HOW BUYS BEAT HATHERLY TO RETAIN HIS SA XCO TITLE

Phil Buys pulled off somewhat of an unexpected victory over Alan Hatherly to retain the Elite Men’s South African XCO title at Thaba Trails at the weekend. It was the third time Buys has won the prestigious title, a full 10 years after he first claimed it! Here’s how he did it.

By Sean Badenhorst | Photography: Dominic Barnardt

At 34, Buys in firmly in his athletic prime, perhaps the tail-end of it, but still there and his results are showing it. Winner of the XCO Elite men’s title last year, shortly after winning the Marathon Elite men’s title. Both titles are among the most sought after and there’s always a strong field to do battle for them.

*Phil Buys was stoked to defend his Elite men’s South African XCO title.*

On Saturday, Buys lined up at a sunny, dusty Thaba Trails as the defending champion, but with Alan Hatherly, one of the world’s leading XCO racers in the field (he’s currently sixth on the UCI rankings), Buys wasn’t the favourite. Last year, Hatherly skipped the national champs in favour of limiting his travel from Europe where strict Covid-19 restrictions were still in place in some countries. But this year, he was eager to regain the national champion jersey.

*Buys set the pace from the start and Hatherly was only able to hang on until Lap 3.*

A steady first lap saw Buys, Hatherly and Arno du Toit cross the start/finish line in a three-man group. That set the scene for the rest of the race, with Du Toit being gapped slightly on Lap 2 and then Hatherly unable to match the pace of Buys on Lap 3. Buys continued to reel off consistently quick lap times – his quickest was Lap 3 at 14:34 and his slowest was Lap 1 at 14:56. His total time was 1:28.26 a full two minutes and two seconds ahead of Hatherly, with Du Toit rounding out the podium just under two minutes further back.

*Hatherly held on for second place, but said he struggled with the altitude.*

We asked Buys a few questions:

It’s one thing winning the title, but possibly harder defending it. Did you feel that at all?

With Alan racing I did not really feel any pressure to win. I think everyone expected him to take the title, including me. But that did not demotivate me and I was always keen to race as hard as I can and challenge anyone.

With a strong field to contend with, how confident did you feel of winning the XCO race before the start?

I was very confident to take second ha ha! But in the back of my mind I felt I still had a small chance of winning, because this is mountain biking and we can only control a small part of everything that happens out on the course.

*Former winner, Arno du Toit, secured the Elite men’s bronze medal.*

You seemed to take control from early on in the XCO race, was that your planned strategy?

My strategy was to have a good start and I would have been happy to even sit as far back as third wheel for the first few laps and get a feel for the other guys. So, I had a perfect start and my first lap was actually one of my slower laps, because I did hold back a bit even on Lap 2. The few times that I did slow down quite a lot, there was no one that wanted to move to the front, so that was interesting to me at first. By Lap 3 I felt good and thought it a good time to put in an effort. I reckoned it could go two ways, I would either get away or be counter attacked and then racing would be on and I can take my race on from there.

From left: Jan Withaar (fourth), Alan Hatherly (second), Phil Buys (first), Arno du Toit (third) and Keagan Bontekoning (fifth)

What did you think of the race course?

I felt comfortable on the track and it was enjoyable. I do really well with courses that have some obstacles or rocks on the climbs. I feel that it was also a well-balanced course with a decent amount of climbing. The coolest part was actually the upgraded Balwin Properties venue – this I think makes it nice for the spectators too and attracts a crowd and builds a vibe.

*Despite a puncture, Johan van Zyl was able to grab the Under-23 Men’s title.*

When did you realise that Alan was struggling and did that motivate you more?

On Lap 2 I tried one of the B Lines and realised that it was actually a second or two quicker. The entrance into the B Line specifically was way quicker. I did see it in practice too, but they added a few logs into the B Line to try and slow it down more for race day. On this part, during Lap 3, I squeezed that one or two seconds ahead and put in an acceleration on the climb just after. This dropped Arno and I realised Alan also seemed to be struggling. Initially I thought Alan was just sussing things out and that he was just waiting for that opportunity to kick out. After this acceleration of mine I realised that he was not bluffing and really struggling, and that got me motivated to push on hard.

*Luke Moir led the Under-23 Men’s race briefly, but ended up holding on for the runner-up spot.*

It seems like the Cape Epic did your XCO form some good. Did you feel that at all?

Yes, it seems like it. After Epic I did not feel as broken as previous years and also did not get sick. In training after Epic I also made sure I was fully recovered. I only did short easy rides and a few short interval sessions about twice a week. My fitness is nice and high and I felt that I just needed to add some top-end speed and power.

*Jaedon Terlouw rode a consist race and ended up losing the sprint for the silver medal against Moir.*

You were narrowly beaten by Alan in the XCC race, but it looked very tactical. How did the last few hundred metres play out?

During the whole race I felt in control, but on the straight into the last corner I sat up a bit too early and Alan bolted past with quite some speed to get into the final corner in the front. I was okay with that and thought I could sit behind him in the finish straight and then just pip him on the line, but I underestimated his kick from that far out. I was actually glad for him to take the XCC title, because I most probably won’t have the opportunity to race another XCC throughout the year and he will be able to show off the jersey in World Cup races. My ranking is quite far off from top 40 needed to race XCC.

Are you planning to race more XCO this year?

Yes, for sure, XCO is the format that I’ve always enjoyed more and it compliments any other format. Next up we will be doing a Cat 1 XCO race in Windhoek. Other than that I will try to do all the local XCO National Cups and plan to do one or two international trips.

*Ernie Roets was in superb form, leading from start to finish to claim the Junior Men’s title.*

“It was a really, really tough course. There’s no easy way around it. The climbs are really tough. We are quite high up here at 1600 metres, but it felt like 3000 metres for me today. Not one of my best days. That combined and a flying Phil Buys didn’t make an easy day. Second was all I could manage. Congrats to Phil on defending the title,” said Hatherly graciously afterwards.

*Massi Ambrosi (front) and Justin Swanepoel fought out a race-long battle for the silver and bronze medals.*

The Under-23 men’s race had a larger field than the Elite men and it was loaded with podium contenders. Starting two minutes after the Elite men, the Under-23 blokes raced five laps, one fewer than the Elites. In his final year in the category, Johan van Zyl was committed from the start and led the field onto the start of Lap 2 being closely tracked by Luke Moir. However, on Lap 3, Van Zyl punctured and was forced to nurse his bike to the tech zone, where his team mechanic did a quick wheel change, while a clearly emotional and frustrated Van Zyl waited.

*From left: Massi Ambrosi (second), Ernie Roets (first) and Justin Swanepoel (third).*

Moir inherited the lead and looked set to claim his first national title in the Under-23 division, but Van Zyl was charging hard and Moir’s early efforts started to tell as he recorded his slowest lap on the penultimate lap, but then put in a fairly rapid final lap to try and hold off a fast-charging Jaedon Tuerlouw. It ended up being Van Zyl’s day as he scooped the gold medal in a time 1:15:31.

Terlouw’s five laps were super consistent, allowing him to stay in with a shot at the podium throughout the race and he was just unable to come around Moir in the final gallop. Moir nabbed the silver medal and Terlouw, the bronze.

*From left: event MC, Steve Saunders, Race Director, Paola Damillano and Balwin Properties’ Lisa Sinclair.*

The large Junior men’s field contested four laps and North West’s Ernie Roets was at his best, leading pretty much from start to finish to claim the title in his final year in the category. Massi Ambrosi and last year’s champion, Justin Swanepoel, traded blows throughout the race with Ambrosi just edging out his rival in the final dash to secure the silver medal with Swanepoel completing the podium.

With a record total field of almost 400 entries, the 2023 edition of the South African XCO Champs was confirmation that the discipline is strong and growing. The revamped Thaba Trails venue proved to be ideal to host a UCI-level race and there was high praise for a course that was both challenging and rewarding, albeit in favour of the stronger climbers with almost 200m of ascent per lap.

*The CSA Commissaires ensured a smooth weekend of racing. From left: Deon Steyn, Dellah Paul, Martin Paul, Anthony Cloete and Michael Byleveld.*

The Sub-Junior Boys, Youth Men and Junior Men’s divisions enjoyed plenty of depth. Combined with the large Under-23 contingent, the future of Men’s XCO in South Africa looks bright. Congrats to the everyone involved in the organisation of what has been described by many as probably the best XCO SA Champs to date.

Below are the detailed results for male races. The female race report and results are here.