Colombo pips Beers on the line, Preen claims maiden stage win

Filippo Colombo (SCOTT-SRAM) and Hayley Preen (ChemChamp Honeycomb) won stage two of Nedbank Gravel Burn men’s and women’s races on Blaauwater Farm on Monday.

Colombo outsprinted last year’s winner Matt Beers (Toyota Specialized) after the pair broke clear of the men’s field, while Preen marked her rivals before soloing to victory in a crash-ridden women’s race.

She moves into second on the GC. Beers moves into the GC lead and orange jersey with a 0:04 lead over Colombo. Nele Laing (Canyon DT Swiss ATR) maintains her orange jersey 0:39 ahead of Preen.

The 400+ strong field set off on a 105km anti-clockwise loop from Blaauwater Farm, with 1 450m of climbing, all of it on gravel, into the unique landscapes beneath Compassberg and through the Sneeuberg Nature Reserve. The route presented several challenging climbs. Tafelkop came early, on cold legs. Leeukop was next, hosting the Toyota Power Climb section, on which Hugo Drechou and Nele Laing furthered their lead in the competition.

Then came Kom Pass, which at 1 894m is the highest point of the stage and the race. The climbs whittled down the field to a small handful of riders who would contest the finale.

Clear skies and sunshine made for a day to savour, with Compassberg in view from start to finish and the white walls and small-town charm of Nieu-Bethesda a welcome sight on the road home. For the field, the notorious Karoo wind turned every exposed kilometre into a test of resolve and tactical nous. Many more factors shaped the racing, including the added challenge of the rocky road surfaces and river crossings.

BEERS DOWNED

There was no gentle start to the men’s race as Beers stuck to his pre-race plan of making the start difficult for the others. The lead group stretched out in single file over the rise towards Tafelkop. Colombo was initially caught out but managed to bridge across quickly once he realised who was pushing the pace.

By the top of Leeukop climb, Beers and Colombo were out front. On the long, rolling drop through the Sneeuberg Nature Reserve, the gap started to open. Behind them, the chase reorganised into a group of 20-plus riders, many with the potential to challenge the GC.

“The pack could just see the two,” Marc Pritzen (Honeycomb 226ers) said afterwards, implying that seeing them and catching them would turn out to be two very different things. Beers and Colombo came through the Padstal at 33km with their advantage still growing.

On the long drag towards the stage’s high point, Kom Pass at 1 894m, the powerful Beers played to his strengths. “Matt pulled like only he can do,” Colombo said. The Swiss rider admitted he had doubts about the move at this point: with the chasers still in sight and more than half the stage to go, he wondered whether they should ease up and wait.

But Beers kept up the relentless pace, clearly with a number in his head: a one-minute gap at the Kom Pass summit. From the highest point in the stage at Kom Pass, the route dropped almost 600m to the lowest point, at Nieu-Bethesda. The chasers were unable to reduce the gap.

The two did have words out on the course. Colombo took some turns, but even by his own account, it was an unequal partnership when it came to sharing the workload. “I tried to do my part, but his engine is on another level.”

Behind, the chase group split. Pritzen, Tristan Nortje and Marco Joubert (the latter two of Toyota Specialized Imbuko) got away from the group. Out front, Colombo accelerated in true-to-form XCO style and claimed the stage win. Beers crossed the line just behind, in second, and moved into the Orange jersey in GC, four seconds ahead of Colombo. Pritzen was unable to hold on to the chase group on the final climb, leaving Nortje and Joubert to sprint for the final podium position.

Beers was clear about why he raced the stage this way. “There are limited opportunities to gain time on anyone on this route. I had to take this stage by the horns. The plan was always to go hard from the start, but hoped for more company. Filippo helped where he could, but my weight and power suited the stage. Now it’s up to me and Filippo to figure out how to get rid of each other.”

PREEN LEADS WOMEN HOME

For the women’s field, the opening 50km was brutal. The first climbs set the tone – the lead group went over Tafelkop and the Toyota Power Climb up Leeukop together, with Maddie le Roux (Tshenolo Women’s Cycling) climbing strongly at the front. Olivia Hottinger (SCOTT-SRAM) was making repeated efforts to push the pace.

The rough descent off Leeukop caught Alexis Skarda (SCOTT-SRAM) out. She punctured and the resulting repair time ultimately cost her over 30 minutes on GC.

Carolin Schiff (Canyon DT Swiss ATR) attacked at the first of two Padstals and got away from the bunch. By the time the road started climbing towards Kom Pass, around 45km, she had a lead of 1:50. Team tactics left Laing in a strong position – relieving her of the obligation to chase, with her teammate up the road.

A chasing group of Hayley Preen (ChemChamp Honeycomb), Elena Hartmann (OPEN Schwalbe), Hottinger and Clara Marie Koppenburg (Tudor Pro Cycling) cooperated well together over Kom Pass and on the long drop towards Nieu-Bethesda, and Schiff’s lead started to come down. They caught her eventually. Laing then crashed and lost contact with the lead group. By the time the race left Nieu-Bethesda, Schiff had been dropped, and only four riders were left at the front: Preen, Hottinger, Hartmann and Koppenburg.

The deciding moment of the stage came at a wide puddle extending across the whole road. The four leaders rode through it, and Preen, who was on the front, found the cleanest line. She came out the other side with a few metres in hand, accelerated hard immediately, opened a gap and rode away alone to her maiden stage victory at Nedbank Gravel Burn.

“I came so close on this stage last year so it’s amazing to win,” Preen said. “Such an exciting stage.” She took back some GC time today but is realistic about tomorrow. “Tomorrow is a massive day, maybe not the best day for me, but I will fight. I’m going to race every day as hard as I can, go for stage wins, and with that try to close the gap to the lead.”

STAGE 2 RESULTS:

Pro Men

1) Filippo Colombo • SCOTT-SRAM | 2:56:36

2) Matthew Beers • Toyota Specialized | 2:56:36 (+0:00)

3) Tristan Nortje • Toyota Specialized Imbuko | 2:57:57 (+1:21)

Pro Women

1) Hayley Preen • ChemChamp Honeycomb | 3:41:52

2) Elena Hartmann • OPEN Schwalbe | 3:42:20 (+0:28)

3) Olivia Hottinger • SCOTT-SRAM | 3:42:21 (+0:29)

General Classification After Stage 2:

Pro Men

1) Matthew Beers • Toyota Specialized | 5:33:44