WINES2WHALES: DOMINANT LILL, JACOBS GRAB EARLY LEAD

The opening day of the 2024 FNB Wines2Whales series got underway in perfect conditions on Friday, 1 November. SeattleCoffeeCo eFORT ALMAR’s Candice Lill and Tyler Jacobs picked up where they left off in 2023 winning their fourth stage in a row, though the most recent comes 12 months after the last. They were joined on the Stage 1 podium by the Efficient Infiniti and e-FORT 2 teams.

Stage 1 of FNB Wines2Whales Chardonnay kicked off the celebration of mountain biking and gees (spirit) for the next ten days in fine fashion. Candice Lill and Tyler Jacobs were the opening day’s big winners as they started their title defence with a commanding stage victory.

The SeattleCoffeeCo eFORT ALMAR team excelled on the new singletracks and scaled the Gantouw Pass at an impressive pace to seize the early initiative. Vera Looser and Sarah Hill were their nearest competitors, with Elrika Harmzen-Pretorius and Felicitas Geiger completing the first podium of the race.

The 66 kilometre stage, from Lourensford to Oak Valley, took in 1 350 meters of climbing and some of the best trails ever ridden in FNB W2W. “There’s some great new singletracks in FNB Wines2Whales this year,” Hill enthused. “I loved being entertained by it all. I said to Vera [Looser] during the stage, they keep adding more, and more, incredible trails in Lourensford.”

Though the Lourensford trails were just the start for the 2024 teams. From the first farm they crossed into Vergelegen, skirting the nature reserve, through Idom Wines and to the foot of the Gantouw Pass portage. After running their bikes up the mountain, the singletracks recommenced with the A to Z and Willie’s Trails, en route to the Elgin Grabouw Country Club. A final climb, to the Waterfall Trail, took the teams into Oak Valley and the downhill bound to the race village.

Lill and Jacobs started like women on a mission and climbed into an early lead on the first 9 kilometre ascent to The Neck. “I started a bit fast,” Jacobs reflected. “Tomorrow, I’ll definitely take it a bit easier.” Though that fast start also kept the favourites out of trouble.

Behind them the e-FORT team of Margot Moschetti and Costanza Fasolis were best able to follow, while Looser and Hill measured their efforts on the climb a bit more steadily. Having started slower Bianca Haw and Tiffany Keep had worked their way into touch with the Efficient Infiniti Racing team. As they were making contact Keep punctured.

“Crossing a singletrack bridge, I hit a massive nail which went straight through my sidewall,” Keep recounted. “I had a bunch of big plugs and a put about 3 of them in and then about 4 or 5 small plugs around the big ones,” Haw laughed. “Amazingly it held, but we had lost so much time. We nursed it to the first water point where the neutral service technicians put a new tyre on Tiff [Keep’s] rear wheel. They were pretty quick but it still took about 20 minutes and while we waited, we ate banana bread and chilled.” “The rest of the stage was a mad chase,” Keep concluded.

SeattleCoffeeCo eFORT ALMAR’s progress through the course was serene. At the top of Gantouw Pass their lead was over 3 minutes, which Lill and Jacobs proceeded to double in the second half of the stage. Having moved into second on the trail, earlier in the route, the portage allowed Looser and Hill to gain more time on the e-FORT teams, as Harmzen-Pretorius and Geiger caught and then dropped Moschetti and Fasolis.

The French Marathon Champion was feeling the effects of a long season and the portage was the point at which her day started to go backwards. Fortunately, she and her Italian teammate only lost a place, on the trails, to their stablemates.

By the finish line Lill and Jacobs had established a 6 minute and 58 second advantage over Looser and Hill. Harmzen-Pretorius and Geiger were third, at 15:52. Moschetti and Fasolis were 3 minutes and 26 seconds further adrift, with Fortress Real Estate Investments’s Ila Stow and Katie Lennard rounding out the top 5. Keep and Haw’s puncture ended up costing them 43 minutes on the day, but perhaps the fact that they lost out, to Janice Venter and Hayley Smith, in the sprint for eighth will sting more upon reflection.

Saturday’s Stage 2 is a day which should suit the punchy singletrack specialists. Worryingly for the rest of the women’s field the 66 kilometre course, which starts and finishes at Oak Valley, will probably suit Lill and Jacobs best. The cross-country campaigners will love the trails, but so will Efficient Infiniti Racing, the e-FORT teams, Fortress Real Estate Investments and the Sanic2C combination. The lack of long climbs could also reduce the leaders’ clear form advantage and level the playing field for Play Day.

To follow the action, as it unfolds, watch the race coverage on social media. Regular updates will be posted to the @wines_2_whales  Instagram and Wines2Whales  Facebook stories. Post-stage highlight videos will be uploaded to the Epic Series  YouTube channel. For more information, visit www.epic-series.com/wines2whales  or download the Epics Series mobile application.