Swiss mountain biker completes perfect classic
Switzerland's Urs Huber and South Africa's Robyn de Groot were the mountain biking king and queen of Sabie after winning the men and women's titles respectively at round two of the Ashburton Investments National MTB Series this past weekend.
For Huber (Team Bulls), it was his second Sabie victory after having claimed the title there in 2014.
It was De Groot’s (Ascendis Health) first Sabie Classic crown, and another major marathon race win for the South African champion, after winning the Fairview Attakwas ultra-marathon for the first time last month.
Close to 2 000 mountain bikers competed at Sabie, which offered five events over two days.
The ultra-marathon and marathon were held on Saturday and the half-marathon, fun race and fun ride took place on Sunday, taking riders through a combination of forests and plantations, and up and down the mountain slopes of one of South Africa’s premier mountain biking towns.
In the men’s ultra-marathon, Huber was impatient and was in front from the first climb. By the second climb, the Mamba, the gradient began to splinter the lead pack. The Mamba is a 3,5-kilometre switchback gravel road that ascends 360 metres.
There was a total of 3 058 metres of climbing in the 112-kilometre race and by the summit of the Mamba, at 28 kilometres, one-third of those metres had been conquered.
The race has been won in recent years by riders attacking the early climbs with aggression and the 2016 edition followed the same pattern.
Huber and local rider from Sabie, Max Knox (Valencia), took turns to set the pace and Huber crested the summit of the Mamba just in front, collecting the King of the Mountain prize in the process.
The pair eased up a little after the climb and there was a regrouping of sorts when Tim Bohme (Team Bulls) and Johann Rabie (Telkom) who dropped on the ascent, rejoined the leaders. But the time gaps were already quite significant.
Rabie lost the lead group, but German champion, Karl Platt (Team Bulls) and Gert Heyns (SCOTT LCB
Factory Racing) caught the leaders.
Huber was intent on keeping the pace hot and only Knox and Platt were able to respond.
Huber then attacked and neither Platt nor Knox could match the Swiss ace, who went on to finish first in a time of 04:54,38.
Platt rolled home in second place in 4:55,28 with Knox taking third place in 5:01,40. Heyns claimed fourth place. Another local, Nico Bell (Team NAD), outsprinted Darren Lill (USN Purefit) for fifth place.
“I’m very happy to win here again. I have been very focused for the past few weeks on this race and it is good to win it again. It was quite hot out there, but I have been in South Africa for the past two weeks so have got use to the conditions,” said Huber.
The women’s race became a duel between defending champion, Ariane Kleinhans (Team Spur) and De Groot.
Kleinhans has struggled with her early season form compared to previous years and was forced on the defensive at Sabie, having to chase a clearly in-form De Groot virtually from start to finish.
De Groot claimed the Queen of the Mountain title at the summit of the Mamba after 28-kilometres.
Kleinhans was just a few seconds back. But as the 72-kilometre race progressed, De Groot managed to extend her lead over the two-time Cape Epic women’s champion.
De Groot clocked a time of 3:45,55 with Kleinhans crossing the finish in 3:51,04.
“Sabie is always a toughie. Fortunately I felt pretty comfortable. I wanted to come here and push myself hard. Sabie is the last one-day race until nationals and I wanted to do the SA Champion jersey proud. So, here it is,” smiled De Groot.
Vanessa Bell of Bells Cycling finished in fifth place with Valencia’s Amy Beth McDougall in sixth in 4:11,19.
Leading results
Elite men, 112km ultra-marathon:
1. Urs Huber (SUI) Team Bulls – 4:54,38
2. Karl Platt (GER) Team Bulls – 4:55,28
3. Max Knox (RSA) Valencia – 5:01,40
4. Gert Heyns (RSA) SCOTT LCB Factory Racing – 5:08,19
5. Nico Bell (RSA) Team NAD – 5:15,26
6. Darren Lill (RSA) USN Purefit – 5:15,29
7. Gawie Combrinck Team NAD – 5:17,07
8. Waylon Woolcock (RSA) USN Purefit – 5:17,57
9. Lourens Luus (RSA) PSG Giant – 5:23,32
10. Dylan Rebello (RSA) Momsen – 5:37,06.
Elite women, 72km marathon:
1. Robyn de Groot (RSA) Ascendis Health – 3:45.55
2. Ariane Kleinhans (SUI) Team Spur – 3:51.04
3. Candice Neethling (RSA) Dorma – 4:00,57
4. Theresa Ralph (RSA) Galileo Risk – 4:03,13
5. Vanessa Bell (RSA) Bells Cycling – 4:07,06
6. Amy Beth McDougall (RSA) Valencia – 4:11,19
7. Sanet Coetzee (RSA) – 4:25,11
8. Liesl Lourens (RSA) – 4:34,47
9. Mariette Hattingh (RSA) – 4:37,59
10. Julia Kotze (RSA) – 5:08,04.
