The annual KAP sani2c Race, which covers 265km in three days of riding between Underberg and Scottburgh, came to an exciting end at the Scottburgh Golf Club last Saturday.
With two minutes and 31 seconds to play with in Stage 3 of the KAP sani2c, Matt Beers and Tristan Nortje of Toyota-Specialized (02:40:48) only had to stick to the wheels of their closest rivals to ensure overall victory during the 86km between Jolivet Farm and Scottburgh Golf Club.
Imbuko {Type} Dev’s Marco Joubert and Wessel Botha made a valiant effort to make a break, but Beers and Nortje did not give them an inch, until a sprint finish gave a stage win to the Imbuko {Type} Dev A team (02:40:44).
Marco Joubert broke away in the last two kilometres and sprinted alone up the grass to the golf club, leaving Botha to ensure he crossed the line before one of the two Toyota-Specialized riders, which he did, ahead of both Beers and Nortje.
Less than two minutes later, a split-second finish between Imbuko {Type} Dev B’s Pieter du Toit and Franko van Zyl (02:42:32), and the Insect Science team of Arno du Toit and Keagan Bontekoning (02:42:33) decided third and fourth for the stage, but was not enough to prevent Insect Science from claiming the third place in General Classification.
“I put in a few little digs just to show them they were not going to drop us, it was a bit of a mental game, but they rode a good race at the end tactically with Marco slipping off at the front, the same thing I did at Epic,” said Beers.
Nortje added, “They tried to drop us on a few climbs but we just showed that we were also strong, and we sat, as we did not have to attack. They also tried on the down hills a few times, but we played it safe.”
Efficient Infiniti’s Kim Le Court and Samantha Sanders (03:11:40) dominated the race again and gained further time on General Classification with their clean sweep of the stage wins.
“It was super windy today, so we took it easy in the beginning to try to stay as safe as possible as there was so much dust you could hardly see the trail,” said Le Court. “Then the first climb came and I went to the front and pushed the tempo, and we rode away. We then just kept it steady to the end.”
“It’s always good to come back to this event, for the family vibe and the way the school kids and the community are all involved in the organisation. It’s an awesome event.”
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