World Cup Pinners Candice Lill and Tyler Jacobs too fast for the rest

Saturday’s Stage 2 at FNB Wines2Whales is affectionately known as Play Day. This is due to the volume and quality of the trails on Oak Valley, Paul Clüver, and their surrounding wine estates. It is not all easy, and certainly not all downhill, however. Teams had to climb to enjoy the rewards of the descents, and it was the climbs which allowed Candice Lill and Tyler Jacobs to establish the initial advantage, which they converted into a sizable 5-minute and 26-second stage-winning margin. The pair won Stage 2, ahead of Margot Moschetti and Claudia Peretti, while Sarah Hill and Robyn de Groot finished the day in third.

The course was 67 kilometres long and featured 1 350 metres of climbing. New features like Rhys’s Rollercoaster and the Wave Runner, near the start and finish of the stage, respectively, were lined by the iconic Sound of Silence, Witklippies, Rietvlei Magic, Pofadder, Tierkop, Cherry Bypass, and Harrier Hawk singletracks. It was on the climb to Rhys’s Rollercoaster that Lill and Jacobs first took the stage by the scruff of the neck. 

“Our plan was to make it hard from the beginning,” Lill explained. Doing so split the elite women’s group from 16 down to just 4 teams by the 10-kilometre mark. As the climbing began in earnest, the group was divided into individual teams. Liv Sabi-Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort were clearly the strongest climbers and pedalled to a 1-minute advantage, bike length by bike length, to the summit of Rietvlei Magic. Behind them, e-Fort MB Race fought to stay in contact through Water Point 1, 29 kilometres into the stage. Passing the first time check, Moschetti and Peretti were 61 seconds off the leaders, with Hill and De Groot a further 2 minutes back. 

“We executed our plan really well,” Lill continued. “Tyler [Jacobs] had a really strong day, and I was very impressed with her riding. It was cool to follow her on some of the trails. We were pushing the limit there a bit, but it was very cool.” 

“The trails were amazing,” Peretti complimented. “They were even better than yesterday after the rain last night. That dampened the dust and improved the traction, so we really enjoyed it.” Despite the speed at which e-Fort MB Race were flying through the trails, Liv Sabi-Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort still gained time on Peretti and Moschetti on the downhills too. By the halfway point, the women in the Orange Ciovita jerseys were nearly 3 minutes up, and by the finish, that gap had grown to 5 and a half minutes. Efficient Infiniti Insure were a further 6 and a half minutes down, when they crossed the Oak Valley finish line, completing the podium places. 

Liv Sabi-Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort, e-Fort MB Race, and Efficient Infiniti Insure’s 1, 2, 3 on the day was repeated on the general classification standings. Safari Essence Titan Racing’s Bianca Haw and Danielle du Toit were fourth on the stage, and hold fourth on the overall time sheets going into the final stage. Behind them, a puncture for Claudia Krenn and Malena Seer, cost the 1of1 Velo Kartell combination in the battle for fifth. Ila Stow and Steph Wohlters had a superb day on the bike, taking back time and moving up into fifth. There are five teams within 11 minutes of the Fortress Real Estate Investments Efficient Infiniti team, ensuring that there will be battles aplenty on the final stage of the Chardonnay on Sunday. 

Stage 3 will take the teams from Oak Valley, in Elgin, to Lourensford on the outskirts of Somerset West. The 63-kilometre route includes 1 250 metres of climbing, but the most discussed feature is the Gantouw Pass descent. The old wagon trail from the Cape into the hinterland beyond is a World Heritage site and as such, is a compulsory portage. Running down it will test legs and lungs, before the teams remount for the final push through the Idiom and Vergelegen Wine Estates to Lourensford. Stay tuned for more. //

Results

Elite Women’s Stage 2 Results:

1. Liv Sabi-Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort: Candice Lill & Tyler Jacobs (2:55:14)
2. e-Fort MB Race: Margot Moschetti & Claudia Peretti (3:00:40 | +5:26)
3. Efficient Infiniti Insure: Sarah Hill & Robyn de Groot (3:07:11 | +11:57)
4. Safari Essence Titan Racing: Bianca Haw & Danielle du Toit (3:13:40 | +18:26)
5. Fortress Real Estate Efficient Infiniti: Ila Stow & Steph Wohlters (3:16:24 | +21:10)

Elite Women’s General Classification after Stage 2:

1. Liv Sabi-Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort: Candice Lill & Tyler Jacobs (5:38:31)
2. e-Fort MB Race: Margot Moschetti & Claudia Peretti (5:44:49 | +6:18)
3. Efficient Infiniti Insure: Sarah Hill & Robyn de Groot (5:56:42 | +18:11)
4. Safari Essence Titan Racing: Bianca Haw & Danielle du Toit (6:08:37 | +30:06)
5. Fortress Real Estate Efficient Infiniti: Ila Stow & Steph Wohlters (6:16:25 | +37:54)

Full results here

---

RELATED MTB Skills: How To Climb Switchbacks

---