Toyota Specialized’s Alex Miller survived a crash 15 kilometres from the finish, to win the second stage of the Shiraz race; at FNB Wines2Whales on Saturday, 9 November. The Nambian and his South African teammate, Matt Beers, were 2 minutes and 40 seconds ahead of the chase group at the time of the fall, and managed to only cede 50 seconds of that advantage. The man who endured a dramatic Stage 1, Tristan Nortje, was unable to best Marco Joubert and Wessel Botha in the sprint behind the runaway leaders. Imbuko thus took second, with Honeycomb Pro Cycling in third.
Teams had anticipated a closely contested Stage 2, due to the singletrack heavy nature of the 66 kilometre course. Matt Beers had other ideas however and used the windy conditions to his advantage. Within the first 5 kilometres the race leaders were on the attack.
“It hadn’t been the plan to go out hard, but Tristan [Nortje] got me excited so I had too…” Beers ambiguously stated, referring to how he countered a move by Nortje. “With the wind, I saw that we would be able to go early. As we turned 90 degrees at the end of each orchard block, we went headwind, crosswind, tailwind. So, I knew if we went at the right time, we’d be able to capitalise on a tailwind section, because I had a 40 tooth chainring on today.”
Capitalise Beers and Miller did, creating a 10 second advantage as they descended downwind towards the base of the first climb of the day. Honeycomb Pro Cycling’s Marc Pritzen went with the Toyota Specialized men, but his teammate missed the move, as did the Imbuko team.
“Toyota Specialized are just above the rest here,” Joubert confessed. Before explaining: “After about 5 kilometres they split the group. I almost made the split, but Wessel [Botha] was caught behind. I think our race is with the Honeycomb [Pro Cycling] guys for second and that’s still really tight.”
Joubert set a strong tempo in the chase group, which kept the men in the yellow CIOVITA jerseys in sight through the first 20 kilometres, until Pritzen sat up when it became clear that Nortje was not going to be able to bridge across either. Thereafter the gap grew steadily to nearly 3 minutes.
“My shoulder was actually fine today,” Nortje allowed. “It sort of went numb in the last hour, but my legs were just not there today. I’m happy to have taken it to the line with Imbuko, that means tomorrow will be the vital day of the race for us.”
Miller’s crash could yet prove vital too. With 15 kilometres to go he cut inside of Beers’ line on a corner off a vineyard road onto a main farm road, but did not see the drainage ditch on his line. At the last second, he braked hard and was able to eject slightly in anticipation of the crash which helped mitigate the severity of the fall. Nonetheless he landed heavily on his hands, before rolling onto his shoulder and bumping his head on the gravel dusted asphalt.
Having broken his hand earlier in the year, his immediate concern was that he could have rebroken the healing bone, but that was fortunately not the case. With a bloodied shoulder, as well as cuts on his forearms and on his cheek, Miller was able to continue. All told, the crash and subsequent self-diagnosis cost the Toyota Specialized team less than a minute.
“Alex will be good tomorrow,” Beers confirmed after the medics had checked on his partner. “He made a little error in judgement, but he’s tough. They build them tough in Namibia! Maybe tomorrow we’ll be a little more conservative and hang in the wheels. Or we’ll just go! You never know how you feel after a crash like that.”
If Beers and Miller were to attack early in the stage, one expects the mid-phases, in particular, from Botrivier to the Karwyders Contour climb will suit the Toyota Specialized team. While the long singletrack descent along the Church Trail and Escape Raz should suit Imbuko more than Honeycomb Pro Cycling, in the battle for second. In total the final stage features 64 kilometres of racing and 950 metres of climbing. A few kickers in the closing five kilometres could be the difference between the teams contesting silver.
Going into the final stage Beers and Miller lead by 6 minutes and 17 seconds. Just 18 seconds separate Joubert and Botha from Nortje and Pritzen though. Further back Computer Mania Pro MTB’s Daniel van der Walt and Ursin Spescha have been solid race thus far, in the 2024 FNB Wines2Whales Shiraz. They are fourth, 4:13 ahead of Wout Alleman and Hans Becking, of BUFF MEGAMO, in fifth.
To watch the action unfold, on the last day of the fourteenth edition, mountain biking fans can follow the race coverage on social media. Regular updates will be posted to the @wines_2_whales Instagram and Wines2WhalesFacebook stories. Post-stage highlight videos will be uploaded to the Epic Series YouTube channel. To find out more visit www.epic-series.com/wines2whales.
2024 FNB Wines2Whales Shiraz Results:
Elite Men’s Stage 2:
- Toyota Specialized: Matthew Beers & Alexander Miller (2:24:35)
- Team Imbuko: Marco Joubert & Wessel Botha (2:26:23 | +1:48)
- Team Honeycomb Pro Cycling: Marc Pritzen & Tristan Nortje (2:26:25 | +1:50)
- Computer Mania Pro MTB: Daniel van der Walt & Ursin Spescha (2:26:48 | +2:12)
- Toyota Specialized Imbuko: Rudi Koen & Johan van Zyl (2:28:01 | +3:25)
Elite Men’s General Classification after Stage 2:
- Toyota Specialized: Matthew Beers & Alexander Miller (4:58:32)
- Team Imbuko: Marco Joubert & Wessel Botha (5:04:49 | +6:17)
- Team Honeycomb Pro Cycling: Marc Pritzen & Tristan Nortje (5:05:07 | +6:35)
- Computer Mania Pro MTB: Daniel van der Walt & Ursin Spescha (5:06:44 | +8:12)
- BUFF MEGAMO: Wout Alleman & Hans Becking (5:10:57| +12:25)
For the full results from the 2024 FNB Wines2Whales Shiraz click here.
