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GARDEN ROUTE NEWS & VIDEO - The Team Spur/Red-E combination of Alan Hatherly and Matt Beers sprinted to victory on stage three of the Momentum Health Cape Pioneer Trek on Tuesday 17 October.
Their female compatriots were not able to match their winning streak however, as Team Ascendis Health raced to their first stage win of the race crossing the finish line, in George, first in the elite women’s competition.
The 99 kilometre long stage, from Mossel Bay to George, took in 2 000 metres of climbing, but the largely smooth road surfaces made for an easier day than on the preceding, rocky, stage.
Once again the wind played its part, but unlike during stage two the South Westerly wind blew the riders towards their destination rather than impeding their progress towards it.
In the elite men’s race the tail wind kept the leading group of riders together until the final water point at the 75 kilometre mark of the stage.
By then the NAD Pro team, of Nico Bell and Gawie Combrink, and the Spur/Red-E combination had whittled the initial group of eight teams down to the four main contenders.
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Joining the general classification leaders and their nearest rivals at the front of the race were the Dutch KMC Fruit to Go team, of Bram Rood and Gerben Mos, and the Czech Kellys Bikeranch team, of Jiri Krivanek and Marek Rauchfuss.
The women’s race was also a war of attrition, with the last two days taking their toll on Amy-Beth McDougall in particular.
“Yesterday was really hard and I struggled a lot, so I think it’s accumulative. I’ve been having a little bit of a chest problem too, so from 85 kilometres onwards I was suffering” McDougall elaborated.
“Robyn [de Groot] and Sabine [Spitz] were leading through the singletrack and after a slippery section, which we had to walk up, I lost concentration and fell. It was not a bad crash but they got a gap and we could not close it” she concluded.
De Groot and Spitz raced to victory and in so doing clawed back 1 minute and 22 seconds to Team Spur/Valencia in the general classification standings.
“Today went smoothly” De Groot said, after completing her first stage win of the race.
“There was a lot of wind at the start and a few obstacles which kept the bunches together. We were fortunate to have a tail wind which blew us along the contours and towards George.
"It was pretty muddy and chilly. But I’m happy with how it went,” she summarised.
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Stage four marks the Momentum Health Cape Pioneer Trek, presented by Biogen’s first ever mid-race time trial.
After a hint of the singletrack conditions in the forests above George, in the final ten kilometres of stage three, the riders by-in-large know what to expect from Wednesday’s 31 kilometre long stage.
The route had beautiful scenery along the way.
“It is going to be muddy and slippery, especially on the new trails” Bell predicted.
“The downhill sections are fine because you can ride off the track on the grass, but the climbs are going to be tricky.”
The leading men will probably take just over an hour to complete the route and while it is unlikely to provide a race winning time gain; it could cost a team the race, should they suffer a serious crash or mechanical.
On the muddy trails, with the added pressure of the time trial, emerging unscathed could well prove more important than gaining a few seconds.
To see how the action unfolds, during stage four, mountain biking fans can follow the event’s Twitter handle, @CapePioneerTrek, for live updates.
The highlights from every stage of the race of the Cape Pioneer Trek can be viewed on the event Facebook page and the Dryland Event Management YouTube Channel from 20:00, Central African Time, daily.
For more information on the Momentum Health Cape Pioneer Trek, presented by Biogen, please visit www.capepioneer.co.za.
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