Joris Ryf and Mark Nel added another few quality hours to their new racing partnership on Tuesday when they finished second on Stage 2 of the FNB Wines2Whale Pinotage in the Racing eBike division. Ryf is one of the world’s top eBike racers while Nel isn’t. Here’s how they managed to find some common ground on the 68km, singletrack-rich stage.
For some perspective, Ryf, 25, won three rounds of the 2022 UCI eBike World Cup and finished second overall in the series. He was third at the 2022 UCI eBike World Champs and is the current Swiss eBike Champ. There aren’t many better than him at racing eBikes…
Nel is a 40-year-old father of three with a full-time job. He comes from a road racing background with mountain bike and gravel racing featuring in recent years, but on an amateur level. They’re friends and that’s what led to Ryf asking Nel to partner with him for this year’s Wines2Whales Pinotage.
Racing as JR Racing powered by Bosch, they finished a distant second on Stage 1 but had better collaboration on Stage 2 and finished just over three minutes behind the Toyota Specialized pairing of Bobby Behan and Giniel de Villiers. For Nel, it’s been a steep learning curve and for Ryf, it’s been a fun way to bond with Mark and enjoy his holiday in South Africa.
“We battled a bit on the district roads as Joris’s motor is capped at 25kph and mine is at 32kph, but once we got the singletrack we found a good rhythm and were able to stay in contention with the other two teams. We had a very quick battery change at Water Point 2, thanks to Joris, took the lead for a while, but then got reeled in by Bobby and Giniel a little later on,” explained Nel.
“Joris was super valuable in terms of his eBike experience, giving me advice on all the nuances in terms of how much assistance to use when, with the objective of being as efficient as possible. He is hugely skilled on the singletrack, which isn’t my strength. I’m having a lekker time – this eBike racing is fun!” added Nel.
“Today was really good. We were in the mix at the front with the two Specialized teams. Mark got a bit dropped on the first downhill, so I changed tactic and rode up front to try control the pace in the singletrack to make sure Mark was in touch. I raced ahead to Water Point 2 and was able to change my battery and fuel up so that when Mark got there about a minute later, we were able to change his battery super fast.
“We took the lead there for a while, but the Specialized Toyota guys caught us. Mark improved again today and we lost only three minutes on what was some of the best singletrack I have ever ridden! We came a bit closer to the win. Tomorrow is another chance. We will try again,” added Ryf.
This is the second year that the FNB Wines2Whales has held a specific eBike race. Although the racing is serious, it’s still considered a fun category. There are no real limitations on the bikes other than they need to not have a throttle.
Joris shot a video summary of Stage 2. Watch it here!
PINOTAGE EBIKE DIARY: PART 2 – STAGE 1
PINOTAGE EBIKE DIARY: PART 1 – PRE-RACE
