IMPRESSIVE LINE-UP DEVELOPING FOR CAPE PIONEER TREK

With former winners as well as numerous current and former national and continental champions set to line up for the seven-day event from 16-22 October, the eighth edition of South Africa’s Cape Pioneer Trek international mountain bike stage race, looks set to boast its strongest field yet.

The list of entries so far includes last year’s second and third-placed teams in the men’s race. The Italian Crisi brothers, Roberto and Emanuele, who were runner’s-up in 2015, will be back in their quest for overall victory, while the Dutch pairing of Bram Rood and Gerben Mos are intent on finishing higher than their third place in last year’s event.

Current European champion and rising marathon racing star, Peeter Pruus and his Estonian compatriot, Peeter Tarvus are also on the early start list as Team Rietumu-Delfin. Pruus won the Tour of Borneo, a 2.2 graded road cycling stage race in 2015 and this year attained mountain biking prominence when he beat a strong field that included current and former Cape Epic, Cape Pioneer Trek and World Champions to win the European marathon championships.

Tarvus beat Pruus to the Estoninan national marathon title earlier this year and the pair could well deliver a dark-horse surprise come mid October should they adapt to the South African conditions. The Dutch Stappenbelt-Specialized team of Erik Groen and Jeroen Boelen is also worth a pre-race mention. Groen is a former Under-23 national champion; while Boelen is a previous winner of Australia’s Crocodile Trophy and has seventh and 12^th position finishes in the Absa Cape Epic among his career highlights.

Leading the South African charge are 2012 winners Gawie Combrinck and Nico Bell (Team NAD). Two of the host nation’s most consistent top marathon racers, Combrinck and Bell have heaps of Cape Pioneer Trek experience, mostly as teammates, which should stand them in good stead for another crack at the title.

“We really enjoy the Cape Pioneer Trek and after missing it last year, we are keen to tackle the new, more compact route format. The racing seemed really intense last year and we’re keen to be in that mix. I’m not sure how fresh we’ll be as the race starts the day after the final round of the National Marathon Series, but we’ll certainly be giving it our best shot,” said Bell.

An exciting new pairing on the early-entry list is the Team Spur combination of James Reid and Julian Jessop. Reid, a multiple national XCO and marathon champion will be eager to put a disappointing Olympic Games behind him (he was forced to withdraw from the Rio race after a crash) with a strong Cape Pioneer Trek showing. He’s no stranger to the race, having won multiple stages in the event in recent years. He’ll be taking a mentorship role over Jessop, a first-year Under-23 with a strong XCO pedigree.

The women’s race early-entry list is also looking promising.

Britain’s Catherine Williamson, winner in 2015 with Esther Suss, is back, but this time with South African teammate, Leana de Jager as the Klein Karoo International team. Williamson is one of the most experienced female marathon racers in the world and will be guiding De Jager through what is expected to be an intense week of competition.

At this stage, with just over six weeks until the race, their biggest opposition looks to be the OMX Pro pairing of South African XCO specialists, Mariske Strauss and Cherie Vale.

The Cape Pioneer Trek once again carries International Cycling Union (UCI) grading, which means guaranteed minimum prize money, television coverage and UCI rankings points for the top finishers.

This year’s race will cover 496km over the seven days and will include a total of 9620 metres of vertical ascent. As it did in 2015, the route will kick-off with a coastal prologue at Mossel Bay and will finish in Oudtshoorn. The in-between days have a new complexion, with the organisers opting for multiple night stay-overs to ensure a more relaxed off-the-bike environment for riders, mostly in quaint Karoo towns.

For more indepth route descriptions of the 2016 race, visit www.capepioneer.co.za where entries can still be made until 15 September in either Team or Solo divisions.

Source: Inside Line