) and Alex Miller dual for the holeshot.Off the line, it’s always a fight for single-track positioning. Here, Arno du Toit (13), Dutch National Champ David Nordemann (9) and Kai von During (20) are fighting for every inch.Tumelo Makae of the new pump for peace World Cup squad is a climbing machine from Lesotho who placed a credible 22nd in Elite Men.Anne Terpstra (102) and world number one ranked Alessandra Keller (101) lead the pack off the start line. Candice Lill ran up front for the beginning part of the race but Keller (101) was in it to win it today.French ‘Pinner’ Victor Koretzky set the pace early on.Rider number 39 Connor Steytler floats through the Flow Trail on his way to P39 in Elite Men. Iranian Champ and an inspiration for the world Faranak Partoazar, lines up the techy rock section.Jana Visser drops into the Wine Barrel on her way to P5 in Junior Women. How about the spirit in Unathi Nxumalo? He kept charging despite a massive crash in the “Pick up Sticks” section. Yes Unathi! Gert Heyns, one of the country’s biggest talents, quietly snuck into P7 in the overall. Gert dipped under the 13-minute mark for his first three laps. Impressive stuff!It was a day to forget for Luke Moir who paid the price for over-hydrating and had to stop mid-race. He bounced back on Sunday and nabbed a podium in the provincial.Lotte Koopmans from the Netherlands boosted into P6 in Elite Women.Keagan Bontekoning (26) and Joris Ryf (17) running different lines in the techy “Pick up sticks” section that created lots of shapes today. | *Click to enlargeDon’t want to be launching too deep down this one… It’s a big drop!Sometimes it’s just too hot for gloves, hey Jaydan Durandt. The start was manic! Images don’t tell the true story of the speed of the bunch up here on the opening lap. That sprint by Johan van Zyl (10) was truly impressive. Hatherly never let Koretzky open a gap. A solid ride by Philip Buys into P4 overall. P26 for Western Cape’s Thomas Hudson.The pack was tight in the early laps.Anne Terpstra raced on tired legs today and wasn’t in contention as a result. It’s been a massive training camp here in SA. How slack does that XC bike look! There’s some special prototype things going on there that we weren’t allowed to shoot or talk about. Pretty trick stuff.Kai von During and David Nordemann bounce up the Gutter Climb.‘Pick up sticks’ is a walk in the park for these guys. | *Click to enlargeSecond-generation racing talent Justin Chesterton lines up the step-down. The fastest lap of the day went to Alan Hatherly with an 11:30. Nobody else came within 20 seconds of that blitz, and he clocked that on the penultimate lap of the 7-lap race. Incredible.Stellenbosch local Andrea Schoffmann floats the flow line.In the end, there was simply nobody who could match the pace of this guy and Alan had time to cruise the last lap of the finish arena…… before being swamped by fans and media.P2 went to Koretzky.Nicely done Alan.Candice Lill crossed the line as the first South African, with a P4 overall.Yes Faranak!The gees amongst competitors is high.Good luck for your 2023 World Cup (and World Tour!) season Alan.
