Alan Hatherly and Hayley Preen started their 2026 seasons with commanding victories at the Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen.

Mossel Bay Advertiser reports the 120km race from Chandelier Game Lodge, near Oudtshoorn, to Pine Creek Resort in Great Brak (affectionately known as the ‘Hell of the South’) featured a revised route that lent itself to faster times, aided by cool weather on Saturday.

Dryland Event Management estimated that removing two infamously rocky climbs within the first 40km would keep riders on their bikes rather than forcing them to run, and significantly speed up the course.

For the UCI Men, the expectation was that the changes would make the race about 15 minutes faster, though this proved conservative. Or perhaps Hatherly and company simply delivered the best traverse of the Attakwaskloof in the event’s 20-year history.

Early pace sets the tone

“I think the smoother opening kilometres helped us stay fresh longer,” Marc Pritzen, who played a key role in the race, speculated. “Last year we went hard on the climbs and then sat up; this year we kept a consistent pace all the way to the start of the King of the Mountain climb,” Hatherly noted.

This led to a blistering opening 40km. “Normally, if we went hard, it would take us an hour 45 to 1:50 to the first feed zone,” Tristan Nortje added. “This year, we were there in under 90 minutes, and it didn’t feel like we were going that hard.”

That water point was moved 10km earlier, to the 40km mark, and just before it Nortje suffered a puncture.

“I felt my front wheel going slowly soft, then knocked the rim on a corner, and I knew I had to stop. Initially, I couldn’t find the hole; I had to bomb it, then plug it, and then stop at the feed zone for a new wheel.”

Nortje left the feed zone two minutes behind the front group and would not see the race leaders again. “Before I knew it, we were nearing the top of the climb into the Attakwaskloof,” Pritzen recalled.

“I had told myself I wouldn’t sprint for the King of the Mountain Hotspot, but when I accelerated, and nobody came with me, I decided to go for it. It didn’t seem like we had a gap, but over the top, there were suddenly only four of us in the lead group.”

Attrition in the Attakwaskloof

Punctures behind may have contributed to the split. Andreas Seewald punctured early in the descent but limited his losses. “It was a first race of the year mistake,” the European Marathon Champion admitted. “But fortunately, it didn’t cost me too much energy, and I was able to catch the leaders again.”

Pritzen led Hatherly, Wessel Botha and Travis Stedman into the Attakwaskloof, but a crash ended Stedman’s challenge.

The African Marathon Champion lost concentration while taking a feed and crashed heavily. The Toyota Specialised Imbuko rider was able to continue but eventually finished 13th.

Once out of the Kloof, road conditions improved and Seewald bridged back to the leading trio. Nortje rode through the chase groups but remained two minutes adrift with 50km to race. At that stage, it was clear the winner would come from Pritzen, Hatherly, Botha or Seewald.

Hatherly makes his move

“I’d been rolling through but not putting too much into my turns on the front, because I knew exactly what was coming,” Botha said. “When Alan attacked on the second last climb, I couldn’t go with him. But Marc, Andreas and I were able to hold the gap steady over the top. We could just not bring him back, though.”

Hatherly’s attack with 20km remaining opened a 30-second gap, but the final stretch was far from comfortable. “I know how hard it is to close a gap, but I was starting to feel a bit flat in the last 10 kilometres… that corrugated road section into the headwind was very hard,” he said.

“Winning here is a great way to start the season. Last year, it set me up well for the AlUla Tour, and I hope that will be the case this year too.”

Hatherly stopped the clock in four hours, 25 minutes and 10 seconds, 21 minutes and 11 seconds faster than Botha’s 2021 course record.

Due to the route changes, the Giant Factory Off Road Racing rider’s time stands as a new benchmark rather than a new outright record. Pritzen finished second, just 23 seconds back, with Botha crossing the line inside a minute of the winner. Seewald was fourth, while Nortje rounded out the top five.

Preen dominates women’s race

In the UCI Women’s race, an efficient opening saw a group of 10 riders reach the Queen of the Mountain Hotspot together. “I liked the new opening to the race,” Samantha Sanders said. The rider who dethroned her as Hell of the South champion agreed. “It was exciting, and the bunch stayed together for longer, so it was faster, which was good.”

Once the climbing began, Preen asserted control. “I had planned to attack on the Queen of the Mountain climb,” she said. “I had hoped to go over the top solo and then take the descent more cautiously. And it worked out perfectly, they caught me as I turned onto the gravel road again, so I had company for the rolling roads into the headwind.”

Preen, Sanders and Bianca Haw worked together for nearly 30km before Preen attacked again.

“I had confidence in my climbing from the main climb earlier, so on a steep climb with around 30 kilometres to go, I attacked again and was able to get away solo,” she explained.

From there, the ChemChamp Honeycomb rider was untouchable. “Last year I died a million deaths in the closing kilometres, this year I felt really strong, and that’s probably the biggest reason why my time is so much better this year than last.”

Preen claimed victory in five hours, 33 minutes and seven seconds, 50 minutes faster than her 2025 effort and within seven minutes of Annika Langvad’s longstanding course record from 2017. Sanders finished second, three minutes and 29 seconds back, with Haw third ahead of Felicitas Geiger and Malena Seer.

Results

UCI Men

1. Alan Hatherly: Giant Factory MTB Racing (4:25:10)
2. Marc Pritzen: Honeycomb 226ers (4:25:33 | +23)
3. Wessel Botha: Insect Science (4:26:07 | +57)
4. Andreas Seewald: Singer KTM (4:27:09 | +1:59)
5. Tristan Nortje: Toyota Specialised Imbuko (4:34:04 | +8:06)

UCI Women

1. Hayley Preen: ChemChamp Honeycomb (5:33:07)
2. Samantha Sanders: Efficient Infiniti Insure (5:36:36 | +3:29)
3. Bianca Haw: Leatt (5:38:41 | +5:34)
4. Felicitas Geiger: Privateer (5:45:21 | +12:14)
5. Malena Seer: 1OF1 Cycling (5:49:36 | +16:29)

For the full results, click here.

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